Cultural Studies Approach Research Articles

Emancipation of the National Identity in Augusts Deglavs’ Novel “Riga”

The article studies the formation of the Latvian national identity as depicted in the cultural and historical novel Riga by the writer Augusts Deglavs. The plot is set in the second half of the 19th century when more and more Latvians from the country started to move to Riga. By applying the context-oriented approach and practices of cultural studies, the New historicism, post-colonialism, separate aspects of the dynamics and context of the relationship between Latvians and Baltic Germans in multicultural Riga have been analysed. In addition, the points where social and national identities contact and cross under the conditions of hermetic and hegemonic German culture, like relations with the German language, acquisition of social practices, emergence of the sense of Latvianness, have also been examined. The article also performs a concise evaluation of the historical importance of the Young Latvians’ movement depicted in the novel as the awakener of the national identity. Based on John Austin’s concept of performative language, in studying the emancipation of national identity, attention was paid to the ability of language “to do things”, which proves that words expressed in certain situations can possibly affect and change the run of historical processes.

Сontemporary Ukrainian cultural studies in the system of higher education

The article considers the essential aspects of introducing cultural studies into the Ukrainian higher education system. The authors analyze the significance of the cultural approach in the formation of modern society and the development of cultural consciousness. The article examines the main principles and methodological approaches underlying modern Ukrainian cultural studies. The study's authors highlight the role of Ukrainian cultural studies in training specialists in the field of culture and art. They focus on combining theoretical knowledge with practical skills in the educational process, mainly through internships, master classes, and practical classes in cultural disciplines. This research also highlights the importance of an interdisciplinary approach in cultural studies. In other words, it allows combining knowledge from various fields of science, such as sociology, anthropology, psychology, and others. Also, it contributes to a deeper understanding of the essence of the culture and cultural processes. The article also draws attention to the need to implement modern teaching methods, such as active learning, problem-based learning, and project-based learning, to increase the educational process's effectiveness in cultural studies. In this research, the authors point out the importance of studying the historical aspect of culture in Ukrainian cultural studies and the need to preserve and promote cultural heritage. They emphasize the importance of developing national culture and patriotic education for the younger generation. The article highlights the problems that arise in introducing cultural studies into the Ukrainian higher education system, particularly the insufficient number of qualified teachers and the instability of funding. The authors suggest ways to solve these problems and promote the further development of modern Ukrainian cultural studies in the higher education system.

Of fleas and Parasite: unpacking class and space in Bong Joon-ho’s Barking Dogs Never Bite

ABSTRACT This article argues that amidst the hype of Parasite fever, it is instructive to revisit Barking Dogs Never Bite (2000) in order to better understand the director’s aesthetic and signatures. Not only does Parasite (2019) echo Bong’s debut feature in narrative structure and visual style but both films depict the friction between power and the powerless through spatial metaphors. By offering a closer look at Barking Dogs Never Bite from an interdisciplinary approach – intersecting auteur theory and cultural studies approaches to class mobility and space – we indicate how the hybrid style of commercialism and social commentary in Bong’s films are deeply rooted in the South Korean context.

UKRAINIAN OIKONYMY: STRATIGRAPHIC-AREAL, SOCIO-ECOONOMASTIC AND LINGUOCULTOROLOGICAL APPROACHES

Ukrainian onomastics today is an important part of the world onomastic science and occupies in it an important niche having fundamental theoretical and practical achievements in analysing all classes of proper names. To be fully integrated into world onomastic community, the scholars of onym space (both Ukrainian and foreign) have to receive complete information and follow state-of-the-art world developments in the globalized onomastic world [17].
 We performed a complex analysis of the outcomes of Ukrainian researchers of oikonym space of Ukraine that are dwelt in three areas: stratigraphic and areal, socio-ecoonomastic, and linguo-cultural in the present paper. The most important concepts of oikonym analysis were charachterised in detail in monographs and dissertations over the last eighteen years (2002‒2020).
 The results of archaic types of oikonyms areals, their stratigraphy, separate lexico-semantic and derivational models from the point of view of diachrony were synthesized within the stratigraphic approach. To spatially comprehend old oikonymy of Ukraine, according to the approach, is possible due to diachronic study of spellings of different types of names of settlements, mapping and statistical analysis.
 Socioonomastic and ecoonomastic approach is represented by the analyses of oikonyms from sociolinguistic and ecolinguistic point of view, and the necessity to standardize place names on the level of the state as a result of decommunisation policy.
 Linguocultural approach of linguistic and cultural onomastic studies demonstrates potentially concealed in the inner form of place names a background cultural and historical information. Considerable attention is devoted to associative and connotative origins of oikonyms (oikoculturonyms) considering the principles of anthropocentrism and culturocentrism.

