Cultural Studies as “Export” Discipline and its Challenges

Abstract

ABSTRACT In response to [Tomaselli, Keyan, and Xiao Yao. 2023. “Cultural Studies in Interhemispherical Perspective. China, Africa, Asia and Australasia.” Critical Arts. doi: 10.1080/02560046.2023.2289315], this work locates the status of Cultural Studies as an export’ and “import” discipline in the wake of the Birmingham School being subject to two “restructures.” It is argued that in the face of inevitable audit cultures in the neoliberal University, the classics remain relevant for the purposes of preserving the legacies of Cultural Studies as a discipline of “export” rather than “import”. At a time when there are regimes of authoritarian governance curtailing academic freedom in Asian countries, I suggest that there is promise in the materialist and post-materialist perspectives found in Cultural Studies which facilitates the engagement of issues affecting wider publics.