British Popular Culture

Instructor: Ivelina Kazakova
Semester VI
ECTS credits: 3

The focus of the third-year elective course is to familiarize students with popular culture forms and practices typical of the British context. Seminar discussions centre on a variety of non-fiction texts and audiovisual material exploring theories of popular culture and its relationship with folk and high culture, popular culture forms as national identity building blocks, the taxonomy of popular culture studied via graffiti and rock ‘n’ roll, women’s and men’s magazines as popular discourses of pleasure and leisure, soap operas, tabloid newspapers, and the royal family as popular culture commodities, to name but a few. Another prime course objective is to help students further polish their verbal and critical thinking skills necessary for confidently developing arguments and summarizing the main points when listening or reading for gist. Assessment will be via written assignments and oral presentations done during the semester and a final term paper.