Bosom friends and kindred spirits: Reimagining girlhood, bisexuality and queerness in Anne with an E

Questioning traditional ideas of hegemonic femininity, queerness and heteronormativity, this article examines Moira Walley-Beckett’s Anne with an E (2017–19, CBC and Netflix) as a means of revisiting queer and female histories in contemporary television. Reinvestigating classic Anne of Green Gables, this series pushes the boundaries of history by modernizing historical ideas about gender, sexuality, class and race in the early twentieth century. Using feminist theory, queer theory and critical cultural studies approaches, this article argues that these coming-of-age narratives of girlhood, bisexuality and femininity interrogate binary notions of past and present, childhood and adulthood, fact and fiction. By blending and blurring literary and fictional histories, this series pushes up against the whiteness and heteronormativity within media culture, drawing attention not only to the absence of people of colour and LGBTQ+ characters within literary and media histories more generally but also to alternative possibilities for more inclusive media representation. In this way, this series is rethinking historical and literary representations of girlhood, (bi)sexuality and feminist empowerment by putting queer people and women at the centre of its storytelling.

Raymond Williams and contemporary youth transitions: a cultural studies critique of social generational approaches in youth studies

ABSTRACT By exploring housing transitions and their impact on the leisure practices of 12, white, British economically ‘middling’ men aged between 20 and 26 whilst utilising the work of British cultural theorist Raymond Williams, this article articulates a cultural studies critique of social generational approaches. Firstly, it shows how this approach to young lives can remedy the ‘base’ determining ‘superstructure’ logic underpinning social generational approaches. Secondly, drawing on Williams’ concepts can foreground culture as constitutive of contemporary transitional pathways. Finally, this approach can continue the impetus of ‘blending’ of cultural and transitional approaches found within social generational approaches. Doing so will show how a cultural studies approach can help supplement insights into continuity and change within contemporary young lives whilst still enabling a critical focus on class, gender and race. Taken together, this article looks to enable a productive engagement with social generational approaches to critically interrogate the experiences of young people in ever-changing social, cultural, economic and political contexts.

Conspiracism and the Shadows of Transparency

Following the approach of cultural studies, which views conspiracism as reflecting larger cultural and social anxieties and concerns, the paper argues that one of these anxieties is connected with the modern ideology of transparency. While at first sight a widely shared positive value, transparency can be shown to hide various tensions and paradoxes on closer inspection. This paper interprets conspiracy theories as imaginative attempts at capturing these tensions, at highlighting the inconspicuous opacity of the late modern transparent world and its institutions. Conspiracists are themselves entangled in the modern ideology of transparency, but at the same time, they knock against its boundaries, making explicit the unspoken premises of the entire system in all their paradoxicality. They draw attention to numerous inconsistencies and dark cracks in our late modern social and ideological system, symbolising them through various disturbing narratives that should not be taken literally but that are interesting precisely in that they offer an opportunity to reflect on the limitations of transparency

CHARACTERISTICS OF 'PARKAN HUMOR' IN WAYANG WONG'S PERFORMANCE

Parkan as the life of the Wayang Wong show in Sembalun, his presence is always awaited by the audience. Parkan's regeneration is important for the survival of Wong puppet art in Sembalun Bumbung. The purpose of this study was to find out the characteristics of the cast masks and the characteristics of Parkan's humor. This stage of research uses qualitative research with a cultural studies approach. The location of this study is in Sembalun Bumbung, East Lombok in the Wayang Wong art group. The data collection technique used by researchers is by means of observation, interviews, and analysis of secondary data (text, photo, video of Wayang Wong performance). Meanwhile, the data analysis techniques used are data reduction, data presentation, and data verification. The result of this study is that there are two characteristics of Parkan humor, namely planned and improvised. In planned humor, there are six concepts of humor presented, namely Pecangklitan Humor, Mewaran, Komikan, Syair, and Penter Blok.

