CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 1

Abstract

This essay considers the relation of cultural studies to undergraduates and undergraduate

education. Specifically, I discuss my experience teaching a course that explores contemporary

American culture through an engagement with an emerging body of scholarship that considers

the ways popular culture reflects, and refracts, the events of September 11, 2001. The essay

begins with a concise discussion of the course objectives, readings, and assignments. I then

review the varied objects of study students examined over the course of the semester.

Throughout, I note the productive relationship between cultural studies and undergraduate

education in a traditional liberal arts setting.

Keywords: cultural studies, liberal arts, 9/11, undergraduate education

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Cultural Studies and the Undergraduate: Teaching 9/11 Culture

This essay considers the relation of cultural studies to undergraduate education in the

context of a traditional liberal arts institution. Specifically, I relate my experience teaching a

course that explores contemporary American culture through an engagement with an emerging

body of scholarship that considers the ways popular culture reflects, and refracts, the events of

September 11, 2001 (e.g., Birkenstein, Froula & Randell, 2010; Chermak, Bailey & Brown,

2003; Quay & Damico, 2010; Spigel, 2004). Not surprisingly, a good deal of this work is

informed by cultural studies theory and practice. And so it is with the course I discuss herein.

The essay describes the course objectives, readings, and assignments. In addition, I

review the varied objects of study students examined over the course of the semester.

Throughout, I note the productive relationship between cultural studies, media criticism, and the

liberal arts. I begin with some background information on DePauw University and my role in

the universitys communication studies curriculum.

Background

DePauw University is a private, liberal arts institution with an enrollment of

approximately 2300 students. Located in Greencastle, Indiana, DePauw University was founded

by the Methodist Church in 1837. DePauw is a residential campus with undergraduate programs

in the College of Liberal Arts and the School of Music. The universitys mission statement

reads, in part, DePauw teaches its students values and habits of mind which serve them

throughout their lives as each of them makes a positive difference as an active citizen of the

world (Mission Statement, n.d.). As I hope to demonstrate in this short essay, teaching 9/11

culture is uniquely suited to instill students with values and habits of mind that promote critical
CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 3

thinking and active citizenship: skills that are essential for living in an increasingly complex and

interdependent world.

I am Associate Professor of Media Studies in the Department of Communication &

Theater one of the largest programs of study on campus. The department offers course work in

three areas of concentration: Media Studies, Rhetoric & Interpersonal Communication, and

Theater. While the department does not offer course work in cultural studies as such, there is a

critical mass of faculty whose teaching and scholarship is informed by cultural studies theory

and practice. My teaching responsibilities include introductory and upper-level course work in

media studies. I routinely design courses in media criticism (COMM 334) that focus on a

particular topic or sub-field of media studies. Over the past five years, I have offered course

work that examines press performance during the Iraq War, the rise of news as entertainment,

and most recently, 9/11 culture. To my mind, this topical approach to media criticism is crucial

for making course work relevant to students academic interests as well as their personal lives.

The course described below was offered in fall semester 2010.

Teaching 9/11 Culture

This course surveys American popular culture since September 11, 2001. In doing so,

the course introduces students to cultural theory in a rigorous and engaging fashion. Throughout

the semester we examine the immediate cultural responses to the terrorist attacks, from 9.11

(2001), a co-production of the Independent Media Center and Big Noise Tactical produced in

New York City within days of the attacks, to the patriotic-themed advertisements that signaled

the return of regularly scheduled programming to US television (Campbell, 2003). Furthermore,

we explore the resonance of 9/11 evident in more contemporary popular culture, such as Chris
CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 4

Nolans The Dark Knight (2008) and Showtimes Dexter (e.g., Sutherland & Swan, 2010). Thus,

this survey of 9/11 culture encourages students to consider how and why popular culture should

be subject to critical analysis. The learning objectives for the course are as follows:

1. Review the cultural responses to the events of September 11, 2001.

2. Discuss the emergence of a cultural formation in the aftermath of 9/11.

3. Identify the theories, methods, and techniques of close reading.

4. Discuss the complex role culture plays in mediating historical reality.

5. Perform a close reading of a text that is emblematic of 9/11 culture.

The required readings were chosen for discreet, but not necessarily unrelated, reasons.

For instance, Jonathan Safran Foers Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2006) introduces

students to an exemplar of high art in post 9/11 American culture. Conversely, Jacobson and

Colns The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation (2006) serves double-duty. That is to say, while

the comic book format is indicative of commercial art this text makes the US governments

official narrative of September 11, 2001, easily accessible to undergraduates. Taken together,

these two texts not only put the terrorist attacks in context, they also illuminate the complex and

dynamic role culture plays in mediating collective memory and historical reality.

