cULtural ANalySis 2005

八樓自治聲明

2006-02-26T13:32:00.000+08:00

一）對社會運動的抱負：

社會運動最終的目標，是推動整體社會的民主化，亦即整體人民由下而上的民主自決，當中包括政治，經濟，及文化等方面．

二）對香港社運的理解：

在現今新自由主義當道的社世界裡，基層人民在政治，經濟及文化等方面皆得不到上述的自主自決的權利．面對一個瞬息萬變的社會狀態，社會運動的論述和行動皆須不斷回應社會，並需不斷有新參與者加入，以達致在地抗爭及不斷壯大的可能．
環顧現今香港的社運界，民間社會力量仍然不算雄厚．一般民間團體，各自需要面對繁重的實務和行政工作（處理工友、街坊、姐妹等的個案和生活問題等），難以有時間空間及資源去顧及實驗性的行動，以致提出新論述．同時，一般民間團體的內務已極度繁忙，亦難以有時間空間及資源去支援其他團體的工作，這些支援，包括人力，物資，紀錄，支援新加入社運圈的青年人等等，也同時是社運界一個有待填補的位置．

再者，一般民間團體都需要中心化地吸納會員，以壯大爭取權益的聲威，這是一種社運進行的方式，但也引致不同權益群體關係分裂，加上內務繁重，因此民間社會間連結並不強大．然而民間社會必須連結，社運才有壯大的空間，及真正有可能動搖不公義的社會結構的根基．如何才是一種體現由下而上的民主自決的有機連結的模式，嘗待摸索與實驗．

三）根據對社運的現況而理解學運的角色：

大學生在現行的新自由主義底下，面對教育私營化，雖也是半個受害者，但比起大多數基層人民，大學生仍是整個不公社會建制下的得益者．相比起其他民間團體，學運團體有更大的時間，空間及資源．
　　
學生運動，面對著整個社會的不公義，應該要找出自己可以與整體社會運動互相配合的位置，並為整個社運之壯大而盡力．因此，大學生亦有責任去為推動基層人民民主自決的任何運動，提供支援和保障新論述的實驗空間，支援本土社會運動，以成為孕育社會運動新論述和新參與者的空間，是為整個社會運動互相配合的一環．

四）學聯及其社運資源中心在學運和社運中的角色：

學聯作為一個以關心社會為主要宗旨的大專學生聯會，擁有相當的資源和空間，可以努力扮演上述社運中的學運角色．因而，學聯除了以常委會及秘書處直接參與社會事件外，亦以支援及推動本土社運，連結大專生與社會，批判和紀錄社運為宗旨，而成立了學聯社會運動資源中心，並將其管理委員會架設為非常設委員會，讓其擁有相對的獨立性，以靈活地回應及支援社運．
　　
由於學聯乃是一個聯會，其每年成員均以成員學生會每年新上任的幹事為主幹，同時每年換屆，如欲每年持續地累積及承傳社運經驗，及對社運作出持續的支援，均有相當的困難．同時，上述為社運提供新論述和新戰線的學聯承擔，絕不可能不出自經驗的承傳和累積．因此，一個相對獨立並具批判性及持續性的社運資源中心，便確保了學聯作為一個大專學生聯會，可以負上大專生的社會責任，持續地實踐上述學運的責任．
　　
據此，學聯社運資源中心的運作，組織方式及其所進行之行動及活動，皆需具體實踐社會運動最終的目標，亦即是推動整體社會的民主化，朝著推動整體人民由下而上的民主自決進發．

五) 拒絕成為次等公民，重新確認社運責任：

在管委會杯葛週大的聲明中，已清晰指出，此次關於社運資源中心在學聯的憲政地位的修章過程中，如何充份體現了學聯內部運作不民主的過程．
　　
同時，我們無法認同第48屆的同學所提出的修章建議,無法認同將八樓的憲政地位降到學聯最底；又或任何把八樓如去年般癱瘓的動作．因此，為了保存我們所希望堅守的，學聯在學運與社運中的角色，八樓管委及全體參與者，在此宣佈，直至學聯的主流可以與八樓平等討論關於理念上的問題之前，八樓將進入自治狀態．管委並將於不久之未來，根據會章賦予權利，提出修章，講出我們對學運，社運，學聯八樓和九樓的角色理念，以及重新書寫因這些理念而引申的社運資源中心章則．

八樓全體參與者
18/2/2006
＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
註：八樓今日所授權之代表（理大黃文浩同學及嶺大麥家蕾同學），在此只能代表八樓表達已得到八樓整體共識的意見，因為真正的代議精神，就是代議士不能擅自取替被代議的人講更多或更少的意見，或作出任何承諾．
然而，我們其實十分願意與各有心的同學在繁瑣的會議常規外，進行平等的溝通，歡迎各期望願意平等溝通之同學，直接與八樓今日所授權之兩位代表同學聯絡，兩位同學在此可以代表八樓接收所有的質詢和疑問，交由八樓的全體人員決定如何回應

再見香港

我不想做領犬員

2006-01-09T20:14:00.000+08:00

編按：昨夜在尖沙咀的燭光晚會碰到Kimmy，她們一家五口經常來聲援被檢控的反世貿人士，她說，兒子單行有一段文字想跟大家分享。

敬啟者

　　這是小兒單行(Sin Hang)在這次WTO事件中的一篇短短的感想．我和我先生希望把這篇文章，刊登在各大小傳媒、寄給所有大專院校．．．．等．希望有更多香港人關注這次的事件．這篇短文有些不順暢，主要是因為我和我先生都沒有修改他的任何一隻字．若令大家有所不明,敬請原諒. 又或希望得到正稿的話, 可以直接與我聯絡.

此致

各大報社及組織

祝安好

KIMMY

我的志願是領犬員, 因為我喜歡小狗和想做警察。

在WTO期間, 警察們對自已沒有信心, 警察用糊椒噴霧、水砲和催淚氣。噴示威人士, 示威人士有一點生氣, 衝擊越猛烈, 示威人士衝擊防線。有香港身份證的人可以走, 沒有的人士要回警察局。我的感覺是覺得不公平, 我的想法是警察不對。令我不想做領犬員。

李單行　七歲　　　

可笑嗎?

2005-12-17T00:21:00.000+08:00

近日最受注目的莫過於南韓農民
世貿前夕.香港人對南韓農民來港示威表示不滿
因香港市民只知那個自盡抗議的南韓農民
我曾聽到有人說南韓農民「顛、痴線...」
也有人笑他們用保鮮紙護眼...
可是這真的好笑嗎?

南韓學生遠道而來示威
希望與港人討論有關對世貿的不滿
可是大多港人對世貿只持觀望態度

香港服務業能對南韓人熱情款待
向他們推銷產品
但一提及世貿便耍手擰頭

相信港人還未有看清世貿帶來的影響
不知如果來示威的不是南韓農民
而是中國農民...港人又會怎樣?

為什麼港人只懂普選?
卻不懂何為貿易平等?
保鮮紙護眼並不可笑...
笑他們的人才可笑!

大草地

私房「世貿」

2005-12-17T00:17:00.000+08:00

昨天背了相機袋參加了世貿遊行，很高興可以參予這項國際事件。
隻身走入世界不同國籍表達不同訴求的示威者中，好「好feel!」。當然不會錯過做「自己傳媒」的好機會！拍了一些照片及video，現把照片部分公諸同好>>私房「世貿」

art and life

香港媒體遇著反世貿

2005-12-12T14:15:00.000+08:00

今天（11/12）參加了反WTO大遊行，天氣很好，氣氛也很好，色彩繽紛，頓見香港傳媒的負面宣傳是「阿茂整餅」，傳媒遇著反世貿表現出無知、保守、反動、閉門造車的性格！

暴力
反世貿的朋友運用各種手法抗議，所謂「暴力」只是其中一種，今天在隊伍中沒有看到，卻有人跳舞唱歌，印尼勞工還弄來一只大蜘蛛，很搶眼，人也不少，但本地傳媒不感興趣，傻傻地，反而追著今天出席人數不算很多的南韓農民，他們很安靜，很守秩序，跟著領導喊口號及唱歌，我們學韓語喊口號，他們不跟著喊，連笑都不笑一下，不知好氣還是好笑，你說他們很情緒化？很暴力？打死我都唔信。

大軍殺到？
外地來港的反WTO朋友，至少也有幾千人，他們要食要住，遊行之餘可能都要玩一下，政府與傳媒卻把港島做生意的人嚇破膽，其實卻是好商機，我那天在灣仔大排檔吃飯，叫老闆不要關門，許多人會幫襯，他半信半疑，唔信果個真係冇運行。

香港待客之道何在？
香港媒體不斷擔心外國人來港示威會害死香港人，但從來沒有想過，我們香港如何虧待了人家，今天一家酒店把一些南韓工人的房間預訂取消，簡直離譜，還有，不知香港政府會否還到處堵截人家入境？香港傳媒如果真的這麼有空去採訪賣鐵枝的五金舖，不如研究一下香港政府以及各界人士如何糟質我們這些賓客。

不問理由的香港傳媒
有香港記者劈頭第一句便問南韓農民會否自殺，卻不問人家為何會有人犠牲性命抗議，卻不問誰迫他自殺，至少也該問，為何這麼多韓囼人花一大筆錢來香港抗議，這些朋友不是幾百萬未開頭，或前世沒有坐過飛機，他們有各種各樣跟世貿有關的理由；如果真的要獵奇，香港傳媒應該問，同樣受到世貿害苦的中國農民，為甚麼沒有來香港抗議？我們的農民過得太好？

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告全港警務人員書:

2005-12-07T17:55:00.000+08:00

世貿來港在即，主流媒體不斷發放「將有暴亂」的信息，合理化加強警力，但與在被「暴力」兩個「字」的想像嚇到腳仔軟的同時，有否想過反世貿的人為何會去到用自殺來抗議的地方呢？如果你的生活過得寫意幸福，你會去自殺嗎？

有封信，希望你看完之後會有反思、會有感動，明白何以反世貿。如果你覺得合理，請你勇敢地留下你的名字，並廣傳給你的朋友，作為對「真正暴力者」的一種反抗。不要小看一個名字，世界的改變，這就是個開始。

告全港警務人員書:

世貿協定殺人不淺勿為財團充當劊子手

十二月世貿部長級會議在港舉行在即，社會氣氛漸趨緊張，而我們一班市民，政府雖亦承認舉辦世貿無甚「實質」好處，但可「提高形象」，故在發放誤導訊息廣告的同時，亦向警隊施加強大的壓力，而警方高層亦有意識有步驟地向傳媒發放「將有暴亂」的訊息，我們恐怕此舉為前線警方員工製造壓力，亦在你們腦中製造強化某些形象，讓你們屆時誤將示威遊行的人民定義為「瘋狂的暴民」，造成前線警務人員極大的壓力。我們恐怕，你們將因而採取極端及非常之措施，最終會釀成不必要的緊張氣氛及暴力場面，產生無謂的暴力，而首當其衝的亦必是前線的警隊人員，而不會是那些有意發放誤導訊息的高層。

