Cultural Studies-Contradictions

Jean Franco wrote about Cultural Studies by discussing what was not good about it. I have to premise my Blog by stating that I have both a BA and an MA in American Studies, which is the study of culture through History, Literature, Sociology, and Political Science. In studying American Studies I took classes that dealt with almost every ethnicity in the United States, I had classes that dealt with different movements in America from the time of the revolution to present. I would agree with Franco quoting Toby Miller who sees "cultural studies as a tendency across disciplines, rather than a discipline itself" (209). I do not think that is a negative statement. There is no way to study a culture as diverse as America without needing to cross disciplines in order to study it.

The criticism from Paul Smith of the "propensity of cultural studies to avoid offering up any especially firm definition or methodology suggestive view of what culture really is" tells me that he really does not understand cultural studies (210). How can any culture define itself in one way unless it is isolated. American culture has been developed by the people who have immigrated to this country since the time of its founding to this day. It is a fluid concept, it is developing every day. When I was studying American Studies we had a course on Television in America, the Internet was just beginning to become important in our culture; it was not something we studied at the time, but it is now. America is very different post 9-11 than it was pre 9-11; that is now something that is studied in American Studies that was not when I was taking courses in this subject. To me that is what makes it so interesting.

There seems to be a downward turn in American Studies, as is probably happening in many other cultural studies as is referred to in Franco's article. I found this to be true when I wanted to teach at a Community College and they were not sure where to put my application. They did not think it fit into history, maybe in humanity studies, or maybe literature. So that is why I am here. I found it necessary to get a more specialized degree. I believe that in studying English Composition and Literature that my background in American Studies will benefit me in my studies of English and in my teaching down the road. It was also one of my favorite parts of American Studies. I do not think that we need to do away with a field however, just because there is not a tidy definition of itself. Each individual culture that is present in American culture will define itself according to its ethnicity while at the same time defining them self as an American that is not a contradiction, but believing that there needs to be tight definition of culture is a contradiction to what culture is.