Our primary text is Jeffrey Melnicks 9/11 Culture (2009). From the digital snapshots

taken in and around lower Manhattan on that fateful day what he refers to as cultural first

responders to the prodigious output of the culture industries, Melnick uses the phrase cultural

work to highlight the role and function of popular culture after September 11. Accordingly,

Melnicks analysis of 9/11 culture avoids aesthetic evaluation altogether; instead Melnicks

focus is on what popular arts do rather than what they are (emphasis in original 2009, p. 4).
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For instance, in his discussion of the wedge driving rumors (p. 26) about celebrating

Arabs and absent Jews that began circulating within days of the attacks, Melnick observes

how rumor and gossip work to identify, define and otherwise make distinctions between in

groups and out groups. Likewise, Melnicks analysis of popular music demonstrates how

some artists and performers took the events of September 11 as an occasion to challenge notions

of American exceptionalism prevalent in so much 9/11 culture. For instance, Melnick

demonstrates how Wyclef Jeans rendition of Bob Marleys Redemption Song during the

America: Tribute to Heroes telethon injected an oppositional discourse into an event ostensibly

designed to mobilize the American people to get their war on. By the same token, Melnicks

cultural analysis of literature, film, and television reveals a concerted effort to reassert

traditional gender roles in the wake of the attacks. Throughout, Melnick traces the varied,

often competing, responses to 9/11 evident in American popular culture.

Our final reading for the semester is Barry Brummetts Techniques of Close Reading

(2010). Briefly stated, this book is a primer on textual analysis. In the preface, Brummett

writes: This is a how to book designed largely for use in college classes. It teaches students

how to see what is in a text. Therefore, in a sense it is a book about mindfulness and noticing

(2010, p. ix). Providing a clear rationale for taking up close readings of popular culture, the

book moves on to a concise discussion of the theory, methods, and techniques of cultural

criticism. Doing so, this book helps students refine their analytical skills while gaining the

confidence to take up an original analysis of 9/11 culture.

Throughout the semester, I made use of in-class discussion, group exercises, and short

writing assignments that required students to take up close readings of all manner of popular

culture: the opening credits of TV programs, magazine ads, popular music and the like. While
CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 6

each of these in-class assignments was designed to meet discrete learning objectives reading

texts with an eye toward understanding the significance of form and content; highlighting the

role of metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche and irony in popular culture; and detecting ideologies

in argument the overarching aim of these exercises was to help students develop and refine

their writing and analytical skills. My goal was to give students the skills and the confidence

to take up a formal critical analysis (5000-5500 words) of 9/11 culture. In turn, these essays

provide the basis for in-class presentations of student research.

Student presentations were organized thematically in the manner of panels at an academic

conference. Specifically, the panels featured student work that addressed the following

questions, issues and concerns:

Panel 1: The End of Irony?

Panel 2: 9/11 in Music, Performance and the Visual Arts

Panel 3: 9/11 Film and TV

Panel 4: 9/11 and the Literary Imagination

Panel 5: Minority Reports

In short, course readings and assignments are consistent with department and university-wide

curricular objectives insofar as they: a) call attention to the decisive role culture plays in relaying

(and resisting) dominant ideology; b) promote an appreciation for the contested character of

historical memory; and c) cultivate critical thinking skills for academic success, professional

development, and civic engagement. It should go without saying that these curricular objectives

have value and relevance far beyond the narrow confines of the communication studies

curriculum at DePauw University.

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Put differently, the teaching and learning strategies described herein are replicable across

a variety of disciplines and institutional settings. Whats more, the course is scalable. That is to

say, teaching 9/11 culture in the fashion outlined here is easily adapted to meet the learning

objectives of any number of courses: from first-year seminars and research methods classes, to

writing intensive courses and senior seminars. It bears mentioning that this course was initially

conceived and designed in collaboration with a communication studies major as part of an

independent study.

Student Projects

The work students produced over the course of the semester was typical inasmuch as

some of this work was well-conceived, -crafted and -presented while some of it was less

successful. That said, the range of cultural expression students explored is noteworthy. Indeed,

the diverse subject matter taken up by student research projects reveals one of the defining

features of 9/11 culture its multi-media character. Whats more, the breadth and depth of 9/11

culture allows students to examine media forms and practices that resonate with their personal

tastes and interests.