因此，身為一群對世貿有認識的市民，我們深感自己身為香港公民的責任，是把另一方面的訊息發放給你們，希望你們明白那些反對世貿的人民，不是無故發瘋，而是一群因為世貿的不平等條約而扼殺生命及尊嚴的無辜市民。由於世貿自始就將保護環境、勞工及一切弱勢社群的條約視為世貿的屏障，故聲稱為保護自由貿易的原則，而迫使參與國取消上述所有保護性法例，令本來生活無著工人、小農及普羅階級生活雪上加霜。

就舉今年世貿最受爭議的議題為例：為何美國政府就可以每年以鉅額補貼美國大農企，只要巧立名目便不會被世貿裁定「違反公平貿易」？此舉令到美國本身的小農都難以生存，更枉論其他東南亞和南美洲小國了──大家如何與那些因補貼而變成極低廉的價錢來「公平競爭」？許多發展中國家官商勾結，輸送利益，為開拓工業產品的國外市場，便無情地犧牲農民生計，農村的破壞──將來當全球糧食都操控在歐美等大國手中時，大家要怎辦呢？大家可以想像，本來已經難以回本的韓國農民，又怎受得起開放三倍大米市場的傷害？人不是齒輪，不可能國家說「經濟轉型」，就會忽然變了另一套機件內的齒輪。上次世貿部長級會議，韓國農民李京海先生不惜自殺抗議，就是要警醒世人：世貿殺害農夫──事實上已有數不清的農夫死於世貿的不平等條約下，可惜，眼見李京海先生以生命換取停止世貿會議的成果，今年就要在香港化為烏有了。

今年十二月的另一爭議性議題，就是版權法與公共服務業的私營化問題。

各位不要以為版權法就只是簡單地保護作者，其實最主要是保衛有能力購買某產品或發明之版權的大公司的利益──而未必是其作者！最嚴重的問題，其實近日在無國界醫生四處張貼的廣告中可略知一二──發展中國家每四分鐘便有人死於可醫治之疾病，因為缺乏藥物。無國界醫生的廣告比較含蓄──為何會無藥物？只因為藥物的版權為大藥商壟斷，藥價貴不可攀，才有那麼多人會死。

至於公共服務業私營化的問題，其實已在香港漸漸發生，大家想像一下：一個地區的醫療、教育、福利、公共設施、環境、房屋等等，都一一開放給企業管理，這會是一個怎樣的世界？西隧加價，連政府都不可以說什麼，這事件，其實已經在向香港人亮了公共服務私有化的警號，可惜，公眾還未察覺到。

各位可以想像一下：假如五十年前，在倫敦召開國際會議，決定將中國變成名存實亡的國家，決定令中國在經濟上淪為美、日等國家的附庸國，身為中國國民，又會簡單認為倫敦「只不過是一個開會的地方」嗎？

希望各位前線警隊人員，可以多花時間去了解反對的世貿的人為何會反對？到底世貿做了什麼讓一些工人、小農不肯安坐家中，而不惜千里迢迢而來到香港，誓要阻止世貿開會？而香港這個提供會議場地讓強國和財團在高貴的會議桌上決定窮人窮國命運的城市，在受害人心目中，又是怎樣的位置？

我們不知道政府和警隊的高層為各級警務人員提供了什麼樣的資訊，或者是否過份強調「恐怖襲擊」或「瘋狂暴徒」的可能性。當然，在十二月的反世貿示威中，如果發生任何事，也是前線人員首當其衝和背黑鍋，大家是否需考慮，是否需要如此為大企業來賣命呢？

我們誠摯地希望，在明白這些事實後，各位警務人員，請你們認真考慮屆時的工作性質和執行態度，當你們面對每一個黃皮膚、白皮膚、黑皮膚或棕皮膚的示威者時，除了想像他們可能會做的行為，也請你們同時想起，他們每個人因世貿而受的痛苦和壓搾，他們肩負的家鄉父老的眼淚和血汗，他們的下一代將要面對的淒楚，還有，當這個世界日益受到這種不斷只追求效益發展的全球化下，我們所有人將要承受的惡果。

一群香港市民
二零零五年十二月一日

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引自：〔再見香港〕

三文魚與近代哲學

2005-12-07T17:51:00.000+08:00

作者／fanchihk

節錄：

自由是人區別於動物的一個本質性特徵。馬克思在《1844年經濟學-哲學手稿》中明確指出，「生命活動的性質包含著一個物種的全部特性、它的類的特性，而自由自覺的活動恰恰就是人的類的特性。」馬克思接著寫道：「動物是和它的生命活動直接同一的，它沒有自己和自己的生命活動之間的區別。它就是這種生命活動。人則把自己的生命活動本身變成自己的意志和意識的對象。他的生命活動是有意識的。……有意識的生命活動直接把人跟動物的生命活動區別開來。正是僅僅由於這個緣故，人是類的存在物。換言之，正是由於他是類的存在物，他才是有意識的存在物，也就是說，他本身的生活對他來說才是對象。只是由於這個緣故，他的活動才是自由的活動。」人的意識性或精神性的一個重要特點，就是人能夠反思自己和周遭世界的關係。人的意識一方面有一種內在傾向，就是力求擺脫生命活動的外在規定性，由自己來設定活動的目的；人根據這個目的，通過自己的能動活動，使外在的規定服從自己目的的需要。如果根據馬克思的觀察來說，即是魚相對於人就是無意識的生命體，而且自身根本不會有自由可言。亦即是，在資本魚義的角度裡，人類實行重分工、高效率的作業模式，三文化在這一個無良的制度之下不得已被奪去自由，因為進入人類的大量生產模式沒有與繁殖後代的性功能對抗，在作業中亦享有「多元」的性快感，他們口腔期和腔門期並沒有被剝奪，在表面上三文魚的精神與生存意義是健康和全面，他們沒有察覺到原來自己只是人類所操縱的生產線中的一個齒輪，本身的自由與產品的價值一早就已消失得無影無蹤，他們不是為著自己而生存，他的生命實際上在出生的那一秒已經獻給人類（美食階級），他與現實中的他自己脫節，正正給予「（魚異）化」一個定義，三文魚不再是三文魚，三文魚子不再是三文魚子，這推想到大海也不再是大海。

全文

「我有我表達，你有你反對」？

2005-12-02T12:03:00.000+08:00

視關心社會為激進，視遊行人士為暴民，有人批評這些是歪理，批評過後還是批評。

社會運動目的為何？是改善社會，是宣揚自己相信的，多少還有一點教育的意圖。當有人以為社會運動是激進的，甚至抱負面態度予以批評，我們是否就只會回敬一句野蠻土共？除了部份拒絕溝通的「對手」之外，那些因為對社會運動缺乏認識而反對社會運動的人，我們是否也就簡單地將其歸入野蠻之列？

與之溝通，爭取支持，不能單靠一些他們覺得反感的方式。如果想宣揚自己相信的從而去改善社會，又怎能說「只要做好自己就唔洗理其他人」？又怎能「我有我表達，你有你反對」，各有各玩？

遊行之外，我們是否有需要了解那些「對手」的想法？

奕隨筆@嶺南文研

Concluding remarks

2005-11-30T11:21:00.000+08:00

A. Articulating experience

A1. The problem of "common sense"

Example:
「可能香港人早便對消費主義下的購物模式感到習慣，於是其買賣的過程是急速而又不加思索的。每當有一樣新的物品出現，人們便會產生害怕『蝕底』的心態，又或者怕了比人慢一步的感覺。」

「... ...在百貨公司，當理貨員開新的生果箱子時，如橙、西瓜和蘋果等，總會有很多人蜂擁而上，從箱子中找出自己所要貨品。他們多數都不理會大家，好像搶東西似的。並且，有很多人最初根本不打算購物，可是當她們見到一堆人時，她們便會加入戰團。這便是『羊群心理』。」

-Not specific enough (who? buy what? where? how? what's the feeling of people?)
-Over-generalization (people are not crazy about everything)

A2. The description is not "thick" enough

「一天，我如常地前往屋企附近的一間大型連所（鎖）超級市場（百佳）購買零食... ...」

Why/when did he want to buy snacks? In what way is supermarket integrated into his way of life?

「另一種在七仔消費的重要經驗，是hea。繼續講買早餐；有時上課前趕不上買，也可以放"break"時斯斯然的落去買，順便可以在那緊湊的一角裡趕急的 hea一陣子，看看當天的頭條，也看看雜誌封面，再同身邊的男同學說句：『嘩，使唔使咁大波呀？』接著快快離去上課，實在過癮。」

*Try to deliver your message in mental images.

A3. Without any focus
-What point(s) do you want to make in this article?

A4. The internal structure is not strong enough

Example: my collection

-Sticker
-stamp
-Miriam Yeung

What are the relatioinships between these three types of collection?

B. Analysis

B1. Too moralistic but not analytical enough

"As said before, clothes is unquestionable a business product and therefore is carefully designed by the capitalist in order to exploit peoples. ... ..."

What did the author mean by "exploit people"?

「... ...大集團的勢力是多麼恐怖啊！對於供應商來說，他們就有如恐怖份子，不斷剝削，壓搾他們。」

Is "terrorist" a good metaphor for big corporations?
Is "terrorist" related to "exploitation"?

B2. Human agency
-Try to avoid determinism
-Try to put human action in situation, institution and context.
-Example: 「羊群心理」

Appendix: Some references

1. Cultural Theory
Storey, John 2001. Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. NY: Prentice Hall.

2. Cultural studies in Hong Kong
吳俊雄、張志偉編 2002《閱讀香港普及文化1970-2000》香港：牛津大學出版社。
馬國明1998《路邊政治經濟學》香港：曙光圖書公司。

3. Media
林宇玲2004《媒體識讀：一個批判的開始》台北：正中書局。
甯應斌2005《身體政治與媒體批判》台北：巨流。

4. Gender
何春蕤 1994 《豪爽女人 : 女性主義與性解放》台北：皇冠文化。
畢恒達2004《空間就是性別》台北：心靈工坊。

5. History
王宏志 2000《歷史的沉重：從香港看中國大陸的香港史論述》香港：牛津大學出版社。
蔡榮芳2001《香港人之香港史, 1841-1945》香港：牛津大學出版社。

5. Novel
Orwell, George Down and Out in Paris and London
張大春1992 《少年大頭春的生活週記》台北：聯合文學。
張大春1993《我妹妹》台北：聯合文學。
韓少功1996《馬橋詞典》北京：作家出版社。

[Week 13: Nov 25] C3. Media ethnography and techno-culture

2005-11-24T16:00:00.000+08:00

1. Media ethnography: why?
1.1. Media impact or effect

1.1.1. Media:
-Media impact refers to media technology or media message?
-What do we mean by technology? Media use? Form of technology? Media as setting?
-What is "media message"? Myth (in Roland Barthes' sense)? Discourse? Stereotype?

1.1.2. Effect
-What do mean by effect?
-Effect on personality? on political belief? on discourses? on social relationships?

1.1.3. Ethnography helps us:
-specify the media and effect
-clarify the relationship between media, effect and audience

1.2. Bridging the gap between textual analysis and social analysis
-Media experience and impact could not be measured in terms of rigid categories and scales
-Culture meanings are based on audience' reception in specific social contexts.

