Lectures Flashcards
1
Q
Why does Culture not exist by itself?
A
it is constructed, shared, and negotiated by members of a cultural community
2
Q
Who is Stuart Hall?
A
A representative of the constructivist approach
3
Q
What is Culture?
A
a meaning-making process which
- employs signs
- creates a network of circulating power relations
- creates the social knowledge which shapes our identity
4
Q
What does Culture consist of?
A
Signs/meaning + knowledge/power
5
Q
What does Culture emerge from and who is it produced by?
A
- emerges from social interaction
- created by all parts of a social group
- not an elitist phenomenon, circulates between social classes
shared values & meanings in a community
6
Q
What does it mean if a Culture is co-produced by all parts of a community?
A
the need to acknowledge popular, ‘low’ & everydays-life culture too
7
Q
What is Cultural Representation?
A
- construct our ‘reality’ -> what we perceive as normal & natural
- how we give meaning to things/ideas = how we ‘realise’ them
8
Q
What is Cultural Representation and Meaning-Making constructed through?
A
Signs & Power Relations
9
Q
What are signs?
A
a tool to create meaning, exchange/communicate meaning
10
Q
What is Power?
A
meaning-making creates social knowledge which results in power relations
11
Q
What is an ideological subtext?
A
the “hidden message” that reflects or critiques the beliefs and values of a society, organization, or individual
12
Q
Why do Cultures also create a complicated network of power-relations?
A
because they create meaning through signs and therefore an ideological subtext as a result
Power does not neatly work from the top to the bottom, as Elitists like to believe; Power circulates
13
Q
Why does Power circulate?
A
because it exists everywhere and is not fixed
those in power are subjected to power, those not in power exert power
14
Q
What is a text?
A
sequence of signs
15
Q
Culture as a sign system works like a ..?
A
text or language
songs, paintings, ads on TV can also be cultural texts
Cultural analysis is like textual analysis!
16
Q
What is meaning constructed or represented through?
A
sign-systems e.g. language, art, etc.
signs only construct this specific meaning within our cultural context
signs and texts can be ambigious constructs e.g. Nazikreuz & Buddhism
17
Q
How to read signs/culture in cultural studies?
A
- Think critically (question EVERYTHING)
- Denaturalise what seems natural
- Signs aren’t universal, they are context dependent
- Be aware of your own/the observer’s perspective: No one is without bias :/
- What do you see? What do you not see? Are there any deliberate omissions?
- What ideology might be hiding in the text?
18
Q
When studying a cultural text/item what should we consider?
A
- How is it represented?
- How is it produced?
- How is it consumed?
- What social identities are associated with it?
- What (power) mechanisms regulate its distribution
19
Q
What do Cultural Studies function as?
A
an umbrella discipline that provides the theoretical and practical background for all the other sub-disciplines of English studies
Linguistics (as a sign system, meaning making process), Literary Studies (as a sign system, meaning making process), Didactics (theory & application of teaching & learning), Language Training (building block)
20
Q
What do Cultural Studies teach us?
A
- to approach culture as a sign system
- the world as text: culture is everywhere
- how meaning is made (how signs function)
- how to analyse signs
- how to analyze the power relations / hidden ideological agenda involved in the meaning making process
- to analyse the hidden messages / manipulative power of signs
- how the reader of signs is manipulated by hidden messages, ideologies, etc.
21
Q
Who was Matthew Arnold?
A
an elitist author who wrote “Culture and Anarchy” in 1869
The working class wanting suffrage? Anarchy.
Culture a means to keep the anarchistic and uncultured working class under control
Culture = “the best which has been thought and said in the world“
22
Q
Who was Frank Raymond Leavis?
A
elitist who wrote “Mass Civilisation and Minority Culture” in 1930
“Culture is the high point of civilisation, only of concern for the educated minority”
23
Q
Who was Raymond Williams?
A
- Father of modern cultural studies
- Founded Birmingham Center of Cultural Studies
- Culture as a way of life/social practices
ab 1960er
24
Q
What are public schools in Britain?