Throughout the semester, we take up George Lipsitzs (2001) observation that popular

culture aint no sideshow. In other words, cultural criticism of this sort reveals the ideological,

ritual, performative and affective dimensions of popular culture. Doing so, cultural studies

underscores the decisive role culture plays in identity formation, collective memory, and

legitimating as well as resisting relations of domination and subordination. By challenging the

notion that popular culture is merely entertainment, the course encourages students to take
CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 8

culture seriously, to understand the political nature of culture, and conversely, to grasp the

cultural dimensions of politics.

The following examples provide a sense of the diverse objects of study students

examined over the course of the semester:

* 9/11themed episodes of Comedy Centrals animated TV series South Park

* The electronic journal of a lesbian WTC worker

* Nine Innings to Ground Zero, HBOs documentary about the 2001 World Series

* Representations of American women in popular magazines after September 11

* 9/11 references and shout outs in popular music

* 9/11 in childrens literature

* The Falling Man in popular culture

* Loose Change and the 9/11 Truth Movement

* Arab-American stand-up comedy after September 11.

Discussion

As I reviewed student evaluations at the end of the semester, I considered the strengths

and weakness of my course design and execution. For the most part, students were enthusiastic

about the course content and assignments.1 One student wrote, I really liked the topic we

focused on throughout the semester. 9/11 is probably the first where were you when moment

of our lifetimes, so it is definitely relevant and a significant moment in our lives. Another

student commented, I really enjoyed the course. The use of 9/11 as a vehicle to do close

readings was really interesting and worked well. I also enjoyed the research project.

1
The following student comments are taken from university-issued student opinion surveys. As these
surveys are completed anonymously, the following quotes are provided without attribution.
CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 9

Nevertheless, a handful of students perceived a disconnect between the study of 9/11 culture and

course work focused more squarely on the techniques of close reading. For example, one student

found the topic of 9/11 culture very interesting but added, at times it could get boring,

especially with the book we read on close reading. Another student wrote, I really enjoyed

reading Melnicks book and was more interested in it than I was in the close readings book.

As I prepare to offer this course again, in fall semester 2011, I am determined to use

Brummetts text in a more productive and engaging fashion. To that end, I plan to workshop

student research projects on an ongoing basis. Doing so gives students an incentive to identify

their research topics in a timely fashion. More important, the workshop approach invites

students to apply the techniques of close reading to their respective objects of study in a

supportive and collaborative learning environment. Finally, as we mark the tenth anniversary of

the terrorist attacks this fall, we will have ample opportunity to examine a fresh set of cultural

texts.

In short, following a thorough review of student comments I was obliged to weigh the

advantages and disadvantages of teaching 9/11 culture in the context of a media criticism course

and, more generally, of offering such a course in a liberal arts setting. This essay provides an

opportunity for further reflection upon the structure and organization of the course, its relative

merits vis--vis department and university-wide curricular objectives, and finally, its relation to

the field of cultural studies.

As far as department curricular objectives are concerned, an examination of 9/11 culture

achieves two principal aims. First, the course provides a robust justification for taking up a

critical analysis of media form and content. Second, the course introduces students to a variety

of critical perspectives rhetorical and ideological criticism, discourse analysis, feminism,

CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 10

structuralism, and post-structuralism and gives them an opportunity to apply these insights to a

discrete object of study. In the past, television criticism was the primary vehicle the Department

of Communication & Theater employed to achieve these aims. While this approach is entirely

appropriate, a survey of 9/11 culture expands the range of cultural production under

consideration by an order of magnitude.

Put another way, students are free to explore any and all manner of culture from

television and film to music, literature, and performance. Echoing the sentiments of several

classmates, one student commented favorably on the flexibility we had in choosing our paper

topics. Whats more, by casting a wide net this course encourages students to pursue a research

project that might not otherwise be acceptable in a traditional media criticism course. This has

the added advantage of appealing to non-majors whose interests may lie outside the purview of a

medium specific communication studies course. On that score, a critical examination of 9/11

culture has important advantages over the departments usual offerings under the rubric of media

criticism. Furthermore, the course design described herein is readily adapted to meet the

learning objectives of a variety of courses in communication and cultural analysis.