1.3. What is ethnographic approach

Ethnography is "simply one research method, albeit an unusual one, drawing on a wide range of sources of information. The ethnograher participates in people's lives for an extended period of time, watching what happens, listening to what is said, asking questions .. collecting whatever data are available to throw light on the issues with which he or she is concerned." (Morley and Silverstone 1991: 153; quoted from Atkinson 1983)

2. Case 1: News (Jensen 1991)
-What did the audience read from daily news?
-Themes of news
-The journalists' themes vs. the viewers' themes
-Theme and Agenda setting
-Example: What are the themes in the news about WTO?

3. Case 2: Television (Morley 1991)
3.1. ICTs: Television in connections with other media (telephone, computer, VCR)
3.2. Triangulation of methods: participant observation, interview, time-use diaries, home-mapping, "mental mapping", ... ...
3.3. Some interesting findings in Hong Kong
-Watching television is part of family gathering and ritual (dinner, watching soap opera)
-Television is creating some senses of "home"
-The uses of television vary with age groups.

4. Case 3: Bloggers as a virtual political community ( Farrell and Drezner 2004)
4.1. The effect of blogging on real politics
4.2. The network is free from most barriers (The increasing readership) and interactive (blogroll, hyperlink, ... ...)
4.3. Internet technology enables highly interactive virtual communities (example: RSS reader)
4.4. The emergence of "elite" bloggers (journalist, professor, professional, ... ...) as nodes of the network
(Examples: Lawrence Lessig; Dan Gillmor; )
4.5. The connection between "blogosphere" and mainstream media
4.6. The reliance of media on bloggers in the US
4.7. How about bloggers in Hong Kong?
-Non-elite bloggers (Just a sidekick; seechuen; An Aussie in Hong Kong )
-The separation between blogosphere and mediasphere
-Some active bloggers excluded from media
-The phenomenon of "Xanga" in Hong Kong
4.8. Conducting fieldwork in the intersecting point between on-line and off-line worlds

5. Ethnography and technoculture
5.1. Technology and culture
5.2. Media is increasingly technologically advanced.
5.3. Technology is not simply a product
5.4. Technoculture: Human experience and signifying activities centered around the technological products and settings.

Two proposals
視覺快感與「港男」
論述「隱蔽青年」

[Week 12: Nov 18] C2. Discourse analysis

2005-11-15T23:51:00.000+08:00

1.Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
1.1. Reflection upon the Enlightenment and rational subject
1.2. Critique of historical evolution: history is characterized by discontinuity
1.3. Beyond structuralism: Structures are in dispersion
1.4. Knowledge: Archaeology （考古學）and genealogy（系譜學）
1.5. Power/knowledge
1.6. Foucaultian question:
Under what conditions did a category (madness, patient's body, criminal, ... ...) come to be the object of modern knowledge and institutional regulation?

2.Discourse
2.1.Discourse（論述／對詰）:
A group of statements that belong to a single system of formation.
2.2. Statement as functions rather than structural elements
Statement "cuts across a domain of structures and possible unities, and... .. reveals them, with concrete contents, in time and space."
Example: Biological statement- “Breast-feeding is the (animal) nature of woman”
Gender stereotype- "Women are born to play the role of nurturing human.”
Political statement- ”Woman and her breast are symbol of nation and people”

2.3.Discursive formation(論述構成):The dispersal process of statements and their regularities

2.4.Discourse analysis(論述分析): Study of the conditions of discursive formation

2.4.1. Defining the objects
2.4.2. Constructing the subject position
2.4.3. Focusing discourse as practice
2.4.4. Exploring the relationship between discourses
2.4.5. Identifying unities of discourse　
2.4.6. Identifying power relationships

2.4.5. Example: Edward Said's "Orientalism"
-Object: The Arabians and their countries were seen as "the Orient"
-Subject position: the knowing subject of the West
-Academic study, colonialism and imperialism
-Oriental studies and imperialist discourses
-Culture and power

3.Institution
3.1. His works:
-The Order of Things: The emergence of modern human sciences
-Madness and Civilization (Histoire de la Folie): How were mad people confined to institutions of mental hospital? (e.g. psychiatry)
-The Birth of the Clinic: How did patients' body become an object under the medical gaze?
-Discipline and Punishment: Why should wrongdoers be punished by disciplinary institution?

3.2.Power
-Power in relations
-Power is positive or productive: Enabling something to happen
-Power is micro-mechanisms
-Power is impersonal and institutional

4. Example I: "Youth problem"

4.1. Question: Under what conditions did "hiding youth" become a kind of social problem?

4.2. Defining object: From rebellious or "anti-social" youth (the 1960s)-->"hiding" youth

4.2. Subject positions
The 1960s: Colonial government, educator, ...
The 2000s: Social worker, educator, family...

4.3. Discourse as practice
The 1960s: The birth of professional "youth services" and social workers
The 2000s: The transformation in the sector of social services
-The flexibility and pressure of "one-line budget"
- Social services become more and more piecemeal, short-term and project-based
Examples:
香港基督教服務處「有網能量」青年導航及發展中心
香港青年協會「香港青年創業計劃」
扶貧委員會「歷奇試驗計劃」

4.4. Relationship between discourses
The 1960s: Colonial political discourse of social management and social-psychological pathology (social workers)
The 2000s:
-Discourse on Family as a unit of social control
-Discourses perpetuated by techno-phobia
-Managerial discourse on youth employment (Associate Degree, Youth Pre-employment Training Program, ... .. )
-The connections between discourses around the world
”隱蔽青年”(Hong Kong)--”引籠少年”（Hikikomori, Japan）--NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training)

References for analysis:
"隱蔽青年" in Wikipedia
誰算是隱蔽青年？當社會充滿矛盾時
隱蔽青年是全球問題

References
邵家臻／你隱閉，我隱樣
文化精英暢論隱蔽青年
許寶強／為何要針對青少年？
釐清隱蔽青年的問題
葉蔭聰／「隱蔽」的香港

4.4. A new mode of institutional complex and power
-Social services sector:
From a highly government subsidized sector to a multiple and expanded network of social control
-Power:
From professional gaze upon youth in public-->multiple gazes upon youth's life styles or ways of life
Integration of youth into labor force and formal education-->Developing multiple disciplinary institutions

[Week 11: Nov 11] C1. Analysis of Cultural Industries

2005-11-06T21:29:00.000+08:00

0. Ideologies in industry
0.1. Ideologies work in where?
0.2. Ideologies work in media production and organization
0.3. Ideologies do not simply exist in our mind, in our habit, in our human relationship, but also in institution.
0.4. Critique of "market determinism":
-Cultural products are not determined by consumer., they are produced by media!!

1. Frankfurt school: Critique of Culture industry

1.1. T. W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer

1.2. They were concerned with the intersections between technology, the culture industries, and the economic situation in contemporary societies.

1.3. Neo-Marxist questions:
1.3.1. Why did the working class accept the capitalist domination?
1.3.2. Why was the revolutionary consciousness of the working class in decline?

1.4. Culture industry
-Technologically advanced
-Commodification
-Standardization
-Massification

1.5. The ideological function of culture industry
-Eliminating individuality
-Reproduction of dominant ideology
-Integrating the working class into the capitalist way of life and values system

The Frankfurt School and British Cultural Studies (Douglas Kellner)
文化工業理論

2. Analyzing media production: Routine practices (Raymond Williams)

2.1. Not creation but factory-like production (Individuality is eliminated)

2.2. Pressure of time

2.3. Hardly have room and time for negotiation

2.4. Replication of mainstream language and ideas

2.5. Superficial meanings rather than deep understanding

2.6. A cultural form produced by media giant and technology

2.7. Methods: ethnographic research and interviewing media workers
Example: ＜在編輯方針下的新聞工作者＞

3. Political economy of media
A theoretical approach which emphasizes the importance of combining political and economic analysis in understanding media.

3.1. Two main aspects: ownership and regulation

3.2. Aspect I: Who owns the media?

3.3. Aspect II: The business environment for media is less a market environment than a series of complex regulation.

4. A case study: Hong Kong's broadcasting system

4.1. History
-Government's strict control of wireless broadcasting (1928-1959)
-1949: The first commercial cable radio
-1959: The first license of commercial (wireless) radio
-2005: Two commercial radio licenses
在競爭中發展的廣播事業

4.2. Governing structure
-Regulatory body: Hong Kong Broadcasting authority
-Policy body: Commerce, Industry and Technology Bureau
-Final approval: Chief Executive and Executive Council

4.3. Regulation
-Restricting rather than facilitating the market
-Expensive license fee ($3 million each year)
-License is subject to renewal

5. Some politico-economic features of Hong Kong media

5.1. Capital intensive sector

5.2. State-led monopoly

5.3. Highly regulated media market

5.4. Corporatization of technological development
-Example I: Cable TV
-Example II: Wireless internet

[Week 10: Nov 4] B3. Representation, experience and social context

2005-11-01T22:10:00.000+08:00

1. Different questions
1.1. Representation analysis: the pattern of textual meanings
Example: What is the hidden meaning of the advertisments about automobile? What is the cultural codes?

1.2. Study of experience: the regularities of subjectivities/identities in culture
Example: How did people live with shopping malls? How did children consume Barbie doll?

1.3. How about the relationship between subjectivity/identities and cultural text?

2. Laura Mulvey's question
2.1. " This paper intends to use psychoanalysis (Sigmund Freud 1856-1939) to discover where and how the fascination of film is reinforced by pre-existing patterns of fascination already at work within the individual subject and the social formations."

-What is the relationship between film and society?
-What is the relationship between cinema and society?
-The social relations within cinema <====>The social relations in human world
-The gender relations within cinema <====> The gender relations in the society

2.2. Psychoanalytical approach to culture: Culture as forms of unconscious (repressed, hidden, displaced)

3. What is unconscious?

3.1. Human mind is separated into two parts, conscious and unconscious

3.2. Rational being?
Human being is not only characterized as rational being. Instead a large part of human mind is non-rational.

3.3. Unconscious(無意識):
The aspect (or alleged aspect) of the mind of which we are not directly conscious or aware.

3.4. Libido(力比多)
The energy or drive of desire (mainly related to sex) which perpetuates the expression and movement of unconscious.

3.5. Id, ego and superego
3.5.1. Id (本我)
-It contains the instincts which originate from the bodily organization.
-It is the realm of the illogical and inaccessible part of our personality.
-It is the unconscious part of self perpetuated by libido
-It is known by condensation, displacement, symbolizaton and hallucinatory wish fulfilment.