A
private schools for the very rich cultural elite to become a British Gentleman
sports as paramilitary drill, uniform as conformity, no crying, masculinity
25
What is considered 'a-normal'/'queer'?
everything that does not fit the knowledge of normality (the norm)
26
What shapes our identity?
Culture, that creates a network of circulating power relations or social norms
| e.g. Sex/Gender
## Footnote
sex: biology; gender: cultural construct of feminine and masculine role patterns; we are born into a society that wants us to conform to certain patterns of a gender
27
What does WASP mean?
White Anglo-Saxon Protestantism, cultural norm of the western world until late 1960s
28
What does the change of prime ministers from Churchhill to Sunak signify?
postcolonial turn towards multiculturalism in the last decades
| cultural identity of being British changed over the last decades
## Footnote
Implicit irony: often the poc elite turns out to be more elitist & conservative than their White Anglo-Saxon protestant
29
Before the late 1960s what was the normative background of identity?
- male
- white
- European/Anglo-saxon/North American
- Christian
| everything else was a deviation from the norm
30
What is identity?
(self-) perception based on the social norms culture constructs
| culture shapes our identity
31
What is Essentialism?
assumption that social categories reflect an essential underlying identity
| see the world “black or white”, nothing in-between
32
What is Non-/Anti-Essentialism?
acknowledges the constructedness of culture as a meaning making process, which is constantly changing
## Footnote
=emphasizes that identities and cultures are socially constructed and can change over time.
33
What is the Enlightenment subject?
Identity as a unified stable self grounded in the ‘truth‘ of history and biology
| -> essentialist
## Footnote
everybody is born as a unique individual we acquire our individuality, our character traits at birth, so a biological fact – “the Cartesian self”
34
What is the Sociological subject?
Personal characteristics vs social contexts
| -> intermediate position
## Footnote
we are born with a certain set of qualities, but we are also shaped by our social standings e.g. education
35
What is the postmodern subject?
Subject is a social construct that assumes multiple identities (even at the same time depending on the occasion)
| -> non-essentialist
## Footnote
regards subjectivity as a social construct, different subject in different settings: friends, exams, family, job -> “Identity & Difference”
36
Identity is constructed by means of ..?
- symbolic difference (signs)
- social difference (power)
| identity as a non-essentialist cultural construct
37
What does the term hybridity (dislocation) mean?
multiple social contexts generate multiple (social) identities or subject positions
| term by Ernesto Laclau
## Footnote
also: blending or mixing of different cultural identities and influences. It suggests that in modern, globalized societies (especially Anglophone cultures with histories of migration and colonization), people don’t have fixed, singular identities. Instead, they embody a mix of different cultural elements.
38
Why is James Bond a great example for imperialistic British masculinity?
- Author: Ian Fleming -> former public school boy who was in WW2
- icon of British culture
- propaganda for nostalgia of British empire
- Roger Moore played James Bond -> WASP
- Indians are (mis)represented as enemies, evil, scheming, weak, servants, over-sexualized etc.
- British people are represented as “superior”
39
What does the poem "The White Man's Burden" refer to?
the subtle and often unacknowledged racial biases that underpin the poem’s message. While the poem presents the imperial mission as noble, it is based on the assumption that non-white peoples are inferior and in need of Western guidance and control.
| -> imperialism & racism
40
What did Queen Victoria see India as?
Jewel of the Crown
| even though she had like 949568 other territories
41
What does Tea & Coffee refer to in Cultural Studies?
Tea: Being British
Coffee: Being American
42
What does the Taj Mahal symbolize?
eternal passion of love
## Footnote
famous picture of Diana in front of Taj Mahal alone -> foreshadows divorce / in contrast Prince William and Kate pose together in front of Taj Mahal
43
What does 'drinking tea' mean?
- 'slow' cup of tea -> "British relaxation"
- Calm down, think before you take action
- No need to over-hurry things
- Stiff upper lip and don‘t lose control
| tea = relaxation
44
What does 'drinking coffee' mean?
