75598 - POP CULTURE THEORY

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

At the end of the course the student is expected to acquire the instruments to understand the existing connections between fashion and low-culture, with particular attention on pop music and aesthetic expressions popularized through the mass-media.

Contenuti

Title.

Fashion, Popular Culture, Pop-Rock Music.

The course considers the multidimensional imaginary of fashion and pop-rock music as prism for a critical understanding of popular culture in general.

Through the analysis of selected topics according to criteria derived from the philosophical traditions of critical theory and pragmatism, and also from sociology and cultural studies, the program faces the complex contaminations between “high” and “low” culture in the contemporary world.

The bibliography may be subject to changes until the beginning of the lecture course.

Testi/Bibliografia

Readings/Bibliography

1) E. Wilson, Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity, London-New York: Tauris & Co. 2003 (2^nd edition), only the following parts:

- pp. 1-15 and 179-207 (“Chapter 1: Introduction”, and “Chapter 9: Oppositional Dress”).

2) Theodor W. Adorno, On Popular Music, in Essays on Music, ed. by R. Leppert, Berkeley-Los Angeles-London: University of California Press, 2002.

3) R. Shusterman, Pragmatist Aesthetics: Living Beauty, Rethinking Art, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., Lanham-Boulder-New York-Oxford 2000 (2^nd edition), only the following parts:

- pp. 139-147 (first part of Chapter 6: “Aesthetic Ideology, Aesthetic Education, and Art’s Value in Critique")

- pp. 169-200 (Chapter 7: “Form and Funk: The Aesthetic Challenge of Popular Art”),

- pp. 236-283 (Chapter 10: “Somaesthetics: A Disciplinary Proposal”).

4) S. Marino, Writing Songs After Auschwitz: Rethinking Adorno’s Concept of Commitment and Aesthetics of Popular Music, in «ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR ÄSTHETIK UND ALLGEMEINE KUNSTWISSENSCHAFT», n. 1/2017, pp. 25-40.

5) S. Marino, A Somaesthetic Approach to Popular Music, in “Pragmatism Today”, vol. 9/1, 2018, pp. 109-125.

 

Students who will attend and participate to the ZoneModa International Conference 2019 "Be cool! Aesthetic Imperatives and Social Practices" (Rimini, May 16-18 2019) may decide whether to study for the oral exam the text listed as n. 1 in the Bibliography (E. Wilson, Adorned in Dreams: Fashion and Modernity, pp. 1-15 and 179-207) or replace that text in program with a short term paper (min. 5 pages, max. 10 pages: Word format; Times 14; space 1,5) on the contents of the conference talks that they have attended. Papers must be sent by email to the teacher at least one week before the oral exam.

Information on the International Conference "Be Cool!" can be found at its official webpage: https://eventi.unibo.it/becool/

 

The bibliography may be subject to changes until the beginning of the lecture course.

Metodi didattici

The course combines traditional lectures and group discussions in the classroom.

Regular attendance of the classes and participation into group discussions are recommended.

Classic academic competences as capacity of analysis, autonomy, attitude to discussion and debates are considered as important components.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

In order to take the exam, attending students will have to first make a written exam, in one of the last lessons of the lecture course, on parts of the texts in the program that will be clearly indicated by the teacher before the written exam, after having presented and explained them during the lessons; then, they will have to take an oral examination on the other parts of the teaching programme (namely, those not included in the written exam).

For non-attending students, or attending students who were not able to make the written exam on the established day, or students who made the written exam but did not succeed in obtaining a sufficient grade (min. 18/30), the teacher will allow to make the whole exam in the oral form of a conversation on all the texts in the program.

The written and the oral parts of the examination will ensure the achievement of the following objectives:

- knowledge of the main conceptual contents of the texts examined;

- general orientation concerning the characteristics of the contemporary aesthetic culture;

- comprehension of the meaning of the concepts learned in relation to the concrete phenomena taken into account.

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

The lessons will be supported by the multimedia material available in the classroom.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Stefano Marino