Character Education’s Dialectics Based on Art and Culture in the Approach of Cultural Studies

Background: Dialectics of character education based on local culture is conducted through the approach of cultural studies in order to comprehend meanings resulted symbolically from the phenomena of local culture. The process of character education based on local culture is a process that gives an individual the ability to give meaning toward his/herself and his/her environment. Aim: The researchers would like to analyze character education’s dialectics based on art and culture in the approach of cultural studies. Method: Literature studies related to character education studies based on local culture in Minangkabau were carried out through written and oral sources or primary and secondary sources. Qualitative methods with a multidisciplinary approach were used. Field data collection was managed in an 'etic' and 'emic' manner. The data were then analyzed using Miles and Huberman techniques. Findings: The attitude of West Sumatera government that launches the program of "back to nagari (village) and back to surau” is a proper space to rebuild an old culture that is still relevant and is developed in the society toward modern culture. Islamic culture that initially evolves in the surau should be able to be developed with bringing religious mission. The art of local people that lives and evolves in sasaran is also resurrected with bringing the mission of Minangkabau customs.

Lost in Time? The Socialist Modernist Monuments of the Former Yugoslavia and Their Shifting Conceptualization

This paper explores the “lost language” of monuments erected in the former Yugoslavia from the 1960s to the 1980s—more precisely, the 25 national monuments captured by the lens of photographer Jan Kempenaers over the span of three years (2006−2009), and published in the monograph Spomenik [Monument] (2010). By combining the approach of cognitive linguistics and cultural studies, in particular that of Forceville (“Identifi cation”, “Metaphor”, “Agendas”), Kövecses (Culture, Context), Ortiz, and Kirn and Burghardt, this paper aims to explore the conceptual metaphors embedded in these monuments as part of a specifi c symbolic landscape, immanent to the countries of the former Yugoslavia at a historical point of their four-decades-long political, social, and cultural merger, as well as the current possibilities and limitations of the visual/multimodal decodifi cation of the memorials.

A pseudo-rebellion: Ujung Berung metalheads in the contestation of identity space in Bandung, 2010–22

Social segregation in Bandung, Indonesia, is the primary cause of stratification of youths in the city’s northern, southern and eastern regions. As a region filled with colonial legacy and inhabited by the upper-middle class, northern Bandung is equipped with infrastructures for youth activities. Southern and eastern Bandung, on the other hand, carries an image of rather undeveloped regions. This social, political and economic background has prompted Bandung youths to compete among each other, specifically in terms of expressing their identity through music. In particular, youths from Ujung Berung express their identity through metal music due to the genre’s perceived capability of conveying youth aspirations, marginality and identity expression in public space. Through djent and headbanging, these youths held onto a do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos to fight against political and capital-related power. Nonetheless, as the movement developed, these youths failed to compete with the capital of major record labels. With these issues as a background, this article aims to examine the youths’ rally against the power of politics and capital. We assume that their resistance against the contestation of identity space in 2010–22 Bandung consists of four layers. Based on the data we gathered during observation, we argue that the youths’ resistance was rather a pseudo act which granted them mobility to a higher social status. This article is a result of a six-month qualitative research project conducted from June to November 2022 in Bandung. The data were gathered from various relevant sources, including books, articles, media social news coverage and other internet sources. In addition, twelve informants actively involved in the Bandung metal scene were interviewed. A cultural studies approach was taken during the whole process of observation and analysis of the aforementioned data and phenomena.

Cultures of accountability: On the intersection of accountability, media and popular reality

This article proposes the concept of ‘cultures of accountability’ as a way to think about the intersection between media, accountability and popular reality. Noting concerns regarding the emergence of accountability as a cultural keyword, I identify schisms in the deliberation of accountability between an ‘administrative’ and ‘redactive’ formation and explore their interaction and coexistence. Building a bridge between the public administration, journalism studies, media studies and cultural studies literatures, the article posits a more complicated picture of the operation of the ‘media’ in accountability debates and invites analysis and discussion of the communicative and discursive conditions of accountability. Journalistic discourse and practice forms not only a site of encounter between different cultures of accountability but also a forum for discussion of cultural expectations surrounding accountability. Critically revisiting the ‘watchdog’ conception of the news media, the article argues for approaches to journalism open to the yoking of public administration, media accountability and cultural studies approaches and greater awareness of different cultures of accountability.

