The modern concept of culture, which was developed out of earlier intellectual currents, is one of the most important concepts in the humanities and social sciences today. It is also widely used in non-academic contexts. We hear, for example, of global culture, consumer culture, high and low culture, organisational culture, enterprise culture and even police culture.

This course will consider the origins and development of the concept in the social sciences and the humanities. After introducing some foundational theories of culture, the course will survey the relatively new fields of cultural studies, postcolonial theory and globalisation theory. The course will also consider changing divisions of intellectual labour, both outside the academy and within it, through an examination of the social position of the main producers and consumers of contemporary images of culture and difference.

Two courses in Anthropology or Gender, Sexuality and Culture.

Kahn, Joel, Culture, Multiculture, Postculture, Sage, 1998