Politics and Culture in Times of Social Transformation 3700-ISSC-PCTST-MON
Politics and culture are deeply intertwined, influencing each other across multiple levels of social life. This course invites students to critically examine the complexity of these interdependencies and to analyze how political ideologies, actions, and institutions both shape and are shaped by cultural practices.
Throughout the course, we will explore how politics manifests in visual arts, music, mass culture, literature, and cinema. We will investigate the symbolic and material intersections of political culture and cultural expression — including how ideologies are embedded in artistic works, and how cultural production can become a site of political resistance or reinforcement.
Key themes will include:
• the cultural contradictions of capitalism;
• the role of dissident cultures in democratic transformations, particularly in Eastern Europe;
• the mutual influence between democracy and culture, religion and culture, and civil society and culture;
• and the political uses of culture in diplomacy and soft power
We will also examine how art is used to aestheticize politics and, conversely, how politics infiltrates and politicizes art. Special attention will be paid to whether art can exist independently of political influence, and under what conditions it may become a force for peace-making and social change.
By engaging with diverse theoretical frameworks and case studies, students will develop a nuanced understanding of the power dynamics embedded in cultural practices and their significance in shaping political realities — past and present.
Koordynatorzy przedmiotu
Efekty kształcenia
- 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)
Kryteria oceniania
Final grade depends on:
- Presence on the lectures (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
- Presentation
- Oral examination
Literatura
Walter Benjamin “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction”
Roland Barthes, „Mythologies”
Jean Baudrillard, “The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures”
Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer, “Dialectic of Enlightenment”
Murray Edelman, “From Art to Politics: How Artistic Creations Shape Political Conceptions”
John Fiske, „Television Culture”
Vaclav Havel, “The Power of the Powerless”
Ewa Thompson, “Imperial Knowledge: Russian Literature and Colonialism”
Jean-François Lyotard „The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge”
Badiou A., “Fifteen Theses on Contemporary Art”
Eli Anapur, “The Strong Relation Between Art and Politics”
Max, Harris, “Five Ways of Seeing the Relationship Between Art and Politics — In a Time of Trump”
José Ortega y Gasset “The Dehumanization of Art and Other Essays on Art, Culture, and Literature”
Hito, Steyerl, “Politics of Art: Contemporary Art and the Transition to Post-Democracy”
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).
Więcej informacji
Dodatkowe informacje (np. o kalendarzu rejestracji, prowadzących zajęcia, lokalizacji i terminach zajęć) mogą być dostępne w serwisie USOSweb: