Week 1- Barker, Chapter 1 (Introduction)

The Introduction to the Barker text asserts that the field of cultural studies is an "interdisciplinary field" which explores issues of "culture and power" (Barker 2003, 7). It is refreshing to me for an academic to state outright that their field of interest is not merely "objective" or uninterested. Cultural studies by its very nature seeks to find those marginalized groups, who are devoid of power, and to offer them a voice. Cultural studies even goes so far as to question the prevailing positions of power. There is an agenda, and Barker does not shy away from that. However, while Barker does a good job in summing up the myriads of ways in which cultural studies is applied and approached, one can easily get tangled up and confused in all of the choices available. I feel that Barker does not offer much help in the way of determining which "way" (psychoanalysis, feminism, race, postcolonial, etc.) offers the most hope for the future. At the end of the chapter it seems that the proposition is that we, and our interest groups, are to just fight it out in the free market of ideas, and whoever is left standing wins. Surely, there is some way to merge these different interests (interests of women, men, members of the majority world, etc..) towards some kind of common goal. I don't personally feel there is much hope in everyone trying to push their own agendas without taking other agendas into account. I haven't caught this idea yet from Barker, but perhaps this idea of "awareness" of the viewpoints of others is the most positive thing Barker offers.