Equally important, teaching 9/11 culture fulfills some of the implicit and explicit goals of

a liberal arts education. That is to say, this class aims to cultivate the values and habits of mind

associated with the liberal arts. Foregrounding the resonance of 9/11 ten years later encourages

students to consider the origins and implications of the so-called war on terror. Whats more, a

critical examination of 9/11 culture is a unique vehicle to instill students with a sense of global

citizenship. In other words, the events of September 11 and the cultural responses thereof

highlight the relevance of world history and international relations to our everyday lived

experience.
CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 11

Having said this, there are disadvantages, or to be more precise, difficulties associated

with teaching 9/11 culture. To begin with, students entering the university today were quite

young on September 11, 2001. While a course on 9/11 culture is well suited for giving students

a sense of recent history, the significance of the terrorist attacks is not nearly so palpable for

students who have little memory of the those events. The challenge of communicating the

historical significance and continued relevance of September 11 grows more daunting with each

passing year. Conversely, teaching 9/11 culture in a multi-cultural classroom requires sensitivity

to political, religious, ethnic and cultural differences and to the very real passions that

discussions of the attacks, the war on terrorism and all that has transpired since September 11,

2001 can rouse.

Nevertheless, these are not insurmountable obstacles. Indeed, teaching 9/11 culture

provides a forum to address vexing questions of national security and neo-imperialism,

religiosity and secularism, domestic surveillance and human rights abuses and to do so in a

respectful, thoughtful and productive fashion. It seems to me, taking up these issues is entirely

appropriate for undergraduates enrolled in a traditional liberal arts program. Whats more,

course work that situates the study of media and popular culture in social, historical, and political

context is consistent with the practice of cultural studies insofar as this project seeks to

interrogate processes of social (re)production, to consider the myriad ways culture legitimates

unequal relations of power, and to identify the role culture plays in resisting and struggling

against domination.

Finally, cultural studies emphasis on everyday lived experience is indispensible for

promoting civic engagement one of the principal aims of a liberal arts education. As singer-

songwriter legend Neil Young observed some years ago, in post-9/11 America we are living
CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 12

with war every day. Whether its making our way through airport security, checking books out

of the local library, contemplating the ethical implications of indefinite detention, or confronting

the economic and human costs of the US-led occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, the

consequences of the war on terror are all around us. Without putting too fine a point on it,

interrogating the meanings of 9/11 and its aftermath in our daily lives is the stuff of cultural

studies.

Acknowledgements

This essay grew out of my participation in a seminar titled, Cultural Studies and the

Undergraduate, at the 2011 meeting of the Cultural Studies Association in Chicago, IL. The

author would like to thank students enrolled in the fall 2010 section of COMM 334 for sharing

their insights on 9/11 culture. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful

comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this paper. Finally, I am grateful to Erin Kielty

(Class of 2010) for her invaluable assistance in designing this course.

CULTURAL STUDIES AND THE UNDERGRADUATE 13

References

Birkenstein, J., Froula, A., & Randell, K. (Eds.). (2010). Reframing 9/11: Film, popular

culture and the "war on terror." New York: Continuum.

Brummett, B. (2010). Techniques of close reading. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Campbell, C. (2003). Commodifying September 11: Advertising, myth and hegemony. In S.

Chermak, F. Bailey, and M. Brown (Eds.), Media representations of September 11 (pp.

47-66). Westport, CT: Praeger.

Chermak, S., Bailey, F. & Brown, M. (Eds.). (2003). Media representations of September 11.

Westport, CT: Praeger.

DePauw University (n.d.) Mission statement. Retreived from

http://www.depauw.edu/univ/index.asp

Foer, J. S. (2006). Extremely loud and incredibly close. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Independent Media Center. (2001). 9.11: Another world is possible. New York: Big Noise

Films.

Jacobson, S. & Coln, E. (2006). The 9/11 report: A graphic adaptation. New York: Hill &

Wang.

Lipsitz, G. (2001). Time passages: Collective memory and American popular culture.

Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Melnick, J. (2009). 9/11 culture. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.

Nolan, C. (2008). The dark knight. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video.

Quay, S. & Damico, A. (Eds.). (2010). September 11 in popular culture. Santa Barbara, CA:

Greenwood.

Spigel, L. (2004). Entertainment wars: Television culture after 9/11. American Culture,
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56 (2), 235-270.

Sutherland, S. & Swan, S. (2010). Spotlight Essay/Television: Dexter. In S. Quay & A.

Damico (Eds.), September 11 in popular culture (pp. 154-156). Santa Barbara, CA:

Greenwood.

Kevin Howley is Professor of Media Studies at DePauw University. His research and teaching

interests include the political economy of communication, cultural politics, and the sociology of

media and popular culture. His work has appeared in the Journal of Radio Studies, Journalism:

Theory, Practice, and Criticism, Television and New Media, the International Journal of

Cultural Studies, and Social Movement Studies. He is author of Community Media: People,

Places, and Communication Technologies (Cambridge, 2005) and editor of Understanding

Community Media (Sage, 2010) and Media Interventions (Peter Lang, 2013).