CLT220 - Graffiti, Kitsch and Trash: Crimes of Style

Explore theories that question traditional hierarchies and enable a re-evaluation of life. You will read about subcultures and oppositional cultures, identity politics and the politics of style, the politics of high versus popular and low culture and cultural identities in global/local contexts. You will also examine graffiti, hip hop, crimes of style, identity politics of public space, the relation between kitsch and high art, the racial politics of hair and body styles, the cultural politics of tourist sites, gigantism and miniaturism, queer culture and celebrity kitsch. You will develop analytical skills that enable you to critique the hierarchies that classify, judge and position objects and practices and the construction of ethnic, sexual, gender and nation.