Faktor-Faktor Penyebab Turistifikasi Kawasan Pura Babakan Pada Era Globalisasi

The Pura Babakan area is famous for its grandeur of the Pohon Kayu Putih which is a type of Ficus variegata which located in Banjar Bayan, Desa Tua, Tabanan. The purpose of this research is to explain the factors behind the tourisitification of the Pura Babakan area. The research uses critical ethnographic methods with a cultural studies approach. Data collection was carried out using observation, interviews, and literature studies. The results of this study revealed that there were four factors behind the touristification of the Pura Babakan area, namely globalisation factors, market ideology factors, the mythical factor of the success of Bali tourism, and the development of social media.

Cultural studies and university rankings: a case study of Quacquarelli Symonds (QS)

ABSTRACT We offer a Cultural Studies approach—a transdisciplinary field of study critically examining contemporary culture—to illuminate the roles of cultural producers and consumers in mediating the meaning of university rankings amidst a global media landscape. Using the case study of Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and drawing on the concepts of a) meaning-making, b) cultural texts, and c) audiencing, we illuminate how QS, as a commercial ranker, aims to ‘fix’ meanings about quality and excellence in global higher education (HE) through its various outreach efforts. Based on a multi-method analysis of QS’ digital texts, specifically a YouTube video and a press release, we demonstrate how interactions between cultural producers and consumers complicate a ranker's efforts to fix and diffuse meanings about HE. We argue that a Cultural Studies approach helps us probe the meaning-making process underlying university rankings amid a digital media culture.

Exotic Form, Function and Meaning of Bale Adat Kembar of the Great Palace of Kesiman in Denpasar Bali

The twin traditional buildings (Bale Adat Kembar) at the Great Palace of Kesiman, Denpasar, Bali, is not only a twin building marking the majesty and unique architecture of the palace but also a place to carry out the important ritual of Pitra Yadnya for deceased ancestors. This article analyzes the exotic form, function, and meaning of Bale Adat Twins at the Great Palace of Kesiman, one of the three important palaces which is the heir of the Kingdom of Badung. Using a qualitative approach, the data for this study were collected from interviews with the palace chief, observations, and literature studies. The data were analyzed using a critical approach of Cultural Studies by exploring the deep meaning of the facts, in this case matters related to Bale Adat Kembar. This article concludes that amidst the rapid flow of modernization, the twin traditional building at the Great Palace of Kesiman remains sustainable because it has a ritual function that will always be carried out for Puri's ancestors in accordance with the human life cycle. This article contributes to showing how heritage buildings which are relics of the kingdom still exist with their exoticism in modern times.

Prepped for harvest: Monstrous metaphors of capital in the young adult dystopian film, The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

Through the use of horror movie motifs like zombies and mad doctors, The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) stands in drastic contrast to other young adult dystopian properties like The Hunger Games (2012), for example, in that Scorch Trials uses allegory as a means to comment on neoliberalism, alienated labor, and commodity fetishism essentially functioning as a Marxist critique of capital. However, this reading only occurs subtextually. By using a contextual cultural studies approach, which reads film as embedded in cultural politics, and a “monsterology,” which captures capital as a specter within the film, this essay will serve as an intervention surrounding discourse on The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. In doing so, this analysis will make the case that films targeted at students and young adults are important sites of pedagogy that contribute to an understanding of how capital alienates us from ourselves, each other, and social democratic structures.

American Punk and the Rhetoric of “Political Correctness”

ABSTRACT In the Trump era, conservative and alt-right commentators have framed punk rock subculture as a right-wing phenomenon, emphasizing punk’s individualism and “politically incorrect” rebellion as its defining characteristics. Taking a cultural studies approach, this article examines the rhetoric of so-called “political correctness” in contemporary American discourses surrounding the intersection of punk and politics. Its primary argument is that asserting an anti-PC stance disguises an underlying conservative agenda or reinscribes dominant narratives and that punk’s lack of a stable or inherent meaning (the “floating” nature of its signification, as Dick Hebdige described it) leaves it open to such rhetorical uses.

