Cultural Studies
(Note: minor program only)
Office: 219 Newcomb Hall
Phone: (504) 865-5160
Fax:
(504) 862-8958
Program Administrator:
Joy Van Fuqua (Director)
Cultural Studies Advisory Board:
Hope H. Glidden, French and Italian
Amy Koritz, English
Ana M. Lopez, Communication
Molly A. Rothenberg, English
Carole Spitzack, Communication
Richard Teichgraeber, History
Martyn P. Thompson, Political Science
Minor
A minor in cultural studies provides students with an interdisciplinary approach to the study of culture. Cultural studies
courses focus on the interrelationships between representations --visual, written, oral, etc. -- and the world in which
they are produced and consumed. The overarching concern of cultural studies is to explore how representations
function to create and embody cultural meaning and values. Representations are cultural artifacts that stand for,
symbolize, depict, or portray objects, people, thoughts, or emotions, etc. The minor introduces students to a variety of
approaches to the analysis of culture, while permitting them to focus on a cluster area pertinent to their interests.
The minor in Cultural Studies consists of six courses. No more than two of the courses counting towards a cultural
studies minor may count toward a departmental major. All students working toward the minor will be required to take
300 Introduction to Cultural Criticism, one elective course selected from a preapproved list, three courses in a cluster
area of concentration, and 590 Cultural Studies Research Seminar.
Electives
Anthropology
ANTH 210 Myth and Life
ANTH 621 Development of Anthropological Theory
ANTH 683 Maya and Aztec Literature
Communication
COMM 426 Contemporary Culture and the Body
COMM 466 Youth Culture and the Mass Media
COMM 476 Cultural Studies and Popular Culture
COMM 481 Special Topics in Communication (when cultural studies topic)
Cultural Studies
CLST 480 Special Topics in Cultural Studies
English
ENLS 482 Colonial and Post-Colonial Discourse
ENLS 483 Race, Class, and Gender
ENLS 484 Performance Studies
ENLS 485 Cultural Politics and Practice
ENLS 486 Topics in Cultural Studies
French
FREN 301 French Cultural Studies: Childhood and the Family
History
HISB 312 West African Culture and Society
HISB 322 Africa and Hollywood: Myth, Romance, and Savage Imagery
HISU 381 Southern Folk Culture
Latin American Studies
LAST 301 The Cultural Heritage of Latin America, Discovery to Independence
LAST 302 The Cultural Heritage of Latin America, Independence to Present
Spanish and Portuguese
SPAN 483 Hispanic Literature Topics in Translation: Renaissance Performances of Gender; Spanish Performances
of the Subject; Culture and Technologies in Spanish America; Anatomies of Melancholy
Areas of Concentration
A cluster area of concentration consists of three courses (from at least two different departments) focused around an
issue or problem in culture that demands interdisciplinary study. The cluster areas enable sustained analysis of how
these problems or issues have been represented in specific historical and social contexts. Currently, the cultural studies
cluster areas of concentration are:
Performances of Culture
This cluster allows students to investigate the role of performance as a way of representing important values and beliefs
about the world. Courses address the creation and interpretation of performances in institutionalized theatre, festivals,
political events, storytelling circles, etc. By examining the performative dimensions of, for example, racial stereotypes
and national identities, these courses explore ways in which cultural status and values are represented for and by
individuals through performances in both aesthetic and social contexts.
(Three of the following):
Classical Studies
CLAS 320 Greek Religion
English
ENLS 483 Race, Class, and Gender: Primitivism and Modernism; Machine Dreams
ENLS 484 Performance Studies
Music
MUSC 335 Music in Contemporary Society
Spanish and Portuguese
SPAN 483 Hispanic Literature Topics in Translation: Renaissance Performances of Gender; Spanish Performances
of the Subject
In addition to the courses listed above, other colloquia, seminars, independent studies, and special topics courses may
be applied to the cluster area subject to approval by the directors of the program. For complete information about these
courses, consult the Schedule of Classes or obtain a current course description from the co-directors of the program.
Natures, Technologies, Cultures
This cluster examines how the intersection of the natural/human and the technological/human have been represented in
scientific, medical, philosophical, aesthetic, and other discourses. Courses in the cluster area explore how a range of
popular and scholarly scientific discourses and technologies have influenced how people think about and represent
human bodies, diseases, and ways of organizing and understanding nature. Other courses focus on how technologies
such as handwriting and computers have been represented and interpreted as extensions of or substitution for the
natural and the human.
(Three of the following):
Communication
COMM 426 Contemporary Culture and the Body
English
ENLS 483 Race, Class, and Gender: Machine Dreams
ENLS 485 Cultural Politics and Practice: The AIDS Crisis
ENLS 486 Topics in Cultural Studies: Men, Women, Bodies, Machines
Philosophy
PHIL 334 Humanity's Place in Nature
Physics
PHYS 304 Approaches to the Scientific Revolution
Spanish and Portuguese
SPAN 483 Hispanic Literature Topics in Translation: Culture and Technologies in Spanish America; Anatomies of
Melancholy
In addition to the courses listed above, other colloquia, seminars, independent studies, and special topics courses may
be applied to the cluster area subject to approval by the directors of the program. For complete information about these
courses, consult the Schedule of Classes or obtain a current course description from the co-directors of the program.
CLST 300 Introduction to Cultural Criticism (3)
Ms. Balides, Ms. Koritz, Ms. Lopez, Ms. Nair. Examination of the major concepts of culture from the late 19th century
to the present as they relate to the analysis of cultural practices and texts. Specific emphasis on the interdisciplinary
nature of cultural analysis, the relation between elite and popular cultures, dominant formations and the resistance to
them, and intercultural encounters.
CLST 480 Special Topics in Cultural Studies (3)
Staff. An in-depth examination of specific cultural studies topics which may be drawn from any of the areas of
concentration, for example the body in the Western tradition or the rhetoric of scientific invention. May be taken twice
for credit on different topics.
CLST 590 Cultural Studies Research Seminar (2)
Ms. Koritz, Ms. Lopez. This seminar will enable students to integrate the multi-disciplinary course work taken as a
cluster area of concentration. Students will meet regularly with the professors, either individually or in groups, and will
be expected to produce a substantial research paper. This paper should demonstrate their ability to synthesize diverse
disciplinary and theoretical approaches to some aspect of the cluster area and to analyze its relationship to a specific
cultural context.