- 'quick' cup of coffee: Americans rush things
- A stressful, energetic lifestyle
- Coffee doesn‘t interrupt your work
- Shows you are healthy and can withstand stress in work and life
| coffee = work, coffee is very unbritish
45
Why is Coffee so important for America?
- coffee as a symbol of liberty
- forming an American cultural identity which is independent of the British motherland
| Boston Tea Party 1773 : one of the Foundational Myths of America!
46
What is a community?
large group where most member will never meet, they share a common language, common foundational myths, common cultural practices
| Book 'Imagined Communities' by Benedict Anderson in 1983
## Footnote
e.g. Ancient Greece was a patchwork of city states but they were 'The Greeks' bc of common language, Olympic Games, religion
47
What is the 19th century nation state?
a dangerous example of an imagined community that is based on:
- Chauvinism
- Stereotyping
- Othering
- Military aggression
| Nationalism was the driving force behind the Nazis and Mussolini
## Footnote
model contributed to increased political stability and unity within certain regions, but also groundwork for conflicts and tensions e.g. world wars.
48
Why are dominant meanings in Popular Culture reproduced, circulated but also attacked?
because they are negotiated and contested
| national sentiment, pride, patriotism are celebrated in pop culture
## Footnote
pop culture is also where the concept of Being British is produced, performed & negotiated
49
What do I mean when saying Inclusion vs. Exclusion regarding Popular Culture?
Not only patriotism & national identity is formed in popular culture but it is also a productive site for oppression, marginalisation and exclusion of others
| i.e. stereotypes, clichés, nationalism, xenophobia
50
What is stereotyping in theory?
- stresses sameness, erases differences
- emphasises shared meanings, ignores conflicting meanings
- simplifies and fixes meaning
| i.e. no difference in class, age, ethnicity, gender
## Footnote
But:
auto-stereotype vs. hetero-stereotype
auto-image vs. hetero-image
in-group vs. out-group
We vs. Them
Clichés about themselves vs. Clichés about others
51
What is the Auto-stereotype?
how the in-group defines its own characteristics
## Footnote
For example, British people might believe that they are polite, reserved, and have a good sense of humor. These are positive stereotypes the group creates about itself.
52
What is the hetero-stereotype?
generalizations that an in-group makes about an out-group
## Footnote
For instance, a British person might believe that Americans are loud or that the French are sophisticated.
53
What is the auto-image?
image a group has about themselves, could include cultural traits, values, or behaviors that are considered defining for that group
| e.g. We see ourselves as tolerant and inclusive
54
What is the hetero-image?
This is the image that one group holds about another. It includes the overall perception of an out-group
| We think the French are proud of their cuisine and culture
## Footnote
Hetero-images can be based on both positive and negative assumptions.
55
What does Britain consist of?
- The Centre (England)
- (Celtic) Fringe/Periphery
56
What countries does the United Kingdom consist of?
- England
- Wales
- Scotland
- Northern Ireland
57
What countries does Great Britain consist of?
- England
- Wales
- Scotland
58
What's the History of the United Kingdom?
- 1603 Union of the Scottish and English Crowns (James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England)
- Act of Union 1707 - Scotland and England become Great Britain
- Act of Union 1801 - Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland become UK
- 1922 - Republic of Ireland
- 2014 - Scotland Independence Poll
59
What British identities does the Union Jack represent?
- St. George's Cross (England)
- St. Andrew's Cross (Scotland)
- St. Patrick's Cross (Ireland)
| England + Scotland flag = Flag of Great Britain
## Footnote
Flag of Great Britain + Ireland = Union Flag of UK
60
Why isn't Wales on any flag, etc.?
- 1284 - Wales is annexed by crown of England
- Act of Union 1536 - Henry 8th incorporates Wales into his realm
61
What are examples for the Gaelic language?
- Irish
- Scottish
- Manx
| minority languages
62
What are examples for the Brittonic language?
