Politics and Culture: Interdependencies and Multiple Connections 3700-ISSC-23-PCIMC
Politics and culture are intertwined and influence each other at many levels. The complexity of these interdependencies deserves special attention and careful analysis. During the course we will explore the manifestations of politics in visual arts, in music, in mass culture etc. We will also explore interconnections between ideologies and culture; political actions and culture, as well as reflect on the cultural contradictions of capitalism.
We will trace manifestations and embodiment of political ideologies in art, literature and cinema, as well as study of political culture in the context of various cultural practices. We will try answering the question, if an art can exist outside politics, and what role the dissident culture had played in the democratic transformations in Eastern Europe.
The course is designed to explore the influence of literature, art, movies, and series on today’s politics and society, as well as reflect on interdependencies between democracy and culture; religion and culture; civic society and culture. We will also look at the role of the cultural diplomacy on politics, as well as explore the differences between political culture in the east and west. We will discuss peculiarities of the process of aestheticizing of politics and politicizing of art and try to answer the question, if and how an art can become an instrument of peace-making.
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
- student understands the relationships and interdependencies between democracy and culture; religion and culture; civic society and culture (K_WO1)
- student understands the complexity and diversity of the relationship between politics and culture in different realms (K_WO2)
- student is familiar with the role that the dissident culture had played in democratic transformations of Eastern and Central Europe (K_WO3)
- student understands the meaning of political culture and can see how political culture of the region had been shaped (K_WO4)
- student knows the advanced methods of analysis and interpretation of cultural texts (K_WO7)
- student is able to interpret social processes in an advanced and interdisciplinary way (K_UO4)
- student is ready to show respect for partners in the discussion and uses substantive arguments; understands the principles of tolerance and cultural differences (K_KO5)
- student is able to select and make a critical assessment of information coming from various sources (K_UO1)
Assessment criteria
Final grade depends on:
- Presence on the lectures (2 unjustified unattendances are accepted, absence from more than one third of the classes makes it impossible to pass examination)
- Activity during the seminars
- Participation in discussions
- Reading the obligatory texts
- Written assessment
Bibliography
Freeland C., «Art Theory: A Very Short Introduction»
Kim Christian Schroder “Media Discourse Analysis Researching Cultural Meanings from Inception to Reception”
Roland Barthes, „Mythologies”
John Fiske „Television Culture”
“Introduction: John Fiske and Television Culture”
Ron Becker, Aniko Bodroghkozy, Steve Classen, Elana Levine, Jason Mittell, Greg Smith, and Pamela Wilson
Hartley, J. (1999) “Uses of Television”
Jean-François Lyotard „The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge”
Frankel, V. E. “Women in Game of Thrones: Power, Conformity and Resistance”
Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
Rancière J. “The Politics of Aesthetics”
Murray, Edelman “From Art to Politics: How Artistic Creations Shape Political Conceptions”
Eli Anapur “The Strong Relation Between Art and Politics”
Hito, Steyerl “Politics of Art: Contemporary Art and the Transition to Post-Democracy”
Frank, Möller “Politics and Art”
Badiou A. “Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art”
Max, Harris “Five Ways of Seeing the Relationship Between Art and Politics — In a Time of Trump”
Irfan Nihan Demirel, Osman Altintas “Relationship Between Art and Politics”
Freeden, M. “Ideology. A Very Short Introduction”
Jean Baudrillard, “The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures”
Fiske, J. “Reading the Popular”
MacDonald, D. “A Theory of Mass Culture. In Popular Culture”
Storey, J. “Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction”
“Popular Culture and World Politics: Theories, Methods, Pedagogies” (Ed. Federica Caso And Caitlin Hamilton)
“Cultural Diplomacy in Europe: Between the Domestic and the International” (The European Union in International Affairs). Ed. Caterina Carta, Richard Higgott. - Palgrave Macmillan, 2019.
Weldes, Jutta, Rowley, Christina. So, “How Does Popular Culture Relate to World Politics?” in: Popular Culture and World Politics: Theories, Methods, Pedagogies. (Ed. Federica Caso And Caitlin Hamilton).
Burleigh, Michael “Cultural History of Terrorism”
Laqueur, Thomas and Masiello, Francine “Art and violence”
Lederach, J.-P. “The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace”
Kim S., Kollontai P. and Yore S. “Mediating Peace: Reconciliation through Visual Art, Music and Film”
José Ortega y Gasset “The Dehumanization of Art and Other Essays on Art, Culture, and Literature”
Dominique Moisi “The Geopolitics of Emotion: How Cultures of Fear, Humiliation and Hope are Reshaping the World”
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: