This course examines different conceptions of culture, the debates about cultural studies as a discipline, and the contemporary modes of cultural analysis through in-depth readings of the writings of several major thinkers of the twentieth century. It provides an introduction to such approaches as Marxism, structuralism, post-structuralism, feminism, and psychoanalysis as well as an opportunity for critical engagement with the thoughts of such influential cultural theorists as W. Benjamin, T. Adorno, J. Derrida, M. Foucault, L. Irigaray, J. Butler, and S. Zizek.