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OSU introduces Popular Culture Studies

By Emily Gibb

Along with new books, new classes and new buildings, a new minor in the College of Arts and Sciences is available for undergraduate students. The Popular Culture Studies minor offers students the opportunity to study life beyond clear-cut specializations in the University.

According to the website, popularculturestudies.osu.edu, “The goal of the Interdisciplinary Minor in Popular Culture Studies is to provide tools for undergraduates to build bridges between the popular, public, and material cultures of their daily lives and the cultures that are the traditional objects of study of the University.” In other words, it is a way to blend the lives students lead with the subjects they spend so much time studying.

“I see the study of popular culture as a way of making connections between the traditional academic texts and topics we study in the university and the texts and topics that they are encountering every day outside of the university,” said Professor Jared Gardner, coordinator for the Popular Culture Studies minor.

From one perspective, adding Popular Culture Studies gives students and faculty interested in this area a way to find and interact with each other. It grew from the faculty’s enthusiasm and the students’ curiosity. After taking the courses that were already offered, the students were still asking for more. “In some ways, we were able to fuel the whole thing on that energy,” said Gardner. “ Our goal with the Minor was to help interested students be better able to negotiate the range of options for studying popular culture at OSU. . .”

For students wondering how this addition will enhance their current career path or major, it gives them the opportunity to “take courses that get them to engage with Popular Culture from a variety of perspectives and then bring those new insights back to their own majors,” according to Gardner.

The Popular Culture Studies minor challenges students to take a variety of courses spanning across several different colleges within the university and involving approximately 20 departments. The knowledge students take with them helps to break the common complaint that no one uses what they learn in the classroom in the “real world.” “At a time when students are increasingly getting the message — in all kinds of insidious and subtle ways — that their university education is ultimately irrelevant to the “real world” that lies outside, the study of popular culture allows them to experience the connections between the skills and training they are receiving in their majors and the world they will be navigating for the rest of their lives,” said Gardner.

In this case, the “real world” is the topic of choice and the reason for taking the time to understand and apply the concepts learned inside the classroom. “After all, here within the walls of the University, we divide things up into these (sometimes) neat “disciplines,” but in the world outside things are not [as] tidy. Being able to engage with the popular culture that is everywhere in our lives from an interdisciplinary perspective is vital. . .” said Gardner.

One of the goals of those involved in designing and planning the new minor is to encourage other students and faculty to pursue their ideas and thoughts towards other courses and areas pertaining to popular culture. “Knowing there is a Minor with a cohort of interested students (and faculty!) will hopefully encourage the interdisciplinary study of popular culture to continue to spread across the University,” said Gardner.

Students in need of more information can go to www.popularculturestudies.osu.edu.

Originally Published: September 19, 2007

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