Paper no 8 Cultural Studies

Alpa Ponda

Sem 2

Batch 2016-2018

Department Of English

MKB University

Paper No. 8

Cultural Studies

Topic : Importance of civics, proceeding with British Cultural Materialism, New Historicism and American Multiculturalism

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Importance of Civics as basic 

        We live in democratic country so it is important to study Civics that is all about the rights and duties of citizens.Civics is the study of

British Cultural Materialism

        The British Critic Graham Holderness describes cultural materialism as ‘a politicised form of historiography’. We can explain this as meaning the study of historical marerial which includes literary texts within a politicised framework. The term ‘cultural materalism’ was made current in 1985 when it was used by Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield, the best-known of the cultural materialists as the subtitle of their edited collection of essays Political Shakespeare.

        British Culture Materialism focuses on Capitalism. There are elite and working class in society. So the Marxism arises in this situation. The against concept of capitalism that believes in equality. The socialist Utopia of equality of distribution is just the imagination and as the culture is the journey to the perfection, this Utopia is also the imagination and trial towards making the utopian society.

        Inspired by Karl Marx, british theories were also inflused by Gyorgy Lukas, Theodor Adorno, Louis Althusser, Max Horkheimer, Mikhil Bakhtin and Antonio Gramsci. They concentrated in problems of cultural hegemony and system of domination. Hegemony means the sense of reality for most people, beyond which it is difficult for the members of society to move but it is not impossible to undertake. In the end, we have the power to change it.

New Historicism

        New Historicism is the process of studying the whole reference when one works on any literary text, question or issue.e.g the word ‘Laputa’ in Jonathan Swift’s Novel, what is the meaning of that word is Whore or prostitute.Laputa is a gigantic trope of the female body, the circular island with a round chasm at the center, through which the astronomers of the island descend to  a domelike structure of the ‘Flando Gagnole’.New Historicism is about going in periphery in the search of the meaning or for studying.

        Text is historical and History is texual.

e.g we now have some Gandhi’s letter which he had written for his male friend but we find the sweetness like he was writing to a girl. So it would be the question, Was Gandhi gay? So New Historicism the rational study which goes in all references of the matter or text and its history.

American Multiculturalism

        The multi itself says that it is not mixed but,different cultures are there as different people from different country they are not mixed but have their own identities by their cultures.America is the culture of diversities. Many people from different region go to America as it is the growing region. Polyphony of voices is there. Recently we find the issue on Donald Trump who was in banning the foreigners to enter in America. There is the question that because of multi culture, Americans are losing their identities, they might lose their dominance on other country. There should be a question from our side if Americans are original the Americans so they are regretting the others.

        In 1965 the Watts race riots drew worldwide attention. The Civil Rights Act had passed in 1964, and the blacklash was well under way in 1965, murders and other atrocities attended the civil rights march from Selma to Montogomery. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.

         All African American students in South attended segregated schools, and discrimination was still unquestioned in most industries, interracial marriage was still illegal in many states.

The effect of American Multiculturalism is also there on language and literature.

1.  African American Writers

African American studies is widely pursued in American Literary criticism, from the recovery of 18^th century. Poets like Phillis Wheately to experimental novels of Toni Morrison.African American writing shows a folkloric conception of humankind.

        The 1960s brought Black Power and Black Arts Movement, proposing a separate identification and symbology. Major figures were Amiri Baraka, Margaret Abigail Walker, Ernest Gaines, John Edgar Wideman, and Ishmael Reed; in related arts, e.g. music, the big name were Chuck Berry, B.B.King, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Jimi Hendrix. “black” culture had “crossed over”. Today, Toni Morrison shows irritation when she is constantly discussed as a “Black Writer” instead of merely a writer. Nevertheless, Morrison’s works such as The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon, and Beloved give readers riveting insights into the painful lives of her black protagonists as they confront racism in all its forms in American society.

2.  Latino Writers

Latino means Mexican American. We can also refer this term to Spanish-speaking people in the United States. Mexican Americans are the largest and most influential group of Latina in the United States. We can not define only particular culture as Latino, the diversity of Spanish- speaking peoples- with different nationalities,religions,skin colors, different origins, politics- these all had affected American culture.

Latinas, like  Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, author of the novel of California, The Squatter and the Don, were among the early writers; Josephina Niggli’s novel Mexican Village was the first literary work by a Mexican American to reach a general American audience they also provide insight into the machismo of Mexican culture, call for liberation of women from abusive and exploitative relationships, and celebrate the newly heard voices of Mexican American woman writers.Latina writers are some of the most energetically studied writers today.

3.  American Indian Literature

In predominantly oral cultures, storytelling passes on religious beliefs, moral values, political codes and practical lessons of everyday life. For American Indians, stories are a source of strength in face of centuries of silencing by Euro-Americans.Two types of Indian Literature includes tales,songs and oratory that have existed on the north America continent for centuries, composed in tribal languages and performed for tribal audiences. Mainstream Indian Literature refers to works written by Indians in English in the traditional genres of fiction, poetry and autobiography.  Traditional literature was oral; because the Indian tribes did not have written languages.

4.  Asian American Writers

Asian American Literature is written by people of Asian descent in the United States, addressing the experience of living in a society that views them alien. Asian American writers include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Malaysian, and many other people of Asia, Indian subcontinent, the Pacific. These cultures present a bewildering array of languages, religions, social structure and skin colors. Works written about the Pacific by Anglo American authors such as Herman Melville’s Typee, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.

1.  Latino Writers

Latino means Mexican American. We can also refer this term to Spanish-speaking people in the United States. Mexican Americans are the largest and most influential group of Latina in the United States. We can not define only particular culture as Latino, the diversity of Spanish- speaking peoples- with different nationalities,religions,skin colors, different origins, politics- these all had affected American culture.

Latinas, like  Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, author of the novel of California, The Squatter and the Don, were among the early writers; Josephina Niggli’s novel Mexican Village was the first literary work by a Mexican American to reach a general American audience they also provide insight into the machismo of Mexican culture, call for liberation of women from abusive and exploitative relationships, and celebrate the newly heard voices of Mexican American woman writers.Latina writers are some of the most energetically studied writers today.

2.  American Indian Literature

In predominantly oral cultures, storytelling passes on religious beliefs, moral values, political codes and practical lessons of everyday life. For American Indians, stories are a source of strength in face of centuries of silencing by Euro-Americans.Two types of Indian Literature includes tales,songs and oratory that have existed on the north America continent for centuries, composed in tribal languages and performed for tribal audiences. Mainstream Indian Literature refers to works written by Indians in English in the traditional genres of fiction, poetry and autobiography.  Traditional literature was oral; because the Indian tribes did not have written languages.

3.  Asian American Writers

Asian American Literature is written by people of Asian descent in the United States, addressing the experience of living in a society that views them alien. Asian American writers include Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Malaysian, and many other people of Asia, Indian subcontinent, the Pacific. These cultures present a bewildering array of languages, religions, social structure and skin colors. Works written about the Pacific by Anglo American authors such as Herman Melville’s Typee, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island.