PS-Introduction to Cultural Studies: Britain's got the Blues: Mental Health Crises in Contemporary Culture
Matilda Jones
Kommentar
This module considers the representation of the burgeoning mental health crisis in contemporary culture. Exploring a variety of cultural forms (from films, novels, and TV shows, to poems and experimental audio), we will consider the representation of work, home and sociality in relation to the individual psyche. Attending to various strands of critical theory – acknowledging race, class, age, gender, sexuality and the environment – we will analyse secondary reading material that interrogates issues of, for example, ‘Attention Deficit’, ‘The Privatisation of Stress’ and ‘Eco-Anxiety’. From this perspective, despite celebrating the destigmatisation of psychotherapy and mental health discourse in recent years, a major segment to this course will concern the foregrounding of connections between the economic precarity of modern Britain and popular embracement of consumerist fads surrounding ‘Mindfulness’, ‘Wellness’ and ‘Self-care’. Ultimately, drawing upon the work of feminist theorists (such as Lynne Segal), we will question the entire concept of ‘happiness’ as an emotion (/affective state) that should be inherently aspired to.
In order to participate in this class, please note that you must be prepared to stream selected film and TV materials (TBA), and purchase two novels:
- 'Weirdo' by Sara Pascoe (2023)
- 'Ordinary People' by Diana Evans (2018)
Schließen
13 Termine
Regelmäßige Termine der Lehrveranstaltung