Introduction to the Course / January 9 - 20
translating questions/perspectives/politics into research
some basic issues: distinguishing quantitative and qualitative research; subjectivity and objectivity; primary and secondary sources
designing a research question; writing a research proposal; conducting a literature review; writing up a research project
other important considerations: validity and reliability; ethics and obligation
Theoretical Frameworks and Research Methods:
Uncovering the systems/ideas that perpetuate the domination of one group over another, e.g., patriarchy. Analysts take their cue from Marx and Engels, who wrote: "the ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas.... The class which has the means of material production at its disposal has control over the means of mental production." Analysts expose the contradictions running through the ideology under consideration and provide interpretations which help people bring about change.
Raymond Williams, Text, pp. 4-13
Richard Dyer et al., Text, pp. 35-42
Erica Carter, Text, pp. 104-21
Fedric Jameson, Text, pp. 192-205
Identifying the business strategies employed by culture-producing organisations (e.g., book publishers and video game designers) in the course of maximizing profits, i.e., charting the ways a given corporation exercises the "editorial function" (as Garnham puts it) in a specific social, economic, and political context. Analysts expose the power relations at work in the case under consideration.
Nicholas Garnham, Text, pp. 54-61
Erica Carter, Text, pp. 104-21
Fredric Jameson, Text, pp. 192-205
No classes on February 9 and 10
READING DAYS from February 19 - February 26
Mid-Term exam on March 1
Describing people in their natural settings in their own language as they produce/consume cultural products. Conceptualizing cultural production and consumption as complex social processes, analysts study the symbolic activities a particular group of people engage in, i.e., identifying the logic that informs/shapes a given activity.
Raymond Williams, Text. pp. 4-13
Janice Radway, Text, pp. 62-79
Erica Carter, Text, pp. 104-21
Uncovering the social and the political work being done during the process of story-telling, as a collaborative activity/a form of symbolic interaction. Analysts show how in a particular instance teller, coaxer, and audience "construct" the meaning of (intimate) experience.
Stuart Hall, Text, pp. 28-34
Ken Plummer, Text, pp. 333-45
Janice Radway, Text, pp. 62-79
Research Paper due, March 31
Conclusions / April 10 and 12
The class will reflect on a number of lessons, such as: understanding how research must be informed by theory and methods; recognizing and anticipating ethical issues; developing a sensitivity to questions of how research is written up (in its final form); and appreciating specific research skills. In addition, the class will reflect on specific research skills, especially ideology critique, ethnography, political economy, and narrative inquiry, presented as the core of qualitative research.