[Discussion] Life and Times of Cultural Studies

Thu, 30 Jun 2005 09:37:25 -0700

Richard E. Lee. Life and Times of Cultural Studies. Philosophy and
Postcoloniality Series. Edited by Valentin Mudimbe and Bogumil Jewsiewick=
.
Durham: Duke University Press, 2003. 278 pp. Notes, bibliography, index.=20
$79.95
(cloth), ISBN 0-8223-3160-8; $22.95 (paper), ISBN 0-8223-3173-x.
Reviewed by: Terrance L. Lewis, History Program, Southern University at N=
ew
Orleans.

Published by: H-Ideas (April, 2005)
Cultural Theory, Past and Future

There are many ways to classify the academic studies of culture. One rath=
er
crude way is to split the field of those scholars who claim to do cultura=
l
studies into those who study cultural components and the ideas behind=20
them, and
those who seek theories which link those components to analytical=20
structures of
economic, political, and especially social theory.

Anyone seeking the history of the first school of thought will be gravely
disappointed in Lee's recent monograph. Those looking for a history of th=
e
second will find exactly that. Life and Times of Cultural Studies primari=
ly
traces the critical movement that emerged from the British New Left of=20
the late
1950s in journals such as The New Left Review and its precursors, and the
writings of E. P. Thompson and Raymond H. Williams, as its methodology an=
d
ideals spread through parts of English-speaking Academe, symbolized in=20
this work
by the founding of the University of Birmingham's Centre for Contemporary
Cultural Studies. Lee also covers the historical background in British=20
critical
theory (especially early literary theory) from the time of the French=20
Revolution
onward, although the earlier periods are not as emphasized as the 1950s.

The monograph is divided into three sections, with a total of eight=20
chapters.
The opening section's first chapter traces the development of one idea of
cultural studies as it emerged from the writers of the British New Left=20
in the
period 1945-1968, the theoretical constructs that underlay the=20
assumptions of
the New Left, and many of the individuals directly and indirectly associa=
ted
with both the movement and academic theory. This is followed by a chapter
devoted to showing the strands of the development of various aspects of t=
he
British literary traditions from the French Revolution through the 1960s,
world-system theory, and the various theoretical models of the left and=20
right,
and to how the emerging ideas of cultural studies "recombined the elite
tradition of with the first New Left's concerns for history and popular=20
culture
just as the liberal consensus began to come apart" (p. 5).

The second part's three chapters follow both the internal theoretical
developments and the institutional establishment of this approach to=20
cultural
studies over a period of more than thirty years. The first two chapters=20
of this
section look at the development of the University of Birmingham's Centre =
for
Contemporary Cultural Studies and related projects, the relationship=20
between the
scholars and institutional studies, and the changes in both the academic =
and
western world during the 1960s through 1980s. It traces in particular=20
the change
from a primarily working-class emphasis in the earlier period to the grea=
ter
accent on race and gender today. Chapter 5 looks primarily at how cultura=
l
studies was both adopted and adapted in the rest of the world,=20
especially in the
Anglophone areas. The last three chapters, which make up the final part,=20
are an
attempt to project how the past developments in the field might continue =
to
shape it in the future.

The weaknesses of this work lies primarily within the narrative structure=
.
Subjects often shift abruptly, especially in the opening chapter. For=20
readers
with some familiarity with the history of cultural studies, these
discontinuities will pose minor challenges. Those reading this as an
introduction to the field will find it confusing at first, although by=20
the time
the monograph is finished, these disconnects will make sense.

Similarly, those familiar with the conventions of cultural studies will b=
e
little surprised by how little actual culture is mentioned throughout=20
much of
the book. The field emerged out of British New Left scholars and=20
writers, who
were mostly interested in the intersections of economic theories with oth=
er
aspects of life. As those views expanded towards theories of race and=20
gender,
those underlying theories and the theoretical changes are explored more=20
than the
results.

The first sentence of the introduction in many ways sums up this work: "W=
hat
follows is story with a purpose" (p. 2). The purpose is partly the=20
history of
this concept of cultural studies and more importantly a justification and
advocation of this concept. The first two sections fulfill that purpose.=20
Lee is
also candid with the arguments which have divided the field, and with the
intellectual movements which have to some degree competed with it, such a=
s
deconstruction (pp. 154-156, and the associated notes on pp. 227-228).=20
No matter
what the reader's opinion on this concept of cultural studies might be, L=
ee
presents (at least after some meandering and convoluted sections strewn=20
through
the first chapter) a clear and powerful defense of the movement.

The third section in part doubles back to address some issues of now
sometimes-discarded theories of dealing with cultural studies (such as
references to C. P. Snow's idea of "the Two Cultures" and its implication=
s,
phenomenology, and existentialism, all scattered throughout this=20
section). Lee
also speculates as to the possible next steps the field might take, and=20
so also
deals with the speculative aspects of alternative futures. He concludes t=
hat
although the actual theoretical underpinnings of the field will certainly
continue to evolve, the process the field represents will continue,=20
"creating a
more substantially rational world by imagining a future with values, the
rallying cry of cultural studies, reunited with knowledge, the watchword =
of
science" (p. 214).

In short, while this cannot be recommended for undergraduates trying to=20
get a
fundamental handle on the field, it can be valuable for background=20
reading to
graduate students and scholars who have at least some rudimentary=20
knowledge of
it.