- Welsh
- Cornish
- Breton
| minority languages
63
What is RP?
Received pronunciation -> the Queen's language, BBC & Oxford English
| upper class language spoken in and around London/South England
## Footnote
traditional standard English btw
64
What is the standard English now?
- regional varieties
- down to earth pronunciation
- no social varieties (socialects)
| socialect example: Cockney
65
What is the enduring hegemony of English Culture?
- Aftermath of the British Empire with its cultural emphasis on Englishness (James Bond & imperial nostalgia)
- Gentleman, tea, public schools as markers of Englishness
66
When was the British Empire spread at its peak?
early 20th century, they colonized half the world
67
What is mapping/What were maps in England?
- Act of cultural representation/meaning making
- Eurocentric world picture
- England as the centre of the world
## Footnote
democracy -> imperial greatness; Poseidon is in a picture -> “Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves”
68
What is the Prime Meridian in London/Greenwich?
- Longitude is 0°, one foot in eastern hemisphere & one in western hempishere
- an arbitrary, conventional sign
- England as centre of world
69
Old Royal Naval College as the institution that...?
- Queen's House is part of
- constructs the knowledge of England as the centre of the world ruled by the British Empire
- administrates and institutionalises this knowledge as a means of imperial power politics
- presents and objectifies this knowledge as a scientific and self-evident truth
-> construction of truth
70
What is the Omphalos of Delphi?
naval stone of Earth
71
What is the mappa mundi?
- one of the oldest surviving depictions of the world, ca. 1300
- Jerusalem as centre
- three continents
- East on top instead of North
## Footnote
Fashioning one’s own cultural territory as the centre of the world (=Affirmation of Power)
72
What are semiotics?
study of signs
73
What is the semiotic approach to representation?
the construction of meaning through signs and sign systems (e.g. language) -> translation of signs into meaning = signification
74
Who were the three most influential thinkers for the semiotic approach?
- Ferdinand de Saussure: Structuralism/linguistic sign
- Ogden & Richards: semiotic triangle
- Jacques Derrida: deconstruction/différance
75
What are the terms most often associated with De Saussure?
- Arbitrariness
- Conventions
- Difference
- Structuralism
## Footnote
signifier of arbitrariness of linguistic conventions/regulated by the Principle of Difference: Cat-Bat-Rat-Hat-Fat-Mad-Bad-Gag
signified -> cultural conventions/differences
76
Who was Jacques Derrida?
French-Algerian Philosopher who developed "Différance"
-> differ & defer
77
What does Différance signify?
the Deferall of Meaning and Dynamics of the Signified over the course of History
| e.g. hostility can be hostile, host, hospital
## Footnote
e.g. gay was once 'fully of joy or mirth', since 70s it means homo
78
What does Semeion mean?
sign in Greek
79
Semiology has two layers of meaning, what are they?
- Denotation: literary meaning
- Connotation: associations ('myth' -> ideological level)
| e.g."flag" -> denotation: piece of cloth, connotation: national identity
## Footnote
by Roland Barthes "Semiology & Myth"
80
What is the Connotation/Myth influenced by?
culture- and power-related dimensions of signification
| The ideological power-related subtext of culture as a sign system
81
What is the discursive approach to representation?
the construction of social knowledge and power relations through signs and sign systems
| by Michael Foucault
82
What is the definition of Discourse?
- Construction of social knowledge & power relations through language/culture
- The social knowledge produced by discourse creates a truth/reality-effect – it objectifies reality -> a regime of truth
## Footnote
discourse/reality-effect: constructing cultural norms e.g. white skinny women as model norm
83
What does Discourse do?
- defines implicit rules and social practices which produce meaning, truth and power relations
- produces an 'order of things' -> social knowledge of what is 'true' or 'false'
- defines what we are allowed to talk about and how -> way we talk about objects of our knowledge
| truth is actually just a regime of truth
## Footnote
what matters is if this knowledge is powerful enough to be considered an objective truth
84
Why was Foucault fascinated with the 18th century?