3.5.3. Super-ego(超我)
-Moral and external imperatives
-An ideal self

3.5.3. Ego (自我)
-The principle of pleasure (sexual): self-preservation
-The principle of avoiding pain (a defense mechanism)
-Resisting external pressures, Adapting to the rules, Postponing satisfcation

4. Feminist appropriation of psychoanalysis
4.1. Male ego and female figure
4.1.1. Male ego: phallic self and order
4.1.2. Female figure: a threat of castration (an external imperative)
4.1.3. The maintenance of the male/phallic order and pleasure:
-Castration anxiety
-maintaining male ego as subject
-making women an object (sex object) without threat

4.2. Male gaze: Scopophilia（偷窺癖）
4.2.1. Displacing self-satisfaction of desire into sexual desire for woman as sex object
4.2.2. Cinema provides an institution and cultural form for satisfying male ego's desire
4.2.3. Mirror image theory (Jacque Lacan 1901-1981)
-Pleasure from visual image and identification
-Identification through symbolic order
-The establishment of ego

4.2.3. Male as a subject: Look
4.2.4. Female as an object: to be looked at.
4.2.5. Libido is channelled into visual pleasure

4.3. Representation
4.3.1. Unconscious works like language: male's economy of libido and symbolic order
4.3.2. Male protagonists are portrayed as a figure men identify themselves with.
4.3.3. Female protagonists are portrayed as a figure to be looked at by male protagonists and male viewers.
4.3.4. Narrative movment is a process of satisfying male ego's desire.

5. Implications for cultural studies
5.1.Spectatorship
-Who are watching (or listening to)?
-Whom do the audience watch and listen to?
-What do the they watch and listen?
-In what way do they watch or listen?
Example I: Watching a movie in cinema theatre and on computer screen are different
Example II: Adult gaze

5.2. Pleasure in culture
5.2.1. Textual analysis fails to take account of pleasure
5.2.2. Most people find popular culture pleasurable.
5.2.3. How to analyze pleasure (unpleasure)?
5.2.4. Audience research
5.2.5. Example: How to read the cultural jammings against Tung?

5.3. Structures of Experience
5.3.1. How to take account of experience as structure?
5.3.2. Structure as regularities
5.3.3. Structure as unconscious operation and gender-sexual dynamics
5.3.4. Structure as identity formation
5.3.5. Example: the experience of bashing Yanyi
-Snow white (as a fantasized object of innocence for men)-->Yanyi (as a threatening subject of lack)-->Yanyi as a target (aggression object)
-Men's anxiety over the external stimuli created by women

5.4. Textual analysis and ethnography
5.4.1. The structural and institutional relationship between textual features and social experience
5.4.2.Methodological pluralism

[Week 9 Oct 28] Narrative analysis

2005-10-26T11:30:00.000+08:00

1. Code: syntagm, paradigm

1.1. Paradigm: a class of objects or concepts

1.2. Syntagm: an element which follows another in a particular sequence

1.3. Example: menu

		Paradigm
Syntagm	Appetizer	(salad, wine, cheese, … …)
	First course	(soup, pasta, … …)
	Second course	(beef, chicken, mutton, fish, … …)
	Side Dishes	(potatoes, eggplant, spinach, tomatoes, … …)
	Dissert	(cake, fruit, cheese and nuts)

1.4. Example: The narrative of Stephen Chau's movie

		Paradigm
Syntagm	Beginning (Difficulty)	史提芬周失敗（《食神》）、少林弟子當拾荒者（《少林足球》）、阿星一事無成（《功夫》）。
	Middle (Struggle)	「十八銅人」、努力發揚少林功夫、努力學做一個「壞人」。
	End (Victory)	當上食神、上了時代周刊封面、練成如來神掌打敗火雲邪神。

2. Narrative analysis
2.1. Narration: the process and effects of representing time in texts

2.2. Narrative: any text that functions through these processes and effects

2.3. Two basic elements of narrative: story and plot

-Plot is the narrative as it is read, seen or heard from the first to the last word or image.

-Story is the narrative in chronological order, the abstract order of events as they follow each other.

-Every scene of Stephen Chau's movie is plot. The story of most of his movies is a

3. Analysis of character and function (Vladimir Propp 1895-1970)

3.1. Eight characters (spheres of action) of folktales
-The Villian
-The Hero
-The Donor
-The Helper
-The Princess
-Her Father
-The Dispatcher
-The Falso hero

3.2. Thirty-one functions/ plots
Examples:
"A member of a family leaves home"
"The punishment of the villain"
For details, please visit here.

3.3. Example I: Princess Diana and fairy tale

3.4. Example II: Stephen Chau's movie as a maile-centric narrative

4. Equilibrium-Disequilibrium-Equilibrium (Tzvetan Todorov)

4.1.Todorov argues that all stories begin with "equilibrium", the state of balance between different forces.

4.2. The movement of narrative breaks down the equilibrium but reaches another equilibrium.

4.3. Equilibrium refers to a status quo or the establisment.

4.4. Example: Golden Chicken II ends with a rhapsody of the status quo (economic prosperity, tax-free, no unemployment, strong currency, development-oriented).

4.5. Example: Infernal Affairs was "forced " to end with "the punishment of the villain".

4.6. Example: The proposed political reform is too slow, too fast or appropriate? Where/ When is the starting point? When/where is the ending?

-Now=a new beginning=preparation for launching a spaceship?
(「我們不能太急進」、「大家上太空的目標一致，現在要做好地面工作。當科研、人才培訓等方面有一定把握，下一步才會有升空日期和計畫，到時自然會有普選時間表、路線圖。」)

-The late 1980s?

-Hong Kong in the 21th century=The US in the 18th century?
(「美國也要一百年女人才有投票權！」)

5. Narrative: subject-character, pleasure and desire

5.1. Readers get a variety of pleasure from narrative

5.2. Narrative plunges readers into its movement towards the (expected or unexpected) ending.

5.3. Narrative put readers into the subject characters (the viewpoint of narrative)
-Example: The contribution of Lee Ka Shing to medical science development

6. Case study: Narratives about Hong Kong

6.1. The narrative of "a self-sustaining Hong Kong society" (Lui Tai Lok)

6.1.1. Equilibrium-Disequilibrium-Equilibrium

-Equilibrium I: political apathy (the early 1970s)

「所以，我必須承認，在中五會考以前，社會事件如『爭取中文成為法定語文運動』、『保衛釣魚台運動』、『反貪污、捉葛柏』等，並沒有對我造成任何思想上的衝擊。」（頁662）

-Disequilibrium: Ten years of social transformation (the 1970s)
*The reign of Sir Murray McLehose
*Economic booming after oil crisis
*The rise of local popular culture
*The rise of local identity
*The flood of refugees from mainland China

-Equilibrium II: 1980
*Cancellation of ”Reaching base" policy (抵壘政策)

6.1.2. Character analysis
-An ordinary Hong Kong-born man
-Lui Tai Lok: an hidden identity of intellectual

6.1.3. Cultural codes
-The birth of Hong Kong as an imagined community
-An apolitical identity
-A non-nationalist identity

6.1.4. Pleasure and desire
-A desire for pursuing self-identity in history
-A pleasure from identifying a collective imagination

6.2. The narrative of Golden Chicken & Golden Chicken II

6.2.1. Equilibrium-Disequilibrium-Equilibrium
-The golden age of the 1980s-1990s
-The groomy period after 1997 (Economic crisis and SARS)
-The golden age in the future

6.2.2. Character analysis
-Ah Gum as heroine: materialistic, independent, flexibile, optimistic, local but worshipping everything foreign, "Hongkonger"

6.2.3. Cultural codes
-Narrator: "Supersitious" belief in individual effort and fortune
-Equilibrium/ Status quo: Unquestionable developmentalism

6.2.4. Desire and pleasure
-A desire to rescuing or rebuilding a Hong Kong identity from crisis
-The pleasure from re-affirming an identity in crisis

References:
重構記憶，出賣感情 ─《金雞2》
《金雞2》：其實意淫也是一種美

7. Ideology and narrative
7.1. Analysis of narrative structures as cultural codes
7.2. Viewpoints
7.3. The functions of narrative
-Making and imagining the past(s)
-Explaining the present
-Projecting one's identity and desire onto the future

Readings for next week
*Mulvey, Laura. 1975. "Visual Culture and Narrative Cinema." Screen 16.3 Autumn, pp. 6-18.
佛洛伊德心理分析學說與教育

[Week 8: Oct 21] B1. Semiotic approach

2005-10-17T19:23:00.000+08:00

0. Content analysis

0.1. The imbalance between the represenation of women and men in media

0.2. Examples:
-Over-representation of women's sexuality in entertainment news
-Under-representation of women as professionals in advertisement

0.3. Weakness
-Over-emphasis on proportion rather than relationships
-Making comparison between reality and media (but media is more and more irrelevant to reality).

1. Why Semiotics?

1.1. A modern cultural transformation

1.2. Discontiunity of history and tradition

1.3. Mass media: a machine for producing signs

1.4. Postmodernism: Symbolic pastiche and collage
Example: Andy Warhol

1.5. Example: From Rococo to "Lolita"

1.6. The patterned relationship between signs

2. Ferdinand de Saussure: structualist linguistics
2.1. Sign: Signifier / Signified
-'signifier' (能指或符號具) : the form which the sign takes;
-'signified'(所指或符號義) : the concept it represents.
-Signification (指涉過程或意義化): The relationship between signifier and signified

2.2. The relationship between signifier and signified is arbitrary

2.3. The value or meaning of a sign depends on its relationship with other sign (signifier/ signified)

2.4. Example: Traffic light (Red, Yellow and Green)

3. Denotation and connotation

3.1. Connotation (外延): The set of a sign's possible signifieds.

3.2. Denotation(內涵): The most stable and apparetnly verifiable of its connotations.

3.3. Example: The incident of June 4
References: The controversy over the incident of June 4

3.3. Example: Body-trimming

Signifier A: The body shape in the photo
Signified A: Thin

Signifier B: Thin
Signified B1: Self-confidence
or
Signified B2: Healthy
or
Signified B3: Sexy
... ...

5. Metaphor(隱喻) and metonym(轉喻)

5.1. Metaphor is an implicit or explicit comparison between signs. -Example: “Gun” and “Man”(and phallus)

5.2. Metonym is a sign associated with another of which it signifies either a part, the whole, one of its functions or attributes, or a related concept.
-Example: “Gun” and ”power”

6. Code
-A conventional system which enables signification
-It is a relatively stable relationship between signs

6.1. Encoding

6.2. Decoding

7. Representation (呈現) and stereotype (核板印象)
7.1. Representation: The way or form of how groups or possible identities are represented in the media.

Who is girl? Who is boy? How do you identify their gender identity?

7.2. Stereotype:
Figures who represent a concentration of attributes considered ideal or contemptible.

Example: "New immigrant", "mainlander", ... ...

8. Myth (Roland Barthes)

Myth: Naturalized codings of social meanings and values

8.1. Myth: Multiple orders of signification:
-The first order of signification
-The second order of signification
... ...

