Cultural studies through education : moments of pedagogy and pragmatics

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Inter-Asia Cultural Studies

Publication Date

1-1-2008

Volume

9

Issue

3

First Page

484

Last Page

495

Publisher

Routledge

Abstract

Our main concern is to see if cultural studies can intervene more productively in the dominant educational processes, in ways that align with the sustainable interests of its critical project. As cynicism becomes the commonplace ‘distinction’ of our young graduates, we raise two questions: why should cultural studies be concerned with the spread of cynicism within our own institutional and pedagogic space? And what would be the implications of such critical reflection on our current practices, as scholar and teacher of this critical project? The paper draws on our continual engagement with the curriculum reform of secondary school subjects (Integrated Humanities and Liberal Studies) in Hong Kong, in an attempt to explore the limits and opportunities of education as social practice, as well as the effectivity of cultural studies within the contemporary contexts and crises of education. First we describe how taking part in the specific school reform projects has begun to change the critical and pedagogic orientation of cultural studies we do at the university. Then we discuss the implications of our recent experiments in doing cultural studies in and with the local schools. In all, we want to examine what brings us to our own search for a certain ‘politics of hope’, by re‐thinking and re‐mapping cultural studies as a collective, pragmatic programme in the local educational set‐up. For, without a constructive pragmatics, the students of cultural studies cannot be expected to work effectively across diverse institutional settings. Thus, criticism and the production of critical knowledge in the contemporary academy would go on to foster a state of cynicism among its graduates and the ‘stakeholders’ concerned. Cultural studies, we believe, can make itself more useful through concrete ways of mediating its expertise in the complex processes of education. As such, we emphasize the contemporary relevance and uses of cultural studies for educational transformation.

DOI

10.1080/14649370802184817

Print ISSN

14649373

E-ISSN

14698447

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2008 Taylor & Francis

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Additional Information

This paper is based in part on a research project entitled ‘For the Critical Uses of Cultural Research: Educational Reform as Cultural Process in the Integrated Humani- ties (S1-S3) Policy Implementation’ led by the authors at the Kwan Fong Cultural Research and Development Programme of Lingnan University with the support of a Research Grants Council (Hong Kong) grant.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Chan, C. K., & Hui, P. K. (2008). Cultural studies through education: Moments of pedagogy and pragmatics. Inter-Asia cultural studies, 9(3), 484-495.doi: 10.1080/14649370802184817

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