-> was the Age of Enlightenment
- human and social sciences replace religion as authority that produces knowledge & objectifies knowledge
| authority decides what is true and false
## Footnote
There is no universal truth, only things that are made true or untrue through discursive formations!
84
What if someone challenges the state apparatus?
they are declared stupid, mad, a-normal, imprisoned, institutionalised
| e.g. Galileo Galilei
85
On whose behalf is social knowledge often constructed?
state apparatus (institutions representing/working for the state apparatus)
86
What is Post-Structuralism?
the approaches that emerged in the wake of Saussure's Structuralism i.e. Barthes, Derrida, Foucault
| they all share a post-modern point of view:
## Footnote
e.g. when we speak, we do not only make use of language, language also speaks us
87
Why did Robbie Williams play at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee?
to make her go pop and to make her relatable
| “they are just like us and listen to Robbie”
88
How does staged privacy shape public perception of monarchy in a voyeuristic, media-driven age?
allows to balance the public's voyeuristic interest with the need to maintain control over their image. With glimpses into their private lives, monarchs can appear relatable and human while safeguarding their mystique and authority -> room is not shown
| also: moments of ordinariness function as moments of identification
## Footnote
media as a tool of dynastic power politics vs. media as a power instrument in its own right
89
Explain the Rise of Mass Media regarding the mediated Monarchy
- Late 19th century until WW1: development of photography, public display of Queen Victoria & her family values
- WW1 until 1950s: beginning of mass media, royals become mediated public figures (King George 6th 1939 Speech on radio & Queen Elizabeth II 1953 coronation)
- 1953 until today: era of media celebrities, moments of ordinariness as moments of identification
90
What is Queen Elizabeth I Tilbury Speech in 1588?
she was an early icon of media self-representation
she was dressed as a knight & spoke to the army and said we meet again in Heaven, also: “I have the body of a woman, but the mind of a lion.”
| England's 'golden time'
91
What was unusual about Victoria and mass media?
She introduced the Brits to Christmas, public display of bourgeois family values, portrays a loving marriage and lots of children
92
Why did George VI inherit the throne?
His brother Edward VIII married a common woman and he was close to hitler, so he had to abdicate
| Bro was not prepared for the throne, inherited country on edge of war
93
What improved the public's perception of the Royals during WW2?
- they stayed in London during the Blitz
- Princesses Elizabeth & Margaret both spoke publicly on the radio
- Queen (then Princess) served during war
| Elizabeth married Philip in 1947, 1953 Coronation
94
Ernst Kantorowicz distinguished the King’s/Queen’s two bodies, what are they + characteristics?
1. Body natural: mortal, ordinary, private person
2. Body politic: immortal, sovereign, represents nation
| "The King is dead, long live the King."
95
What is the monarchy now?
a constitutional monarchy: "a sovereign who reigns but does not rule"
actual political power has Prime Minister and the Cabinet
| Responsible to rule the English people represented in Parliament
96
What is the Glorious Revolution?
relatively peaceful revolution, where the King/Queen becomes 'employed' by sovereign people instead of being an absolutist representative on Earth
| 1688
## Footnote
before Kings had 'divine right of kings', after Revolution they needed to enter a social contract which regulates their rights and duties
97
What ultimately happens in the Glorious Revolution?
- England becomes a Constitutional Monarchy -> King has to abide the law, can be dismissed, every King has to sign contract
- England becomes a modern state controlled by the Parliament
| William of Orange (Dutch House) becomes King, only for two generations
98
How is the monarchy today?
- only has symbolic power, no effective power
- a form of meaning making
- dynamic form of cultural representation
- form of celebrity culture
- represent 'being British' as a concept affected by historical change
99
What did the Queen represent?
- public persona who represents the continuity of Great Britain in times of crisis, imperial decline, and change
- rock on which (post-) imperial Britain is built
| James Bond's boss M dying in Skyfall foreshadowes future the Queen's Tod
## Footnote
James Bond mourning the passing of (rule) Britannia?