8.2. Myth: Metaphoric and metonymic transformation
-Signs are interrelated with one another in metaphorical and metonymical way as social convention.
Myth of masculinity: "Man"<-->"Gun"<-->"Power"

9. Ideology and Hegemony (霸權)

-Ideology: naturalized myth and its naturalizing process

-Hegemony: the social process of consensus in which power relations follow the cultural leadership of a dominant group

10. Example I: Luxury motor and woman's body

10.0. Question: How does woman's body come to be symbolically associated with luxury motor?
Some photos of women and luxury motor

10.1. Analysis of the orders of signification

10.2. Analysis of metaphoric and metonymic relationship

Metaphor: Women's body-->Men's sex object

Metonym: Sex object-->sexual desire

Metaphor: Sexual desire-->materialistic desire

Metonym: Materialistic desire-->luxury motor

10.3. Stereotype: A pretty woman is something like a motor rather than a good driver or car owner.

10.3. The Myth of "beauty and motor" perpetuated by men's desire and fantasy

10.4. Hegemony of commodity culture, sexuality and patriarchy

11. Example II: Woman and printer

Semiotics for beginners

灣仔基層行業展

2005-10-13T22:03:00.000+08:00

如何做文化研究／分析

2005-10-11T15:21:00.000+08:00

我這個題目，其實是想大家認識，做文化分析可以是怎樣的，不管是方法還是分析架構，都可以多種多樣，這裡我不妨把David Guterson與John Fiske的文章給我們的啟示說一下：

首先，從文化研究角度看，研究購物商場的文化，其實是要研究它的意識形態，意識形態我們以前也說過，有許多定義，不同的定義，可以看到不同的東西，研究分析的方法也不一樣。

Guterson 比較是商場的空間設計著手，他分析了商場如何建構出美國人的日常生活，所以，對他來說，商場其實是一套指引我們日常生活實踐的制度，即所謂物質性實踐（material practices），而且是從設計者及管理者角度中的制度及規訓（discipline），這是Guterson的分析對象（object of analysis），例如，它鼓勵我們不斷閒逛，忘記外在世界，所以沒有時鐘，沒有窗戶，也不容易找到出口，美國人的閒暇生活離不開這種迷宮。

所以，Guterson以一位觀察者身份，在商場裡觀察了一段時間，寫下了自己的印象及故事，這是一種參與式的觀察（participatory observation），再算是一種民族誌的（ethnographic）方法。

至於John Fiske，雖然這篇短文看不到他的方法，因為他主要引述別人的看法，但是，他的出發點剛好是批評Guterson這一類型分析，他指出，許多人都把商場看成是消費的聖殿（cathedral of consumption），消費者就是信徒，缺少反思，卻主要是跟從，但是，他認為這個比喻不當，因為沒有教會可以容許有百分之八十的教徒不信教（"don't buy"），而商場中的閒逛者恰巧是這一類人－－不一定會消費的市民。

Fiske把商場看成是游擊戰場，他的分析對象，雖然也可稱為意識形態，但已不再是設計者及管理者眼中的制度與規訓，而是人與制度／規訓之間角力與商議，所以，他點出那些無產階級消費者（proletarian consumer）的存在，他們的策略（tactics）與抵制（tenacity），才是他的分析對象，即一個意識形態的過程（ideological process），即所謂強者與弱者的角力。

從中你可以看到，研究方法與理論概念，是緊密結合的。

照片來源：AndiH

[Week 6: Oct 7] A2. Ethnographic methods I

2005-10-04T12:58:00.000+08:00

1. Cultural studies, Sociology and anthropology

1.1. Cultural studies: a field of inquiry about how culture is constitutive of and constituted by everyday life.

1.2. Two questions:

A. How and in what ways human beings use and make culture, why and to what end.

B. How culture and the cultural shape social relations and how culture takes its place in instigating or resisting social change.

1.3. Challenges from sociology and anthropology

A. Scale and breath
-Cultural analysis draws on limited number of respondents and is inadequately in representative-ness and generalizability.

B. Depth and duration
-Compared to anthropological ethnographer, cultural researchers spent a relatively short period of time at a particular site and fail to immerse themselves in it.

1.4. Scale and breath
-Cultural analysis is usually qualitative.
-Unlike sociological survey, cultural analysis explores "meanings" invested in cultural text or practices.

Examples:

Sociological questions: What is the sex, class and race of the consumers of Barbie dolls? To what extent girls agree with the sexual and gender image of Barbie dolls?

Cultural studies questions: What is the meaning of sex in Barbie doll? In what way people identify with the sexual appearance and gender features of Barbie dolls?

1.5. Depth and duration
-Cultural studies is concerned with the process and context of meaning production rather than long-term observation at a particular site.

Example:

-An anthropologist might conduct fieldwork in a girl's home and focus on the relationship between Barbie dolls and her personal growth over a year.

-A cultural researcher might combine the various media images of Barbie with girls' talk of gender and sexuality.

(Cultural studies challenges the assumption that "culture" is found within a particular physical or geographical boundary.)

2. Ethnography: articulating experience

2.1. Three aspects of articulating experience

Aspect I: Experience works as common sense concealing its relevance to social structures and changes.

Please avoid the following common senses:
-"Demand and supply": We tend to explain away cultural meanings of commodities by market forces.
-"Media corporate power": We reduce the complexity of cultural meanings to the power of big companies or media.
-"Nationalism" or "regionalism": We take all phenomena as national or regional characters.

Aspect II: Experience speaks of the social structures and changes.

Examples:
-The desire of little girls to acquire a Barbie doll.
-Two hygiene inspectors took off their hat in Hong Kong Disneyland.

Aspect III: The critic's experience and its social relevancy.

Example:
-"Why didn't I have Barbie doll?"
-"Why didn't I want to have a Barbie doll?"
-Why did I find Yan Yi-Snow White so "offensive" or abominable?

2.2. Anti-essentialism
-The instablility of experience
-The context of experience
-The inter-connected-ness of experience

2.3. Anti-reductionism
-Theorizing rather than THEORY
-The complexity of experience could not be reduced to a pre-given theoretical framework.

3. Some suggested procedures

3.1. Generating research questions
-What is the ideology of Barbie doll?
Ideology: a process of cultural negotiation
->How do people negotiate with the dominant values or stereotypes delivered by Barbie?

3.2. Articulating experience: thick description

「第一次看見芭比，是因為一個幼稚園同學。... ...」

3.3. Contextualization

-The context of personal history
-The context of toy industry
-The context of media
-The global context

3.4. Reflection upon one's own and others' experiences

*Example: "Emphatic femininity"
In what way does Barbie doll provide a role model?
-Barbie always looks feminine
-Appearance and demeanor
-Perfect, ideal, faultless, ... ...but not real at all
-Barbie's body shape is an exaggeration.
-Girls play with her hair and outfit (Barbie.com)

(Rogers 1999)

4. The importance of experience

4.1. "Surprise"
-Articulating experience as a "surprise" to our conventional wisdom.
Example: Barbie is not simply a sex object or a role model. It is a gender game for making femininity.

4.2. Identity
-Human beings are active agents whose self is projected onto and experessed in an expansive range of cultural practices, including texts, images and commodities.

4.3. The plurality of cultural meanings
Barbie Liberation Organization
Ugly girl

4.4. Self-understanding and re-positioning
-Reflection upon socialization and gender stereotype

Reading for next week:
Music Consumption and Gender Performativity: a case study of Jay’s fandom in China

追星追到天安門

[Week 5: Sept 30] A1. Oral history

2005-09-26T11:35:00.000+08:00

1. Oral history
Oral history is the systematic collection of living people's testimony about their own experiences.

1.1. Life stories or life histories

1.2. A cultural form for:
-Disadvantaged group
-Private life
-Alternative or subversive interpretation

2. Procedures

2.1. Choosing a theme or subject area
-A topic not covered by written history
-Some important witnesses to a particular event or a historical moment
-Alternative interpretations

Examples:
-《晚晚六點半》: The living experience of women workers in the process of industrial/economic restructuring (from 1970s-1990s).
-《又喊又笑》：The historical stories of elderly women

2.2. Identifying interviewees
-"Snowball" sampling

2.3. Types of interview
-Individual cases
-Collecting evidence or viewpoints on a particular theme or incident from a group of interviewees.

2.4. A rough outline of questions

2.5. Language use

3. Guidelines

3.1. Interview is a series of interaction

3.2. Listening rather than questioning

3.3. Paying attention to context

3.4. The setting of interview

4. Paperwork

4.1. Content analysis
Example I: Housewives' stories about child-birth are particularly detailed.
Example II: The experience in the incident of "June 4" is important to Hong Kong people aged 35-50.

4.2. Discourse analysis
Example I: "Refrains and recurrences"
Example II: "I" and "We"

4.3. Forms of storage
-sound clip
-video
-written archive
-documentary

5. Case study I: Same-sex attraction

5.1. The debate over homosexuality: biologically determined or acquired?

5.2. A project of personal history of gay/bisexual men

5.3. Three sources of initial awareness of differences

-A pervasive and emotional captivation with other boys that felt passionate, exotic, consuming, and mysterious;

-A strongly felt desire to engage in play activities and to possess traits usually characteristic of girls

-Disinterest or revulsion in typical boys' activities, especially team sports and physical play

"It is not surprising that "prehomosexuals" used gender metaphors, rather than sexual metaphors, to interpret and explain childhood feelings of difference... Children do not appear to define their sexual experimentation in heterosexual or homosexual terms. The socially created categories of homosexual, heterosexual, and bisexual hold little or no significance for them." (Savin-Williams 2004(1997): p. 116)

5.4. Sex and gender
-Gender awareness is prior to sexual expression
-Sexual feeling is not necessarily separated from gender experience.

6. Case study II: When is Hong Kong's golden age? When is Hong Kong's decline?
6.1. Golden Chicken: From the late 1970s to 1997 (A dominant narrative)

6.2. Factory worker (woman): From the 1970s to the early 1990s

6.3. From luxury to poverty (A dominant impression)

6.4. From sisterhood to alienation

6.5. Significance:
-Presenting an alternative picture of Hong Kong people's life to the dominant viewpoint
-Negotiating historical understanding of Hong Kong
-Gender experience in Hong Kong history

References:
口述史學：理論與方法
Step-by-step guide
Oral history: collective memories of Hong Kong

[Week 4: Sept 23] Introduction III: Basics of cultural analysis

2005-09-18T21:21:00.000+08:00

1. Choosing a subject
1.1. About yourself

What media do you enjoy?

Do you belong to a cultural group, (e.g. a fan club) a small community (e.g. a village in NT), a group of identity ("ABC", gay and lesbian people, "new immigrant") ?

Some experience of your family or friends deserves investigation?

1.2. About your studies

What subject areas interest you most?

Is there an article or a research work you especially admire?

Do you have an assignment you particularly enjoy and you want to study in more depth?

1.3. About the subject

Have you noticed any new developments in Hong Kong or the communities you are familiar with?

Do you have access to an institution (a media group, a school, etc.) which might be a good topic of cultural analysis?

Example:
You or your friends are Disney fanatics.
You are puzzled by your own or their obsession with Disney.
You know some Disney staff.

2. Developing your research question

2.1. Define your object of analysis

-You want to know why Disney fascinates so many people.

-But what do you mean by "Disney"? Its animation? toy? theme park?

-Who are the people? Hong Kong people? People from mainland China? Children? Adult? Family?

