96439 - Research Methods in Cultural Studies (1)

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course the student: is provided with a toolbox (made of concepts, methods and techniques) related to cultural studies; has developed basic skills for designing, conducting, and evaluating empirical researches in the field of cultural studies, with special reference to arts, music, and entertainment.

Course contents

How to study culture? What are cultural studies? How do we use the various resources that art gives us (film, music, theater, dance, video, photos, etc.) to conduct a scientific research? What sources are considered valid or legitimate? How to conduct an interview? What is participant observation? What are statistics, graphs, tables for? These and other questions will be explored throughout the course through various texts and authors such as Stuart Hall, Clifford Geertz, Judith Butler, Erving Goffman.

Cultural studies is an interdisciplinary field that examines the political dynamics of contemporary culture (including popular culture) and its historical foundations. Research in cultural studies seeks to study how cultural practices relate to broader systems of power associated with social phenomena and categories such as class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, religion, and age, etc. Cultural studies does not define culture as a fixed, bounded and stable entity, but rather as a set of practices and processes in constant interaction and change. Cultural studies encompasses a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives and practices that allow the exploration of diverse phenomena and products: from love on the Internet, to music in the suburbs, aperitifs at the bar and telenovelas.

The aim of the course is to create a space for discussion, exploration and analysis in which students have the opportunity to delve into local and global cultural and socio-political contexts, as well as to combine artistic and/or media resources (theater, dance, film, video, photography, etc. ) with different approaches and methods: semiotics, postcolonial studies, Marxism, feminist theory, ethnographic method, political theory, history, philosophy, literary theory, narrative analysis, media theory, film/video studies, communication studies, political economy, museum studies, and art history/criticism.


The course will be divided into three parts. In the first part, the student will acquire the basics of cultural studies as an interdisciplinary field and learn the plurality of methods involved. A distinction will be made between qualitative and quantitative research methods, as well as an analysis of the different types of objects of study: experience, discourse, images, producers and consumers, digital objects and memory.

The second part of the course will focus on ethnography as one of the main methods in the study of cultural studies, as it involves doing meticulous fieldwork: recording life histories, documenting social landscapes, living with local hosts and conducting interviews. During this part of the course, we will have the opportunity to delve what ethnography is and dialogue with classic texts and researchers currently conducting research in the field of cultural studies. The idea is that students can reflect and discuss different research methods, topics, research design, researcher-informant relationship, ethics, etc.

The last part of the course will be practical. Students will present a short research project proposal, with an emphasis on research design and methodology. In this presentation, they will need to reflect on which research method(s) would be the most appropriate to address the proposed research question(s).

 

For the exam, the student should study the mandatory text and a second text to be chosen from the list of supplementary and ethnographic texts.

Readings/Bibliography

Mandatory texts:

Gobo, G. (2001). Descrivere il mondo. Teoria e pratica del metodo etnografico in sociologia. Carocci.

Supplementary texts:

Hall, S. (2006). Il soggetto e la differenza: per un'archeologia degli studi culturali e postcoloniali (Vol. 67). Meltemi Editore srl.

Clifford, J., & Marcus, E. G. (Eds.). (2005). Scrivere le culture. Poetiche e politiche dell'etnografia (Vol. 10). Meltemi Editore srl.

Geertz, C., Bona, E., & Gaion, R. (1998). Interpretazione di culture. Bologna: Il mulino.

Butler, J. (2023). Questione di genere: il femminismo e la sovversione dell'identità. Bari: Laterza & Figli Spa.

Santoro, M. (a cura di) (2014) La cultura che conta. Misurare oggetti e pratiche culturali, Bologna: Il Mulino.

L'industria culturale : quando l'Illuminismo diventa mistificazione di massa / Max Horkheimer e Theodor W. Adorno

Ingold, T. (2014). That’s enough about ethnography!. Hau: journal of ethnographic theory, 4(1), 383-395.

Hall, S. (2015). □ Cultural Identity and Diaspora. In Colonial discourse and post-colonial theory (pp. 392-403). Routledge.

Ethnographic texts:

Barnao, C. (2008). " No alcol? No party!" Etnografia dei giovani bevitori. Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa, 1(2), 249-276.

Becker, H. S. (2017). Outsiders: studi di sociologia della devianza. Mimesis.

Goffman, E. (2006). Sul" fieldwork". Studi culturali, 3(1), 103-116.

Nardini, D. (2021). Il senso del mare. Fenomenologia del surf sulla Gold Coast australiana. Antropologia, 8(2 NS), 127-146.

Magaudda, P., & Santoro, M. (2013). Dalla popular music ai sound studies: lo studio delle culture sonore. Studi culturali, 10(1), 3-12.

Sabugal, P. (2018). Amore e Identità. Il caso dell'immigrazione messicana in Italia. THE LAB'S QUARTERLY, 20(3), 75-89.

Teaching methods

Seminar activities. There will also be sessions with guest speakers (active researchers and professors from other universities) who will share their research related to cultural studies.

Assessment methods

The exam will be oral. Questions will be on 1) the mandatory text, 2) one of the supplementary and ethnographic texts that will be discussed in class, and 3) the research developed during the course. The research will be presented in the form of a term paper of up to 1,000 words (3/4 pages) that will present the case study, research questions, techniques and methods used to obtain the data, results and conclusions. NOTE: More precise details about the final paper will be provided during the course. The paper must be handed in before the exam.

Teaching tools

PDF reading material will be shared with students. Videos and PPT slides will be used during lectures.

Office hours

See the website of Paulina Sabugal Paz