Course Description

Elective in the AAU Humanities programs. Provides critical insights into cultural resistance to mainstream culture, such as graffiti, street-art, underground, punk, psychedelia, new social movements, etc. Topics are explored through the lenses of culture studies and urban anthropology. Seminal readings on subcultures are used to discuss the practices of ‘alternative’ urban lives in postindustrial society and certain trends of artistic production. Focus is on political interpretation of youth subversion and disclosures of power mechanisms. Visuals are a part of this course.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
– Use research tools of cultural studies – critical thinking, semiotics, urban anthropology;
– Conceptualize and contextualize expressions of youth rebellion;
– Apply critical imagination in decoding of subversive artifacts;
– Read resistance to consumer culture;
– Interpret the streets and other public spaces of the city.

*Course content subject to change