Discovering Others:
An Introduction to Contemporary Cultural Theory I

Tama campus, autumn term, Wednesday 4:35~6:05

This course will aim to acquaint students with central theoretical issues in the field that has come to be called cultural studies. The starting point will be Edward Said’s introduction to Orientalism (1978), which will present both a practical and a theoretical model for the work that follows. By the fourth week each student will have selected a particular area of inquiry from within a range of concepts associated with cultural studies, and will focus on that area for the remainder of the course. Possible topics include:

Among the central aims of the course will be to demonstrate the inter-relation of these concepts, when possible by turning to discussion of the contemporary cultures of Japan.

Time spent in class will alternate between informal discussion and student presentations, both formal and informal. Each week students will read and present to the seminar a written summary of an academic article related to the concepts of the course. These will be chosen by the students, initially from among about 1,000 recently-published English-language articles that in electronic form will be made available by the instructor.

The minimum requirements are attentive presence at all class meetings and timely completion of assignments. Assuming these basics, the percentages for determining grades will be as follows:

active participation	25%
written summaries	25%
presentations	25%
final examination	25%

Texts:

Edward Said, Introduction, Orientalism (1978).

Simon During, Introduction, The Cultural Studies Reader, 2nd ed. (1999).

Hiroshi Yoshioka, ‘Samurai and Self-Colonization in Japan’ (1995).

Student-selected articles noted in David Ewick, ‘Toward a Classified Bibliography of Not One Thing: Cross-Disciplinary Cultural Studies in English-Language Journals’ (2003).