Key Concepts for the Study of Culture

TABLE OF CONTENTS


1. Meanings and Functions of Culture and Cultural Key Concepts 1
Major Characteristics of Cultures 2 · Selected Key Concepts for an Understandingof Cultures 9 · Definitions of and Approaches to Culture 12 · Implicationsof the Meaning-Oriented, Semiotic Understanding of Culture 15 · Dealing Withthe 'Other' 25 · Basic Differences between Cultures 29 · Major Functions ofCulture 33 · Aims and Structure of this Book 34 · Bibliography 39
VERA NÜNNING

2. Cultural Ways of Worldmaking 43
Premises for Understanding Ways of Worldmaking 44 · Getting Things Wrongin the Sixteenth Century: 'Bloody Mary' - and 'Fake News' 46 · Visual Waysof Worldmaking 50 · Narrative as a Means of Worldmaking 59 · Ways of (Narrative)Worldmaking in Cultural History Books 62 · Getting Things WrongToday: Common Misconceptions and Processes of Worldmaking 72 · Conclusion80 · Bibliography 81
VERA NÜNNING

3. Emotions 85
'Irrational' Emotions? Definitions 86 · Culture and Emotions 88 · RedefiningEmotions in the Eighteenth Century: The Culture of Sensibility as a CaseStudy of Cultural Change 90 · Discourses Involved in Changing the Role ofthe Emotions in the Eighteenth Century 95 · The Role of Material Culturewith Regard to the New Appreciation of Emotions 102 · Social Practices andInstitutions Expressing and Influencing the New Understanding of the Emotions105 · Criticism of the Culture of Sensibility 108 · Lasting Impact andFurther Changes 112 · Bibliography 115
VERA NÜNNING, CORINNA ASSMANN

4. Civilization 119
Introduction: Civilization, Cultural Studies and Norbert Elias 119 · 'Civilization':History, Politics, Aesthetics 121 · Civilization and the 'Saddle Period'122 · Case Studies: Christopher Columbus, Cotton Mather, Philip Freneau127 · Culture as a Civilizing Process: Norbert Elias and Cultural Studies 136 ·Bibliography 143
PHILIPP LÖFFLER

5. Performance (Studies) and Performativity 147
Introduction - Definitions 147 · The Study of Performance Before PerformanceStudies: Some Foundations in Philosophy 151 · The Birth of the Discipline inAnthropology, Ethnography and Sociology 153 · Performative Theories ofLanguage: Austin and Derrida 157 · Performance, Performativity, and Identity:Judith Butler and Pierre Bourdieu 160 · Performance Studies Today: AnInterdisciplinary Discipline 162 · Bibliography 165
MARGIT PETERFY

6. Identity: Cultural Ways of Making Selves 169
Defining Selves and Identities 171 · Culture, Narrative and Identity 178 · CreatingSelves in the Twenty-First Century 182 · Collective Identities 187 · Us vs.Them: The 'War on Terror' Narrative as a Mode of Stabilizing Collective Identityin Times of Crisis 191 · Building Bridges: Functions of Narrative 198 ·Bibliography 200
VERA NÜNNING

7. Intersectionality in/and Cultural Studies 205
Introduction 205 · Academic Precursors: The Rise of Race, Class and GenderStudies 207 · The Grounds of Identity: Inwardness Around 1800 213 ·Contemporary Responses 218 · Problems of Definition 221 · Conclusion: TheUses of Intersectionality 225 · Bibliography 226
PHILIPP LÖFFLER

8. Visual Studies and Culture 231
Introduction: What Is the 'Visual Turn' and Why Should It Concern Us? 231 ·How Images Work: Neurophysiological, Cognitive and Psychological Foundations236 · A (New) World of Man-Made Images 239 · The 'Pictorial Turn'and Symbolic and Interpretative Constellations 244 · The Politics of Visibility:The Power of Images 248 · Bibliography 254
MARGIT PETERFY

9. Global