Subject area	Focus	Examples of potential objects of analysis
Disney's animation	Texts	The represenation of woman in its early animations such as Snow White
	Audience	The oral histories of Hong Kong who grew up with Disney's cartoon
	Industry/institution	The transformation of Disney's animation (from Snow White and Little Mermaid to Mulan and Finding Nemo)
Disney's toy	Industry/ Instition	The production process of a particular toy (including design, manufacturing and marketing)
	audience	How do children play with the toys?
Disney's theme park	Industry/ institution	The history of Hong Kong Disneyland
	Audience	How do Hong Kong citizen respond to the Disneyland project in 2000 and the newly built theme park in 2005? What does "fantasy" mean for Hong Kong people?

2.2. Read around your subject area

-Analysis or reseach is based on previous works

-Seeking advice from your teachers and searching academic database (google scholar)

-Literature review--acknowledging others' contribution to a particular subject area
(Please learn how to cite academic works-- MLA)

-Think about concept and theory
Examples: Is the concept "suburbanization" useful for analyzing the history of Hong Kong Disneyland?
Is the fantasy promoted by Disney similar to religion?
Is Jean Baudrillard's "simulacrum" an accurate term for Hong Kong Disneyland?

-Think about method

Object of analysis	Method	Example
Media use	Observation	Watching TV in family
Media representation	Archival study and semiotic analysis	The image of women in media
Audience's reception	interview or focus group	Audience's reading of a TV program

2.3. Ask a specific question

-What? How? Why?

-Make the research question as much specific as possible

-Is the research problem manageable for you?

3. Example: The stories of "Yen Yi"
3.1. "Yen Yi" becomes a hit topic of Hong Kong

3.2. Object of analysis

-Audience's responses
-Media representation

3.3. Asking a question

Experience: Why does audience hate Yen Yi?
-How does the audience produce new meanings in media message?
-How does the audience negotiate with the dominant meanings?

Representation: What are Yen Yi's media images?
-Women as a symbol: What is her female image and femininity portrayed by media?
-Women in media narrative: What is the narrative structure of Yen Yi's story?

3.4. Literature review

-Experience:
*audience research
*Fandom and obsession:
Fiske, John. 1992. "The Cultural Economy of Fandom." in L. Lewis . Ed. The Adoring Audience: Fan Culture and Popular Media. New York :Routledge.
Jenkins, Henry. 1992. ““Get a Life!”: Fans, Poachers, Nomads.” Textual Poachers: Television Fans & Participatory Culture. New York: Routledge.

-Representation:
*Advertisement and gender stereotype
Week 8, 9, 10

3.5. Refining your question

3.5.1. What are the discrepancies between the audience's image of "Yen Yi" and their ideal image of "Snow White"?
-Object of analysis: Audience's responses, TV video clip, "Snow White" (animation) and Disney's advertisement
-Method: interview and textual analysis

-Some observations:
"Snow White": purity, elegance, innocence
Yan Yi: calculative and funny (杜汶澤的評論)

3.5.2. What are the ideologies (world-view, stereotype, convention, myth... ...) behind the audience's criticism of Yen Yi?
-Object of analysis: Audience's responses, discussion in online forum or media (such as radio talk show and newspaper)
-Method: interview, textual analysis

Some Observations:

"他約我去迪士尼" - 欣宜版

收了幾吋腰？　眼淚兩頭標
太胖會被人笑　甜夢是廿三吋
努力節食中　　卻沒有成績
吃藥也是無法　離絕望並不遠

(A desparate "fat" girl)

我害怕　這是無法達至太高的志願
我只昐　馬上纏住「別怪他」　深深的吻他

天天我為「桌希」　餐餐食樹皮
金曲今晚夜齊做對手戲
有亞「匪姐」　升職要識　導演多顧忌
不需色相我亦有機

(A girl dependent on mother's protection)

一般姐仔沒法比
不需要演技毋用合理只需夠勢利
公主怎會變豬頭　全沒在意令你生氣

我打算　成就白雪是我最終的意義
會堅信　我在樂園是冠軍　不屈的信心

即使我像隻豬
即使我是肥　即使食樹皮是會有口氣
「別怪他」　只想繼續演戲　被迫照做
真想不到嚇壞「桌希」

媽　她說我是最好
「講姐」封了后仍未及我不需要妒忌
青春的我有身材　無聊投訴極無天理

今晚我做個騷
家長要輔導　關燈看節目是會太恐怖
要變公主　此刻只想似天仙
發現衣衫改闊有辱老母

不肯相信實太糟
即使會嚇壞人仍無意改寫我命途
只因生於這家族　無法面對便要洗腦

Online forum about Yan Yi

3.5.3. How is Yen Yi perceived and constructed as "an icon to be hated"?
-Object of analysis: Media coverage on Yen Yi
-Method: historical study and textual analysis

Some observations:
The "transformation" of Yen Yi

Readings for next week
江文瑜1996＜口述史法＞《質性研究：理論、方法及本土女性研究實例》台北：巨流，249-270。

[Week 3: Sept 16] Introduction II: Culture and Civilization

2005-09-08T23:58:00.000+08:00

1. The paradigm of "Culture-Civilization"

1.1. Culture=elite culture

1.2. Variation I: Rescuing civilization from cultural decline or the rise of popular culture

1.3. Variation II: The "essence" of civilization is found in all aspects of everyday life

2. Variation I: Matthew Arnold (England in the late 19th century)

2.1. Historical background:
-Industrial revolution and urbanization
-Class struggle
-Democratic development : the male workers were granted the right of voting

2.2. Arnold's feeling about the era
-Cultural decline or decadence
-The elite culture fails to maintain its authority

2.3. Arnold's social criticism
-Aristocrats-"barbarian": An old class failed to maintain cultural heritage
-Bourgeois-"Philistine": A new class pursued profit without cultural mission
-Working class-"Populace": An uncultured people gaining more power

2.4. Arnold's solution
-He called for a central state to replace the ruling class to lead, manage and civilize the mass
-His cultural project is an attempt to recover and maintain the deference and subordination of populace

2.5. Culture as a medium for policing the social crisis and upheaval

3. Leavis (see Storey, p. 22-28)

4. The cultural project of contemporary neo-Confucianism
4.1. Historical background
-The May-fourth movement and the breakdown of the legitimacy of Confucianism
-The failure of the first modern state of China
-The Chinese Communist Party came to power
-The non-Communist intellectuals lived in exile
-The continuity of colonialism in Hong Kong
-Example: Tang Junyi (唐君毅)

A missing paragraph
「... ... 於是在接受西方文化時，常不免只去看西方文化之長，而全然忘了自己，以至鄙賤自己文化精神，而有五四時代以後之非孝非孔、全盤西化之文化改革之論調之產生，及今而有共黨之馬列主義，徹底改造或推翻中國文化之企圖。本來依中國文化之固有精神，原是相信天下一家，相信道並行而不悖，而對於世界一切學術文化之長，都當虛懷加以學習的。如為了要學習他人之長，一時忘了自己或看不起過去之文化，亦是可以原諒的。但是如對數千年之文化精神之價值，全不認識，而輕易加以鄙賤，則是對不住古先聖賢與祖宗，亦對不住自己的事。至於馬列主義者之欲徹底改造推翻中國文化，謂他人父，謂他人母，則更不是有良心之中國人之可忍。... ...」

4.2. Neo-Confucian understanding of contemporary Hong Kong culture: Cultural fragmentation (花果飄零) and not fully civilized by modern and traditonal Chinese culture

4.3. Enlightenment: education movement from below
Example: New Asia College

4.4. Re-establish an ideal form of national culture overriding, embracing and infiltrating every aspects of life.

4.5. The curriculum of "Chinese Culture": institutionalizing an intellectual project as "cultural apologetics" （文化護教學）
Please read : 「熟讀必合格的文化科筆記」 and 陳雲 2000

Example I:
試選擇下列其中一種食品，說明它能夠反映中國文化特色的理由。(佔全題分數33 1/3%) (1)豆腐(2)湯圓(3)盆菜

評分標準
考生須舉出一種能夠反映中國文化特色的食品，並指出能夠反映中國文化之處。評分宜從兩方面入手：一、考生所指出之中國文化內容，是否確乎為中國文化之特色；二、考生所列舉之食物，能否象徵或反映考生所指陳之中國文化特色，其間是否言之有理，抑或牽強附會。

可能答案

(1)豆腐—考生可從豆腐的大眾化的特點，以及其烹飪方式之多樣化，引申說明中國人的性格與民族性。
(2)湯圓—考生可從中國人吃湯圓的習俗，析述中國文化重視人情的取向。
(3)盆菜—考生可從盆菜的食制，析述中國人家族本位、倫理為本的文化。

Example II:

	中國	西方
人禽分別	人具仁義禮智	人是理性的動物，人最像神，人能造工具，人有語言文字，人能以符號表意。
宗教戰爭	沒有西方所謂之宗教戰爭	有宗教戰爭，最著名的是十字軍東征（1096-1270），乃基督教與回教之間的大戰
藝術特點	社會化、生活化，追求調和與節奏對稱美。沒有行吟詩人，亦缺乏史詩。例如《詩經》，大都是日常生活與廟堂中的歌詠，音樂跳舞，亦與禮儀分不開。	個人化，戲劇化。例如希臘多獨立的雕像，多喜劇悲劇。
知識分子	兼容化，例如史家與哲學家，大均兼是文學家。	專業化，例如西方史家只重紀事，哲學家只重說理。
哲學思想	主要內容即中國先哲對於人生意義、人倫道德、人格修養、人文化成之智慧。	重視邏輯知識論自然哲學之討論。

-A very problematic binary opposition
-The characteristics are about ideal or fact?

5. Critique of the paradigm of "culture and civilization"
5.1. Nostalgic view of tradition
5.2. Failure to understand the complexity of popular and contemporary culture
5.3. Failure to accomodate cultural plurality and democracy: reinstalling the dominance of state and intellectual authority
5.4. The paradigm of "culture and civilization": A major barrier to local development of cultural studies

6. Cultural studies and Paradigm of "culture and civilization"
6.1. Culture in particular contexts vs. Abstract culture
6.2. Cultures vs. culture
6.3. Culture is materialistic vs. Culture is purely intellectual
6.4. Cultures from below vs. Culture from above

Please listen to:
迪士尼直撃系列：主題化
＜迪士尼宗教化＞

[Week 2: Sept 9] Introduction I: What is culture? What is cultural analysis?

2005-09-03T23:45:00.000+08:00

1. Cultural studies
1.1. Culture is ordinary: everyday life
1.2. Critique of the hierarchy separating high culture from low culture
1.3. Popular culture (普及文化)

2. Quantitative definition of culture: artifacts favoured by many people or ways of life shared by them.
Question I: Who decides the extent of popularity?
Question II: Is "queuing up for rice handouts" a popular culture? Are people's responses to this phenomenon also popular culture?
Example: 平安米

3. High culture and popular culture
Question I: Who is qualified to define cultural taste?
Question II: Is Li Yundi a figure of high culture or popular culture?
Example I: Pavarotti (Storey: p. 7)

4. Mass culture (大眾文化)
-Commercial and formulaic product and passive audience
-brain-numbing effect
-American culture
Question I: If consumers are so passive, why do 80 per cent of new products fail?
Question II: How could we explain people take Disney's products (toy, animation and theme park) as their dreams?

