Michelle Bigenho: Anthropological Approaches to Popular Culture
This course was taught in Fall 1999.
What is "popular culture"? What is meant by "popular culture" in different social contexts? One of the common myths about anthropology is that its practitioners study only "exotic" people in remote areas. A course on popular culture, which renders worthy of anthropological analysis many different cultural manifestations, "exotic" or not, takes a step towards debunking that myth. In this course we will sketch some of the similarities and differences in the perspectives proposed by cultural studies, standard ethnography, ethnomusicology, narrative analysis, and semiotics. We will look at "popular culture" not as objects but as processes embedded in and related to systems of power, ritual, and meaning. While entertaining alternative interpretations, we will consider variations on two prominent explanations of these processes: one which emphasizes the contestatory potential of "popular culture," and the other which highlights the dominating influence of mass media-ted "popular culture." While also including examples from England and the United States, the course readings heavily emphasize popular cultures in Latin American contexts (Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia). Course units include: What is Popular Culture?; Popular Culture in Ritual; Anthropology and Ethnographic Practices; Signs: Style and Signifying Practice; Unpacking Recording and Duplication; Narratives, Authors, and Readers.