Decolonising Cultural Studies

Authors

  • Rashmi Sawhney School of Business Studies and Social Sciences (SBSSS), CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12724/ajss.50.2

Keywords:

Cultural Studies in India, Localising Curriculum

Abstract

Written as a reflective account emerging from the process of reviewing and revamping an MA in English and Cultural Studies at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, in the year 2018-19, this essay takes the form of a tapestry woven out of four separate but related inquiries. Section I reflects upon the experience of having taught introductory courses in Cultural Studies (Henceforth CS) in India and Ireland separated by a gap of 15 years, and germane questions of cultural specificity and curricula. Section II provies an overview of the available narratives of CS within India, focusing on the distinctive approach taken in each account. Section III looks at the relationship between CS, Postcolonial Studies (henceforth PS) and Subaltern Studies (henceforth SS), as they developed in play with one another in 1980s England and America. And Section IV comments on some wider institutional and creative practices of relevance, and the implications these hold for possible future directions of CS. In totality, the article attempts to assess what transformative work it might be possible to do through CS in the future.

Author Biography

Rashmi Sawhney, School of Business Studies and Social Sciences (SBSSS), CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

School of Business Studies and Social Sciences (SBSSS), CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.

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Published

2019-07-01