To understand popular culture solely as a form of entertainment is to miss some of the critical contributions to learning and identity formation the study of popular culture may offer. With this in mind, this course begins from the position that popular culture is inherently pedagogical and can be connected to efforts at securing social justice and critical consciousness-raising. Contemporary western society’s over saturation with popular culture and conspicuous consumptive tendancies means there exists several opportunities for individuals to develop affective investments in images, ideologies and ideals that circulate via popular culture. Regardless of if these investments are conservative, radical, liberal or counterhegemonic, our concern is of the generation of meaning via cultural texts and their social relations of production. Popular culture as a site of pleasure or as a site of struggle illuminates the ways in which individuals chose to live their lives.
In this course we will examine the pedagogical implications of various cultural texts including film, digital media, musical performances, children’s literature, social media and television. We will also examine aspects of consumer culture such as clothing, games and toys. The course readings are broken down thematically with e-journal articles available at U of T library signaled by the [UTL] symbol. Other readings will be available either on course reserve, blackboard or in the OISE library.
