Civilization, Culture and Society: Fundamentals
of Cultural History
Lectures 2018-2019
Table of Contents
2. Popular History....................................................................................................................2
3. The history of historiography..............................................................................................4
4. New Cultural History: Memory Boom and Historical Representation...........................5
5. History of the body...............................................................................................................7
6. Cultural Encounters...........................................................................................................12
7. Digital Cultural History.....................................................................................................12
7.1 P. Huijnen................................................................................................................................12
7.2 Dirk van Miert.........................................................................................................................14
,2. Popular History
1. Burke – Problems of Cultural History
a. The Great Tradition = Trying to write a whole cultural history
i. Classical Cultural History
1. Burckhardt, Huizinga culture as a whole Zeitgeist
ii. Social history of Art
1. Warburg, Gombrich, Beard
iii. Popular Culture
1. E.P. Thompson
iv. New Cultural History
b. Problems of Cultural History
i. Evidence: there is no clear method; impressionistic and even anecdotal
ii. Alternatives (scientific approach):
1. Serial history
2. Content analysis
3. Discourse analysis
iii. Zeitgeist does not exist, there’s no universal culture (Marxist influence)
c. Marxist criticism
i. Which place has culture within Marxist theory?
1. Culture is a result of the substructure means of production
base generally dominant
ii. Culture cannot be studied without studying the context that brought it forth
iii. Culture is everything that is not directly to do with production
iv. Culture is not an individual field.
d. The Cultural Turn
i. Economism: base (society) culture (superstruction)
ii. Culturalism: culture (superstruction) base (society)
e. Antonio Gramsci
i. Communist, founder of PCI
ii. Against economism
iii. False consciousness Marxism doesn’t work because workers didn’t
recognize themselves as workers
iv. Ended up in prison
v. Cultural hegemony (consensus) the consensus about the order
(unquestioned)
vi. Solution: Intellectual and moral leadership
1. Teach workers that they’re workers
f. Discovery of the “people”
i. Relation between learned culture (elite) and popular culture
ii. Relation between culture and subculture
iii. Anthropological definition of culture
1. There are more than one cultures
g. Birmingham school
i. Studied culture in search of hegemony
ii. Cultural hegemony (power) vs. Agency (freedom)
iii. Role of mass media in representation (framing)
2. Definitions
, a. Two cultures
i. Popular culture
1. Authentic, spontaneous, Local
2. Ordinary People
3. Folk, blues, Rap
ii. Mass culture
1. Commercial, artificial, global
2. Elites, corporations
3. dime novels, Disney, Hollywood, Television
b. Relevance of popular culture
i. Emancipation: gives a voice to the oppressed
ii. Broad base: expression of all layers
iii. Articulation of essential norms and values
iv. Reflects a way of life (anthropology)
v. Helps to talk about power
c. Problems of popular culture
i. Role and demarcation of elite (authenticity)
ii. Who belongs to “the people” (interpretation)
iii. The excluded are diverse and heterogeneous (representatively)
Case study: Disney
Hard work vs. laziness
Wolf represents Jews
Popular culture background Disney made it mass culture
3. E.P. Thompson
a. Founding father of intellectual history
b. The making of the English Working class
i. History from below
ii. Making of a working class
iii. Class as social and cultural formation
iv. Agency: non-violent rioting
v. Experiences
vi. Popular culture
4. Lawrence Levine
a. Left wing background
b. Highbrow, Lowbrow
i. Shakespeare used to be popular culture
ii. Rich shared public culture
iii. Cultural hierarchy only developed at the end of the 19th century
iv. Highbrow – middlebrow – lowbrow
v. Cultural categories are a product of ideology (unstable)
5. Tricia Rose
a. Studied black culture
b. Black Noise
i. Investigates social, cultural and artistic foundations of hip hop
ii. Ethnographical study of hip hop
iii. Starting point for new study field
of Cultural History
Lectures 2018-2019
Table of Contents
2. Popular History....................................................................................................................2
3. The history of historiography..............................................................................................4
4. New Cultural History: Memory Boom and Historical Representation...........................5
5. History of the body...............................................................................................................7
6. Cultural Encounters...........................................................................................................12
7. Digital Cultural History.....................................................................................................12
7.1 P. Huijnen................................................................................................................................12
7.2 Dirk van Miert.........................................................................................................................14
,2. Popular History
1. Burke – Problems of Cultural History
a. The Great Tradition = Trying to write a whole cultural history
i. Classical Cultural History
1. Burckhardt, Huizinga culture as a whole Zeitgeist
ii. Social history of Art
1. Warburg, Gombrich, Beard
iii. Popular Culture
1. E.P. Thompson
iv. New Cultural History
b. Problems of Cultural History
i. Evidence: there is no clear method; impressionistic and even anecdotal
ii. Alternatives (scientific approach):
1. Serial history
2. Content analysis
3. Discourse analysis
iii. Zeitgeist does not exist, there’s no universal culture (Marxist influence)
c. Marxist criticism
i. Which place has culture within Marxist theory?
1. Culture is a result of the substructure means of production
base generally dominant
ii. Culture cannot be studied without studying the context that brought it forth
iii. Culture is everything that is not directly to do with production
iv. Culture is not an individual field.
d. The Cultural Turn
i. Economism: base (society) culture (superstruction)
ii. Culturalism: culture (superstruction) base (society)
e. Antonio Gramsci
i. Communist, founder of PCI
ii. Against economism
iii. False consciousness Marxism doesn’t work because workers didn’t
recognize themselves as workers
iv. Ended up in prison
v. Cultural hegemony (consensus) the consensus about the order
(unquestioned)
vi. Solution: Intellectual and moral leadership
1. Teach workers that they’re workers
f. Discovery of the “people”
i. Relation between learned culture (elite) and popular culture
ii. Relation between culture and subculture
iii. Anthropological definition of culture
1. There are more than one cultures
g. Birmingham school
i. Studied culture in search of hegemony
ii. Cultural hegemony (power) vs. Agency (freedom)
iii. Role of mass media in representation (framing)
2. Definitions
, a. Two cultures
i. Popular culture
1. Authentic, spontaneous, Local
2. Ordinary People
3. Folk, blues, Rap
ii. Mass culture
1. Commercial, artificial, global
2. Elites, corporations
3. dime novels, Disney, Hollywood, Television
b. Relevance of popular culture
i. Emancipation: gives a voice to the oppressed
ii. Broad base: expression of all layers
iii. Articulation of essential norms and values
iv. Reflects a way of life (anthropology)
v. Helps to talk about power
c. Problems of popular culture
i. Role and demarcation of elite (authenticity)
ii. Who belongs to “the people” (interpretation)
iii. The excluded are diverse and heterogeneous (representatively)
Case study: Disney
Hard work vs. laziness
Wolf represents Jews
Popular culture background Disney made it mass culture
3. E.P. Thompson
a. Founding father of intellectual history
b. The making of the English Working class
i. History from below
ii. Making of a working class
iii. Class as social and cultural formation
iv. Agency: non-violent rioting
v. Experiences
vi. Popular culture
4. Lawrence Levine
a. Left wing background
b. Highbrow, Lowbrow
i. Shakespeare used to be popular culture
ii. Rich shared public culture
iii. Cultural hierarchy only developed at the end of the 19th century
iv. Highbrow – middlebrow – lowbrow
v. Cultural categories are a product of ideology (unstable)
5. Tricia Rose
a. Studied black culture
b. Black Noise
i. Investigates social, cultural and artistic foundations of hip hop
ii. Ethnographical study of hip hop
iii. Starting point for new study field
