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  3. Bachelor in Languages, Literatures and Cultures
  4. Portuguese and English Studies
  5. Popular Culture and Literature in English

Popular Culture and Literature in English

Objectives

  •  Develop awareness of contemporary issues in English-speaking societies within a globalized world;
  • Analyze and interpret (multimodal) narratives and cultural forms from a variety of contexts: literature, graphic narratives, stand-up comedy, cinema, music, food, sports, social media, TV, video games;
  • Question the distinction between the literary and the popular;
  • Develop critical thinking, reflexivity and engagement with contemporary socio-cultural debates;
  • Explore the roles of popular culture within Anglophone societies and its relationship to discourses of ethnicity, age, class, gender, nationality, and other categories.

General characterization

Code

01106975

Credits

6.0

Responsible teacher

Rogério Miguel do Deserto Rodrigues de Puga

Hours

Weekly - 4

Total - 168

Teaching language

English

Prerequisites

N/A

Bibliography

  • Coe, J. (2019) Middle England. London: Penguin
  • Eckstein, Lars et al. (Eds) (2008) Multi-ethnic Britain 2000+: New Perspectives in Literature, Film and the Arts. Rodopi
  • Hirsch, A. (2019) Brit(ish) : On Race, Identity and Belonging. London: Vintage
  • Kamm, Jürgen & Birgit Neumann (Eds) (2016) British TV Comedies: Cultural Concepts, Contexts and Controversies. Palgrave
  • O’Gorman, D. & Robert Eaglestone (2019). The Routledge Companion to Twenty-first Century Literary Fiction. London & NY: Routledge
  • Plesske, Nora (2014) The Intelligible Metropolis: Urban Mentality in Contemporary London Novels. Transcript
  • Raiford A. Guins, Omayra Zaragoza Cruz (Eds.) (2005). Popular Culture: A Reader. Sage
  • Storey, John (2015) Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, An Introduction. Routledge

Teaching method

classes include some lecturing, as well as practical activities, joint discussion and reflection by the students. We privilege the practical application of theory, interaction and active participation of students individually, in pairs and in groups to create a space for theoretical reflection on Anglophone popular cultures, facilitating learning through the theoretical presentation of contents, critical comment and analyses of texts.

Evaluation method

Continuous assessment - Critical essay (2500 words)(60%), Reflective logbook (1000 words)(40%)

Subject matter

  • Production and materiality of popular culture in English-speaking countries;
  • Production and consumption (consumerism) of popular culture: literature, sports, (popular) politics and History, music, cinema, tv, video games, social media;
  • Representations and (cultural) intersectionalities of gender, national symbols and identity, class, ethinicity and age in popular culture;
  • The role of digital media in shaping the production and consumption of popular fiction.