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Week 5 Discussion (Corrine)

 1) I thoroughly enjoyed working through Giroux's theorization of Hall's "public pedagogy." I am interested in many aspects of this article, but I want to focus in particular on Giroux's discussion around representations specifically. They write that "representations can be understood for the ways in which they shape and bear witness to the ethical dilemmas that animate broader debates within the dominant culture" and that "the implications of this argument suggest a cultural politics that investigates how popular texts are articulated within structures of affect and meaning mediated by networks of power and domination bound to the specific historical, social and economic conditions of their production" (355). As a media studies scholar, I often find that studies of representation sometimes skim the surface of deeper cultural issues (or even turn into the cultural scholarship that Hall negatively describes when he discusses textual analyses of The Sopranos). How can our studies of representation make sure to keep these networks of power and domination and the more "behind-the-scenes" aspects of constructing a representation in mind to stay away from the pitfall of creating "rubbish masquerading as cultural studies"?

2) I'm also invested in the theme of hope I see in, especially the Giroux reading, but really all the readings for this week (and most of Hall's readings, in general). How can we utilize hope in our pedagogical and political practices? Is hope a useful tool for the cultural issues Hall, and by extension, we are engaged in?

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