"If it is the crime of popular culture that it has taken our dreams and packaged them and sold them back to us, it is also the achievement of popular culture that it has brought us more and more varied dreams than we could otherwise ever have known." (Storey: p. 9; quoted from Richard Maltby)

5. Political concept of popular culture
-The polyvalence of culture
-Popular culture as a site of struggle and negotiation
-Incorporation and resistance
-Popular culture is what people activley make from it.
Question I: Is audience always active? How could we make sense of audience passivity?
Example: Andy Lau's TV advertisement
-Encoding (編碼): Consumption, tough-ness, being "cool", naturalness
-(Potential) Decoding (解碼): subversion and disorder
-Struggle and negotiation: Warning message and censorship
Further references: 普及文化是霸權的競逐

6. Cultural politics 文化政治
6.1. Culture is not an given object
6.2. What makes cultural studies or cultural analysis distinct is not its subject matter.
6.3. Cultural studies is concerned with the contestation in everyday.
6.4. Ideology and ideological studies (Storey: p. 2)

7. Definition of ideology意識形態

7.1. A body of ideas?
Example: Communism and socialism

7.2. False consciousness: masking, distortion and concealment
-The subordinated class does not see themselves as oppressed or exploited.
Example I: "An untalented woman is virtuous" "女子無才便是德"
Example II: "Homosexuality is harmful to public health." "同性戀危害公共衛生"
Please read:
"性傾向歧視立法對公共衛生的影響" (The Society for Truth and Light)
"回應明光廣告有關公共衛生問題 "

7.3. A world view
-The cultural text presents a particular image of the world or a collective social understanding.
-The dominant worldview represses the alternative ones.
Example: "Social Harmony I & II"
-Questions: Why did CPCE (Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education) promote this world view at this time? What is the relationship between the current political situation andthis world view? Whose world view is it?

7.4. Material practices
-The rituals and customs binding us to the social order
-Power, discipline and institution
Example: classroom
->The setting of classroom
->Education and classroom

7.5. Myth: naturalization
-Sets of beliefs and attitudes which readers are invited to accept as true and natural.
Example: "Coke" is fresh and cool. It relieves your thirst.
可樂可以... ...

8. Culture-cultural politics-ideology
8.1. There is no consensus on the definition of ideology.
8.2. It depends on what problem or question you want to address.
8.3. Political contestation in everyday life

Reading for next week:
*Storey, John. 2001. "The 'Culture and Civilization' Tradition." Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. NY: Prentice Hall, 17-35. (Focus on the parts of Arnold and Leavis)

Please comment on the F.7 subject of "Chinese Culture".
Please read: 「熟讀必合格的文化科筆記」

Activities:
民間博物館
展覽開幕及新書發佈：
2005年9月10日 (星期六) 下午二時三十分
灣仔集成中心集成展廊 (軒尼詩道302-308號)
展期由9月10日至10月9日

同場加映：灣仔街坊帶你看另一個「灣仔」！！

Brief introduction

2005-08-31T15:59:00.000+08:00

1. What is cultural studies?
1.1. Cultural studies is not studies of some given objects called culture.
1.2. Cultural studies is ... ...

A field of knowledge about the process constitutive of and constituted by lived experience in everyday life.

1.3. Cultural studies is a pair of looking glasses... ... They help us understand the constitutive and constituted processes.

2. Example: Public examination in Hong Kong

2.1. Experience of examination:
*Why do we only care much more about the result than the process?
*How do students live through this process (F4-F7)?

-Oral history of student
-Life in school, "education centre" and self-study.
-Youth culture and examination

2.2. Media coverage constituted by experience
-Why do we call those students with 8-10 A grades as "Zhuangyuan" (狀元)?
-"Zhuangyuan" is a metaphor for expressing people's feeling, expectation and fantasy about education.

2.3. Institution
-Examination is not simply about the regulation or grading system.
-Examination is a culture in our everyday life.

2.4. Recommended video clip: Matrixexam
-Trailer
-Episode I

3. Cultural analysis and conventional wisdom

3.1. Putting conventional wisdom into questions

3.2. In-depth understanding of human world

3.3. Challenging "the Establishment" and generating alternative practices

3.4. Cultural sensitivity and thinking

4. How to cultivate cultural sensitivity and thinking?
4.1. Reading books, daily news, magazine and novel
4.2. Watching movies, TV program, ... ...
4.3. Wandering around bookstores (Not only 商務 and 大眾)
4.4. Exposed to new experiences in varied communities
4.5. Engaging in cultural practices (writing cultural criticism, making independent movies, organizing exhibition or activities, ... ...)
4.6. DO NOT take everything for granted
4.7. DO NOT believe in conventional wisdom

Reading for next week:
Storey, John 2001. "What is Popular Culture." Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: AnIntroduction. NY: Prentice Hall, 1-15.

Tutorial schedule

2005-07-22T16:56:00.000+08:00

Schedule

0. Briefing (Week 3 or 4)

1. Doing cultural analysis (Week 5 or 6)

Fiske, John. 1995. "Shopping for Pleasure: Malls, Power and Resistance." Reading culture: Contexts for critical reading and writing. Second edition. Edited by Diana George and John Trimbur. NY: Harper Collins, pp. 307-312.
Guterson, David. 1995. "Enclosed, Encyclopedic, Endured. One Week at the Mall of America." Reading culture, pp. 295-306.

Activiity and discussion:
-Why does the Mall of America (or shopping mall in general) interest cultural critics?
-What is the major difference between shopping mall and other marketplaces?
-What are the differences between Fiske's analysis and Guterson's?
-What are the differences between their speaking positions?
-Describe a place that you think represents Hong Kong's way of life. Explain.

Further readings:
Du Gay, Paul, Stuart Hall, Linda Janes, Hugh Mackay and Keith Negus. 1997. "Making sense of the Walkman." Doing cultural studies: The Story of the Sony Walkman, London: SAGE, pp.8-40.

2. Ethnography, media and home experience (Week 7 or 8)

Chalfen, Richard. 1998. "Interpreting Family Photography as Pictorial Communication." Image-based Research: A Sourcebook for Qualitative Researchers. Edited by Jon Prosser. London:Falmer Press, 214-234.

Activity and discussion:
-What is the major purpose of interpreting family photography?
-According to the author, what is "photography"?
-Try to follow the procedures suggested by the article to study your family photos.

Further readings:
Korosec-Serfaty, Perla and Dominique Bolitt. 1986. "Dwelling and the experience of burglary." Journal of Environmental Psychology. 6, 329-344.
畢恒達2004＜先生不在家，我才有在家的感覺＞、＜設計分性別？＞《空間就是性別》台北：心靈工坊，84-119; 180-214。

3. Gender/sexual representation and scientific categorization (Week 9 or 10)

Schiebinger, Londa. 1993. "Why mammals are called mammals?" in Nature's body: gender in the making of modern science. Boston: Beacon Press.
中譯：倫達．席賓格（Londa Schiebinger）2005（1993）＜「獸」何以稱為「哺乳」動物＞《STS讀本II：科技渴望性別》，主編／吳嘉苓、傅大為、雷祥麟，台北：學群，19-75。

Activity and discussion:
-What is the importance of this question to our understanding of human, gender and science?
-In what way did the author answer this question?
-There are several kinds of historical material included in this article. How did the author combine them?
-Please generate a research problem and pose a question of cultural studies in the form of "Why Mammals Are Called Mammals? "

Further readings:
Martin, Emily. 1991. "The Egg and the Sperm: How science has constructed a romance based on stereotypical male-female roles." Signs 16: 3, pp. 485-501.link
中譯：艾蜜莉．馬汀2005(1991)＜卵子與精子＞《STS讀本II：科技渴望性別》，主編／吳嘉苓、傅大為、雷祥麟，台北：學群，199-224。

3. Text, (gender) subjectivities and institution (Week 11 or 12)

Mulvey, Laura. 1975. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema." Screen 16.3 Autumn, pp. 6-18.
Kaplan, Ann E. 2004(1983). "Is the Gaze Male?" Women's Studies in the Academy: Origins and Impact. Upper Saddle River: Pearson/Prentice Hall, 257-268.

Activity and discussion:
-What is Mulvey's major concern or objective? How far did she go beyond textual analysis?
-What is the importance of psychoanalysis to her analysis of mainstream movie?
-Try to use Hitchcock's Vertigo to illustrate Mulvey's theory of male gaze. Do you find her analysis insightful? Why?
-Could you use an example from the everyday life to support or refute Mulvey's theory of male gaze?
-Do you agree with Kaplan's criticism of Mulvey? Why?
-Is Mulvey's theory useful for criticizing Hong Kong mainstream movie?

Further readings:
李宜玲與蕭蘋1999＜性的屈從與主動：女星寫真集內容的符號學分析＞link
伊瑪貓1999＜媒體的男性凝視－－從胖妹詐財案談起＞link
孫萌2005＜凝視＞《文化研究》第五期link
Berger, John. 1972. Way of Seeing. NY: Penguin

4. Institution and women (Week 13 or 14)

Nochlin, Linda. 1988(1971). "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" Women, Art and Power and Other Essays. London: Thames and Hudson.
中譯：琳達．諾克林（Linda Nochlin）2005(1988)，＜為甚麼沒有偉大的女性藝術家？＞《女性，藝術與權力》桂林：廣西師範大學出版社，179-213。

Activity and discussion:
-How did she answer this question? How did Linda Nochlin establish her argument?
-According to her, what characterizes a "great artist"?
-How could a man/woman become a "great artist"?
-Please generate a research problem and pose a question in the form of Nochlin's.

Further reading
The Guerrilla Girls著，謝鴻均譯，2000《游擊女孩床頭版西洋藝術史》台北：遠流。
謝鴻均＜妳（你）我都是游擊女孩＞link
The Guerrilla Girls

Week 1: Sept 1-3; Week 2: Sept 4-10; Week 3: Sept 11-17
Week 4: Sept 18-24; Week 5: Sept 25-Oct 1; Week 6: Oct 2-8
Week 7: Oct 9-15; Week 8: Oct 16-22; Week 9: Oct 23-29
Week 10: Oct 30-Nov 5; Week 11: Nov 6-Nov 12; Week 12: Nov 13-Nov 19
Week 13: Nov 20-Nov 26; Week 14: Nov 27-Dec 3; Week 15: Dec 4-7

Syllabus

2005-06-11T01:15:00.000+08:00

CUS 103 Cultural Analysis

Instructor: IP, Iam Chong Email: chong@ln.edu.hk
Contact no.: 2616-7443 Office: GE 319
URL: http://culanalysis.blogspot.com/ (course); http://cuanalysis.wikispaces.org/ (wiki version)
http://hegelchong.blogspot.com (Chinese)
http://prisonnotebook.blogspirit.com/ (English)

Course Description

This course provides students with some analytical and methodological tools and encourages them to have critical reflection upon their everyday life. Cultural studies, as a new and mutidiscipline, is characterized by its methodological and theoretical diversity. It emphasizes on the dynamic connections between research problem, method, theoretical approach, analytical concept and subject matter. Students will explore culture from three different dimensions, experience, representation and institution. They are required to finish a series of exercises and a research proposal.