THE CONTROVERSY OVER SAMPRADAYA AND THE DYNAMICS OF HINDU INSTITUTION: CONTESTATION OF HINDU ELITES IN PALANGKA RAYA CITY

This article is intended to analyze the controversy over sampradaya and the dynamics of Hindu institutions in general and ‘The Indonesia Administrative Council of Hindu Dharma’ Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia (PHDI) in particular in Palangka Raya City. The existence of sampradaya, as a transnational organization, has triggered an internal contestation among the Hindu elites. Being a qualitative study, this current study applies the approach of cultural studies, and emphasizes the different ways of interpreting one phenomenon. The data were obtained from the informants purposively chosen; therefore, they are categorized as the primary data source. The secondary data were obtained from the online and offline books available in the library, documents, articles and research results. The data were analyzed interactively in which Milles and Huberman were referred to. The data analysis includes the data reduction, the data presentation, the conclusion withdrawal or the data verification and interpretation. The results and discussion show that the controversy and contestation more dominantly result from the impact of globalization indicated by the dialectic process of affecting each other between the particularity referring to the symbols of the Bali Hindu identity, as one of the Hindu identities in Indonesia which is obliged to be maintained, and the universality, as the Hindu identity referring to the Indian culture, whose followers have spread all over the world.
 Keywords: sampradaya, PHDI, elite, Bali Hindu

Российское литературоведение ХХ века о комедии Мольера «Мизантроп»

The article addresses the reception of J.-B. Moliere’s comedy “The Misanthrope” (1666) by the Russian literary critics of the 20th century, reflected in monographs, academic publications, textbook, articles and the scientific apparatus to the complete works of the great French playwright. The reason of this persistent interest to this play is determined by two essential factors: its ambiguity and its influence on A. S. Griboyedov’s comedy “Woe from Wit”. The author of the article traces the transformation of the researchers’ evaluations, ranging from the pre-revolutionary period and up to the latest reviews. It is stated that the reception of “The Misanthrope” can be generally traced back to the ideas of A. N. Veselovsky, the founder of the Russian studies of Moliere. Having been perceived controversially by the closest followers of the scientist, they became ideological in the works of the Soviet researchers of the 1930–1940s, then they were in the focus of attention of the literary critics of the middle of the century and were further developed in the studies of the turn of the 20th – 21st centuries. Addressing “The Misanthrope”, the Russian researchers of the French literature of the 17th century focus on the distinguishing features of the comic, on the biographical basis of the play, on the system of images, prototypes of the main character and the essence of his conflict with the society. They invariably concentrate on the issue of the author’s viewpoint, and on the question of who Moliere sides with – Alceste or Philinte. The carried-out analysis shows that the research thought has changed from the biographical, social and political interpretation of the comedy “The Misanthrope” to refocusing on ethical issues. It appears that, despite the importance of all of these aspects, clearly significant for the comprehension of the play, a cultural studies approach, characteristic for the French literary studies and based on the most recent studies of the gallant epoch, will facilitate a more sensible perception of the play.

Becoming Max, Athena, and Kristin: Transnormative Nationalism in Dark Angel, Battlestar Galactica, and the Chelsea Manning Controversy

Abstract In Terrorist Assemblages, Jasbir Puar introduces the concept of homonationalism as an analytic for a sociohistorical moment of seeming contradictions in gay politics. Since the book's first edition in 2007, several scholars have theorized the relation between homonationalism and transgender politics by examining nonfictional texts from 2007 onward. That scholarship most often explores the controversy surrounding US transparency activist Chelsea Manning's 2010 leaks of government information and subsequent “coming out” as transgender. However, interactions among homonationalism, transgender politics, and fictional texts remain undertheorized. Analyzing those interactions with a focus on American exceptionalism and science fiction television, this article shows that transnormative nationalism began territorializing through transtextuality as early as 2000. This argument not only contributes a more comprehensive explanation of the relation between homonationalism and transgender politics but also reveals the role of science fiction television in connecting the two. The argument's supporting evidence comprises a science fiction television figure termed the post-post-gender cyborg woman. This figure is incarnated in Max, a transgenic woman in Dark Angel (Fox, 2000–2002), and Sharon, a female humanoid Cylon (or robot) in Battlestar Galactica (Sky1 and Sci Fi Channel, 2004–2009). The method is a multiperspectival cultural studies approach, which holistically interprets a text's cultural meanings through analyzing not only the text but also its transtextually related texts, production, and reception. The data include television episodes, webisodes, DVD special features, tie-in novels, published interviews, professional criticism, fan fiction, and fan video. The analysis concludes with how transnormative nationalism reterritorialized in the Manning controversy.