100
How is Myth-making by Roland Barthes connected with the Queen?
because it transforms a cultural product, symbol, or event into a naturalized sign that supports a dominant ideology -> the Queen becomes a part of postmodern celebrity culture
101
How is the Queen associated with an imagined community by Benedict Anderson?
Because Britain as an imagined community is held together by the public image of the Queen
102
How is the Queen & James Bond a projection of imperial nostalgia?
- (mis-) represents postcolonial & post-Brexit Britain as global player in world politics
- features alleged imperial glamour and greatness of country
103
What is Discourse?
- defines implicit rules and social practices which produce meaning, truth and power relations
- produces an 'order of things' -> what is 'true & false', 'speakable & unspeakable'
- defines what one can think and talk about -> way to talk about objects of our knowledge
| there is no truth - things are made true/false by discursive formations
## Footnote
so Discourse produces knowledge & objectifies knowledge (creates a truth/reality-effect, a regime of truth)
104
Who was Edward Said?
Palestinian who wrote the book 'Orientalism' in 1978 which builds on Foucault's Discourse and deals with post-colonial culture
105
What do you associate with the word 'Orient'?
- term created by the West
- mostly based on 18-19th century
- Hollywood movies 1950s
- indulgence, luxury, cat-like, poison, cowardly
106
What does Discourse do in the book 'Orientalism'?
it produces a reality-effect: our mindset of East is constructed by Orientalist discourse as a contrast to the west -> cultural (mis-) representation
| Orientalist's Orient is a discursive construct
## Footnote
Orientalism as an imperialist strategy of the West: “By getting to know the Orient, the West came to own it” (-> power & knowledge)
107
What is the binary opposition construct regarding Orientalism?
West vs. East (Occident vs. Orient)
- discipline vs. indulgence
- work vs. sleep
- reason vs. passion
- freedom vs. tyranny
- civilization vs. atrocity
- masculine vs. unmanly/effeminate
108
What is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem 'Kubla Khan' about?
Written in 1797 and published in 1816, the poem was inspired by an opium-induced vision after Coleridge read about Kublai Khan’s palace in China. (Grandson of Ghengiz Khan, where Marco Polo was too btw). The poem reflects Romantic fascination with the "Orient," using places like Xanadu (China) and Abyssinia (Ethiopia) as symbols of luxury, otherness, and creativity.
109
What was Vienna/Austria in the 16th/17th century?
place between the Occident and Orient
| in Montagu's work Occident/Orientalism begins in Austria
## Footnote
Austria had inverted Gender roles? women had two husbands?? -> sexual permissiveness
110
When were the Ottoman Sieges?
- 1529 & 1683
- before Orientalist discourse (18th century)
- Ottomans were existential threat
| Viennesse were scared of the leaders
111
What are the Turkish Embassy Letters?
- by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
- Based on journey 1716-18
- offering first-hand how Orient really is
112
How is the Orient described in the Turkish Embassy Letters?
- people were humble
- husband only loves one woman
- Ottoman Empire was a place of scientific progress -> Anti-pox vaccination
113
What form do Vanillekipferl have and what does that mean?
Half-moon, go back to Ottoman Siege
114
History of the Wiener Stadtmauer?
- Built as fortification against Ottoman attacks in 1548
- Dismantled in 1857 to build the Ringstraße
| until mid 19th century Vienna was only 1st district
115
What is except the Vanillekipferl also something that stayed with Austrians?
Coffeehouse Culture
116
What is so special about the Ringstraße?
- self-representation of 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire
- circular, returning to beginning
- playhouses, theatres, opera are central buildings in it
| Hegel in Paris is linearity of History -> progress
117
What clothes can carry meaning + example?
- Hats: Lincoln to appear taller, religious & military headwear
- Hairstyles: Kim Jong Un
- Trenchcoat: was worn in Trenches
- Trousers: cuffing them to not make them dirty
- Jeans: actually for working class
- Cravat: Louis XIV in 1660, before that: Croatian merchants
- Heels: Louix XIV wore them, before only women
- Country-Outfits
118
What is Burberry supposed to represent?