Requirement

Two Exercises (10%)
Please submit two exercises in this semester according to their due dates respectively. They are intended to inspire your cultural thinking and enhance your sensitivity to relevant issues. For details, please see "Exercises".

Research proposal (15%)
Please submit a research proposal by the end of this semester. It includes:
-Research problem and objective
-Literature review
-research method
-Bibliography

Develop your propsoal according to your interest. A good research proposal starts with a good question or problem. In literature review, you are not required to cover a lot of works on your topic but you should have a rough picture of the debate over it. Clearly state your method and give some reasons for choosing it. Bibliography includes books or articles you have read or you are going to read for preparing this research.

Due Date: Dec 9

Cultural blog (15%)
Everyone's got to have a blog. Tell me the URL within the first week of this semester. You may take it as your diary. But you have to put your reflections upon cultural issues, problems, concepts and theories in it at least once a week. You are strongly recommended to comment on others' blog. Join and enjoy the blog culture!!

Tutorial (30%)
Please see the attachment.

Final examination (30%)
You are required to answer two questions in essay form.

Schedule

[Week 1: Sept 2] Briefing

[Week 2: Sept 9] Introduction I: What is culture? What is cultural analysis?
*Storey, John 2001. "What is Popular Culture." Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An
Introduction. NY: Prentice Hall, 1-15.
Williams, Raymond. 1961. "The Analysis of Culture." The Long Revolution. London: Penguin, 57-88.
張志偉2002＜普及文化研究簡述＞吳俊雄、張志偉編《閱讀香港普及文化1970-2000》香港：牛津大學出版社。

[Week 3: Sept 16] Introduction II: Culture and Civilization
*Storey, John. 2001. "The 'Culture and Civilization' Tradition." Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: An Introduction. NY: Prentice Hall, 17-35.
陳雲等2000《天書impossible：論香港的中國文化教育》香港：青文書屋。

[Week 4: Sept 23] Introduction III: Basics of cultural analysis
*Stokes, Jane. 2003. "Chapter 1: Getting Started." How to do media and cultural studies. London: SAGE, 7-37.
Strauss, Anselm and Juliet Corbin. 1998. "Part I. Basic Consideration." Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 1-54.
Gray, Ann. 2003. "Part II: The Research Process." Research practice for cultural studies: ethnographic methods and lived cultures. London: SAGE.
Disney dialogue dilemma

Part A: Experience (Week 5-6)

[Week 5: Sept 30] A1. Oral history
Special topic: Experiencing gender and sexuality
*江文瑜1996＜口述史法＞《質性研究：理論、方法及本土女性研究實例》台北：巨流，249-270。
Ritchie, Donald A. 1995. Doing Oral History. NY: Twayne Publishers, Chapter 1 and Chapter 3.
Savin-Williams, Ritch C. 2004(1997). "Memories of Same-Sex Attractions." Men's Lives. Edited by Michael S. Kimmel and Michael A. Messner. NY: Macmillan, 116-132.
新婦女協進會編1999《又喊又笑：阿婆口述歷史》香港：新婦女協進會。
Step by step guide to oral history

[Week 6: Oct 7] A2. Ethnographic methods I
Special topic: Living in/with cultural industry
*何詠華2003＜我沒有芭比娃娃＞《文化G點》香港：文化研究系，頁22-42。
Rogers, Mary. 1999. "Emphatic Femininity." Barbie Culture. London: SAGE, pp.11-35. *Gray, Ann. 2003. "1. Grasping Lived Cultures." "2. Articulating Experience." Research practice for cultural studies. London: SAGE, pp. 11-24; 25-36.
盧韻詩2003＜又愛又恨的LOMO＞《文化G點》香港：文化研究系，頁44-63。
The Project on Disney. 1995. "Working at the rat." Inside the Mouse: Work and Play at Disney World. Durham and London: Duke UP, pp. 110-162.
蔡穎儀2001＜看與不看－－媽媽為何不再與我看恐怖片？＞《差異與平等：香港婦女運動的新挑戰》香港：新婦女協進會，頁211-216。

[Week 7: Oct 14] A3. Ethnographic methods II
Guest speaker: Ms Lam Oi Wan

Part B: Representation (Week 8-10)
[Week 8: Oct 21] B1. Semiotic approach
Special topic: media, gender and sexuality
*林宇玲2004＜第十一章：解讀媒體中的性別意涵＞《媒體識讀：一個批判的開始》香港：正中書局，137-150。
*Branston, Gill. 2003. The Media Student's Book. London and NY: Routledge, Chapter 10.
葉蔭聰2005《媒體識讀》
Inness, Sherrie A. 2004. "Pretty Tough: The Cult of Feminity in Women's Magazines." Critical Readings: Media and Gender. Edited by Cynthia Carter and Linda Steiner. Maidenhead: Open UP, 123-142.
林芳玫 1996 《女性與媒體再現──女性主義與社會建構論的觀點》

[Week 9: Oct 28] B2. Narrative analysis
Special topic: History and histories
*Branston, Gill. 2003. The Media Student's Book. London and NY: Routledge, Chapter 3.
Fiske, John. 1990. Introduction to Communication Studies. London and New York: Routledge, Chapter 3 and 5.
*呂大樂2002(1997)＜自成一體的香港社會＞《閱讀香港普及文化1970-2000》香港：牛津大學出版社，頁663-670。
王宏志2000《歷史的沉重：從香港看中國大陸的香港史論述》香港：牛津大學出版社，第三章。

[Week 10: Nov 4] B3. Representation, experience and social context
Special Topic: Visual culture and women
*Mulvey, Laura. 1975. "Visual Culture and Narrative Cinema." Screen 16.3 Autumn, pp. 6-18.
*Kaplan, E. Ann. 2004(1983). "Is the Gaze Male?" Women's studies in the academy: origins and impact. Edited by Robyn L. Rosen. Upper Saddle River, N.J. : Pearson/Prentice Hall, 257-268.
Berger, Arthur Asa. 黃新生譯，1994. ＜精神分析的批評方法＞《媒介分析方法》，台北：遠流，頁65-84。
Ku, Lisbeth. 1998. “Mass-Mediated Images of Women: Connie Chan Po-chu and Josephine Siao Fong-fong as Desired Cultural Images.” Hong Kong Cultural Studies Bulletin 8-9(Spring/ Summer): 31-40.

Part C: Institution (Week 11-13)
[Week 11: Nov 11] C1. Analysis of Cultural Industries
Special Topic: TV culture
*馬傑偉1997＜電視建構的香港記憶－－《香港傳奇》＞《二十一世紀》41期，頁121-127 (handout)。
*Stokes, Jane. 2003. "Researching Media Institutions and the Culture Industries." How to do media and cultural studies. London: SAGE, 98-127.
Douglas Kellner." The Frankfurt School and British Cultural Studies: The Missed Articulation."
馬傑偉2002(1996)＜電視文化的歷史分析（節錄）＞《閱讀香港普及文化1970-2000》香港：牛津大學出版社，頁681-694。

[Week 12: Nov 18] C2. Ideological and Discourse analysis
Special Topic: Education
*Branston, Gill. 2003. The Media Student's Book. London and NY: Routledge, Chapter 12.
*喬治．瑞澤爾(George Ritzer)著，謝立中等譯，2003＜米歇爾爾．福柯 [1]：知識考古學；權力譜系學＞《後現代社會理論》北京：華夏出版社。
Ritzer, George.1997. "Michel Foucault: Part 1: Archaeology of Knowledge; Genealog of Power." Postmodern Social Theory. NY: McGraw-Hill, 31-62.
陳景輝及葉綺雯2002＜學校不能壟斷教育＞《E+E》第二期，Winter/Spring。
Foucault, Michel. 1972. "Truth and Power." Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews & Other Writings 1972-1977. NY: Pantheon, 109-133.
Fendler, Lynn. 1998. "What is it impossible to Think? A Genealogy of the Educated Subject." Foucault's Challenge: Discourse, Knowledge, and Power in Education. Edited by Thomas S. Popkewitz and Marie Brennan. New York and London: Teachers College, Columbia University, 39-63.
佚名2001＜告別成人帝國link＞
Fairclough, Norman. 1992. "Michel Foucault and the Analysis of Discourse." Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity, pp. 37-61.
Fairclough, Norman. 1992. "Text Analysis: Constructing Social Reality." Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity, pp. 169-199.

[Week 13: Nov 25] C3. Media ethnography and techno-culture
Special topic: Media, family and community
*Rogge, Jan-Uwe. 1989. “The Media in everyday family life: Some biographical and typological aspects.” Remote Control: Television, Audiences & Cultural Power. Edited by Ellen Seiter, Hans Borchers, Gabriele Kreutzner and Eva-Maria Warth. London: Routledge.
Farrell, Henry and Drezner, Daniel W. (Aug. 2004). The Power and Politics of Blogs
Marshall, Jon. 2003. "Internet Politics in an Information economy." Fibreculture Journal, issue no. 1.

[Week 14: Dec 2] Conclusion

Readings

-All marked items and tutorial materials are required readings.
-Try to cover those recommended readings interest you most.
-《文化G點》is highly recommended.

Other References

何春蕤｜文化研究概論link
張錦華｜質化研究link
劉人鵬｜文化研究導論link
Marxism and cultural studies link
林鶴玲｜性別與媒體 link
Kate Chiwen Liu | Cultural studies: from romantic poetry to Taipei streets link
A vocabulary of culture

Exercises

1. Narrating your own experience and reflects on the pleasures, passions and purposes of owning or shopping. Topics might be: a favorite possession; collecting (cards, toys, books . . .); family shopping traditions; gift exchange; holiday shopping; travel and shopping; You will want to include anecdotes from your own experience, what you've observed, what pleases you, perplexes you, amuses you, troubles you, makes you wonder. . . You may include ideas, comments, phrases, etc., from other writers, friends, classmates, movies or songs, citing them informally. Try your best to collect some background information about your possession or your behavior.
References:
何詠華2003; 盧韻詩2003
Fiske, John. 1995. "Shopping for Pleasure: Malls, Power and Resistance." Reading culture: Contexts for critical reading and writing. Second edition. Edited by Diana George and John Trimbur. NY: Harper Collins, pp. 307-312.
(Due date: Oct 21)

2. Pick an ad from magazine, newspaper or TV that you enjoy reading or watching. Write a paper on it. Treat the ad like a text – what message do you think the ad is trying to deliver? Pay attention to the position of the actors, their clothing, the objects in the scene, the lighting, the wordings, the angle of the camera, and whatever else you think of (surprise me) to prove your point. Be detailed.
In your conclusion try to go to the next level – what is the relevance of this ad to the society? Have you seen this occur in other ads, commercials or TV shows? Is this ad a part of a collective feeling? Why did you pick this ad in the first place? Do you agree with the message of the ad? Why? How could it be improved or changed? Don’t just look at the surface of the ad in your analysis.
References:
林宇玲2004；葉蔭聰2005
Branston 2003
(Due date: Nov 11)

*Plagiarism is subject to serious penalty.
*Late submission is not allowed.