Explorations in Cultural History

T.G. Ashplant

Description

History is an invention in the present, as much as a representation and interpretation of the past. This has opened up innovative approaches to the research and writing of history, and it is the two ideas central to this theme - that culture is historically conditioned and history culturally conditioned – that this book explores.



Both theoretical and practical in its approach, this volume explains the development of cultural history, and its impact on current teaching. Part One examines the ways in which conceptions of historical meaning have been challenged via developments in a range of disciplines (including literary and linguistic theory, history, sociology, anthropology, media and cultural studies). Part Two looks at four case studies drawn from America and Britain: the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial, the music of the Beatles, the social documentary of George Orwell, and the political polemics of nineteenth-century British radical women.
Preface

Part One: In search of Cultural History

1. Schools, Methods, Disciplines, Influences by T.G. Ashplant and Gerry Smyth

Part Two. Case studies

2. 'What Right Have Women To Interfere With Politics?' Address of the Female Political Union of Birmingham to the Women of England (1838) by Helen Rogers

3. 'A Secret Conviction that Nothing can be Changed', or' Abolishing a Part of Yourself'? by T. G. Ashplant

4. 'The Wings of an Abstract Bird' or 'A Black Gash of Shame'?: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982) by Joanna Price

5. 'I'd Love to Turn you On': The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band (1967) by Gerry Smyth

Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Cultural studies
• Anthropology
• Social
• Culture

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 mars 2001
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849645218
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

EXPLORATIONS IN CULTURAL HISTORY

Edited by T.G. Ashplant and Gerry Smyth

P Pluto Press LONDON • STERLING, VIRGINIA

First published 2001 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA and 22883 Quicksilver Drive, Sterling, VA 20166-2012, USA

www.plutobooks.com

Copyright © T.G. Ashplant and Gerry Smyth 2001 Chapter 3 © T.G. Ashplant 2000 Chapter 4 © Joanna Price 2000

The right of the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Explorations in cultural history / edited by T.G. Ashplant and Gerry Smyth. p. cm. ISBN 0–7453–1517–8 — ISBN 0–7453–1512–7 (pbk.) 1. Culture—Study and teaching. 2. Culture—History. I. Ashplant, T.G. II. Smyth, Gerry. HM101 .E97 2001 306'.071—dc21 00–009907

ISBN 0 7453 1517 8 hardback ISBN 0 7453 1512 7 paperback

Disclaimer: Some images in the original version of this book are not available for inclusion in the eBook.

Designed and produced for Pluto Press by Chase Publishing Services Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton Printed in the European Union by TJ International, Padstow, England

For Mike Pudlo

Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements

PART 1 IN SEARCH OF CULTURAL HISTORY T.G. Ashplant and Gerry Smyth

1 Schools, Methods, Disciplines, Influences 1.1 Cultural History: Versions and Definitions 1.2 Marxist Historiography and Cultural Theory 1.3 TheAnnalesHistorians, Anthropology and the New Cultural History 1.4 Foucault and New Historicism27 1.5 Poststructuralism and Postmodernism 1.6 Popular Culture and Cultural Studies

PART 2

CASE STUDIES

2 ‘What right have women to interfere with politics?’: The Address of the Female Political Union of Birmingham to the Women of England (1838) Helen Rogers

3 ‘A secret conviction that nothing can be changed’, or ‘Abolishing a part of yourself’?: George Orwell’sThe Road to Wigan Pier(1937) T.G. Ashplant

4 A ‘black gash of shame’ or ‘The wings of an abstract bird’? The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (1982) Joanna Price

5 ‘I’d Love to Turn You On’: The Beatles’Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band(1967) Gerry Smyth