Scottish Culture
119
Why is British Culture Urban and Rural?
'Who can afford it, commutes between country and city'
| contrast to French Culture: Paris vs. Province
## Footnote
creating and representing a myth (Country-Outfit for City Dwellers)
120
What is Christmas today?
multi-cultural phenomenon, many regional traditional and historical developments
| a mishmas event, cultural and historical differences
121
Why is it the 25th of December where some people celebrate Christmas based on intercultural archaelogy?
- Pre-Christian: fertility rites at the time of winter solstice, Romans say 25th
- Ancient Greece: birth of Dionysus (God of Fertility)
- Ancient Rome: Saturnalia festival (17-23) & Dies Natalis Solic Invicti (Birth of Sungod Mithras)
- Jewish: Hanukkah festival of lights
- Scandinavia: Yuletide - Germanic midwinter festival
- England: 12-day festival of Yule
122
What is the 25th of December for Christians?
Birth of Jesus
| Christianization of pre-Christian culture
123
What is the Roman Saturnalia Festival?
- predecessor of modern carnival
- Carnival/Carnivalesque acc. Mikhail Bakhtin: subversion and containment of social order, ritual inversion of social hierarchy, strictly regulated everyday life vs. cultic licence and festivity
| slaves and masters switch places in Saturnalia festival (17-23)
124
Who is the Lord of Misrule?
- King of carnival season
- King of upside down world
- falls after carnival season (when social order is restored again)
| kind of culprit ritual
## Footnote
Jesus as a Lord of Misrule (challenged order of Roman Empire, he became a messianic figure)
125
What is the Twelfth Night?
- English Carnival Season
- 12 day festival of Yule
- Begins on 25 Dec, ends 6 Jan
- similar to Saturnalia
| Christmas in England is rather carnivalesque event than religious/spirit
126
Who is Father Christmas?
- Festive Lord of Misrule
- symbol of 'good old days' and feasting and good cheer
- until Victorian times, he was concerned with adult feasting and merry-making, not children
| Puritans tried to suppress Christmas bc sex, eating, drinking, dancing
127
What is the Feast of Epiphany?
- Heiligen Drei Könige (6 Jan.)
- three men follow star of Bethlehem
- they find humble child and this is new Messiah
| Epiphany: sudden revelation
128
What are the names regarding Christmas figures in England & Austria?
- England, France, Spain, Italy: Father Christmas
- USA: Santa Claus
- Austria, Hungary: Baby Jesus, Christ-child
129
Where could Santa's flying sleigh come from?
Siberian shamanism, they consume mushrooms on Christmas which contain hallucinogens
| found under Christmas pine trees, Rudolphs nose bc of red mushroom
## Footnote
they thought the reindeers next to them were flying when they were high
130
Why is it a myth that Santa comes through the chimney?
European folklore says that supernatural creatures exploit intermediary space to enter homes - for good or ill
## Footnote
Santa vs. Big Bad Wolf
131
What's the correlation between Santa Claus and Coca Cola?
- Puritan USA: Coke as substitute to drugs
- feasting and revelling -> relax from hard work
- red-nosed coke Santa
- Rudolph
| red nose = alcohol abuse
132
How is Christmas in Germany?
- Weih-nachten: sacred/holy night
- silent night
- 24 December
- Christmas child
- intimate family feast
| celebrating Bourgeois nuclear family introduced by Hanoverian Albert
## Footnote
in Anglophone: holiday season, loud revelling, 25 December morning, Father Christmas, collective societal event
133
What are the characteristics of the Bourgeois nuclear family (at Christmas)?
- mutual goodwill and affection (Innerlichkeit)
- Feelings
- Parental, fraternal love
- principle of adoption
- parental sex as necessary evil to procreate
- celebrate divine mystery of virginal conception
| sexual enjoyment = sinful, evil
## Footnote
holy virgin as 'Second Eve'