Index

ix

3 3 10

20

35 43

65

101

139

169

199

Preface and Acknowledgements

The last 20 years have seen far-reaching changes in the ways the humanities and social sciences have conceived of both their objects of study and their methodologies. The component disciplines have been challenged by the impact of feminist and postcolonial question- ings, the rise of critical and cultural theory, and the alleged crisis in ‘grand narratives’ (Marxism, modernisation, the Enlightenment project). As a result, the internal structures and external boundaries of existing disciplines have been, to a greater or lesser extent, modified and their curricula expanded; new disciplines (women’s studies, cultural studies) have emerged; and interdisciplinary exchanges between disciplines have become more common. These developments have of course had a differential effect in both timing and extent, being felt earlier or more extensively in some disciplines than others. Some traditional subjects have been radically reshaped, such as literary studies under the impact of the ‘canon wars’ and literary theory which together have greatly extended the range of texts studied and the modes of interpretation employed. Others have enjoyed a sudden rise to eminence, as with the emergence of cultural geography. Even in the venerable discipline of history – about which Dominick LaCapra could write in hisHistory and Criticismas recently as 1985 that ‘Historiography today is not in that state of fermentation to be found in fields such as literary criticism and Continental philosophy. Historians tend to pride themselves on their immunity to the wormlike doubt and self-reflective scrutiny that have appeared in other areas of enquiry, notably those infiltrated by recent French thought’ (p. 46) – even here some sub-disciplines have felt the impact of the theory revolution, as with the ‘linguistic turn’ in social history. The contributors to this volume have all worked during the past decade in the department of Literature and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University. During this period, the department has offered a BA degree in Literature, Life and Thought, a title borrowed from the post-1918 Cambridge English course (which became the dominant model for literary studies in Britain during the middle decades of the twentieth century), but reinscribed so as to allow a productive interdisciplinary exchange between literature, cultural history and critical and cultural theory. Stressing both the historical rootedness of all forms of writing, and the literary structuring of those texts historians have traditionally treated as sources, the degree has also engaged with contemporary theories as

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EXPLORATIONS IN CULTURAL HISTORY

themselves historically situated and textually constructed. The aim has been to encourage fruitful dialogue between text, event and theory, rather than to privilege any one of these terms. This work at LJMU has its parallels in other humanities departments, especially (though not only) in the new universities. Many of the curricular and methodological developments pioneered in such departments are now being absorbed into the mainstream of the respective disciplines. This volume grows out of the experience of teaching, and related research, just described. It outlines some of the methodological im- plications of these interdisciplinary encounters and offers examples of the substantive research it has inspired. Part 1, entitled ‘In Search of Cultural History’, offers an overview of the emergence of cultural history in the 1980s as the locus for new research into the historical construction and transformation of meanings. Chapter 1 traces interacting developments within the discipline of history since 1945 in Britain, France and America that have given shape to the new cultural history. It focuses on the proliferation of sub-disciplines within history, the influence of the FrenchAnnaleshistorians and the British Marxist historians and cultural theorists, and interdisciplinary exchanges with literary and cultural studies and anthropology. It goes on to examine the impact of key components within critical and cultural theory, in particular poststructuralism and postmodernism, Foucault and new historicism, and paradigms for the study of popular culture. As an intervention in debates over the protocols of cultural history, it offers a model for framing research into, and interpretations of, the meanings of cultural artefacts in terms of three moments of analysis: production, signification and reception. Part 2 comprises four case studies of British and American cultural artefacts drawn from the last two centuries. Each employs the cultural history frame introduced in Part 1, adapted to both the specific type of artefact involved (a political address, a polemical social investigation, a public monument, a pop record), and to the research questions being posed.

Our former colleague Mike Pudlo was one of the pioneers in estab- lishing and developing the Literature, Life and Thought degree, and later the American Studies programme which grew out of it. Building on his own training in American history and politics, he extended his work into the fields of cultural history and historiographical theory. His teaching communicated his own passion for history, at once engaged and sceptical, while always setting exacting standards for his students to aim at. It has been a privilege to work alongside Mike and to benefit from the intellectual environment he helped to create. This book is dedicated to him with respect and affection.

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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The authors would all like to express their gratitude to Sheena Streather and her colleagues at the Aldham Robarts Learning Resource Centre and the Inter-Library Loans Unit, LJMU, for their help in obtaining essential texts. T.G. Ashplant wishes to thank the School of Media, Critical and Creative Arts, and the Literature and Cultural History Research Committee, Liverpool John Moores University, for the award of study leave during the preparation of this volume, and for undertaking con- sequential teaching and administrative duties; the staffs of the Upper Reserve, Upper Camera and Catalogue Desk, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, for facilitating access to a wide range of research materials; Ursula Tarkowski for coffee and conversation; Sally Alexander and Daniela Koleva for encouragement at a crucial juncture; and especially Elspeth Graham for continuing support and apt advice throughout the project. Joanna Price would like to thank her colleagues in American Studies, especially Ross Dawson, for making it possible for her to take the sabbatical leave during which she researched her chapter; Dr Patrick Hagopian for ideas and information; and Pete Morriss for his support, encouragement and critical contestation.

Note on Citations

All books cited in the bibliographies at the end of each chapter of this volume are published in London unless otherwise stated.

PART 1

IN SEARCH OF CULTURAL HISTORY