The Institute for Cultural Analysis, Nottingham (ICAn)
Welcome to the Institute for Cultural Analysis, Nottingham (ICAn). ICAn is the home of Cultural, Communications and Media research at Nottingham Trent University. We were established in 2003 in response to a recognition that, in the new millennium, problems in the social and human sciences generally - in particular in cultural research - have become increasingly dominated by three broad developments:
- the impact of globalisation
- the increasing imbrication of culture, economy, media and technology
- socio-political issues arising from the constitution and contestation of cultural identities.
Our role is to coordinate and develop the internationally recognised research base in Cultural, Communications and Media in the School of Arts and Humanities so as to meet the challenges of this emerging research agenda.
Our mission
ICAn defines its mission in the following way:
- The analysis of contemporary cultural phenomena understood as reflexive processes of the constitution of meaning conducted within the institutional context of globalisation.
- The development of a range of new interdisciplinary fields of enquiry constituted by projects which focus on: global knowledge; transnational and diasporic cultures; cultural industries, the arts and cinema; domestic culture and cultures of the everyday; the cultural implications of new media technologies; discursive strategies; emergent forms of identity; the body and public life.
- A commitment to the rigorous application of theoretically informed academic knowledge in dialogue with knowledge and understandings generated by agents in ‘real world' institutions: arts, media and cultural industries; business corporations; governmental and international agencies; community groups; charities, NGOs and so on.
- The interrogation of the relationship between technology, economy and culture in the development of a democratic, inclusive global public sphere.
- The understanding and application of new communications technologies in the reorganisation of knowledge in the social sciences and humanities, and the application of this to the development of pedagogy and curricula relevant to the context of globalisation.
- The development of innovative programmes of postgraduate study in cultural analysis.
- The development of collaborative research and teaching with academic and research institutions in the UK and abroad, including collaborations with end-users such as NGOs, charities and corporations.
- The dissemination of the Institute's approach to cultural analysis through publication, seminars and colloquia.
Research clusters
Researchers within ICAn work within four broad but frequently overlapping clusters:
- Technology, media and globalization explores the cultural implications of the globalization process, particularly as enacted and experienced through the modalities of new media and communication technologies and associated forms of network sociality.
- Transnational and diasporic culture focuses on cultural production, representation and experience within postcolonial contexts and amongst migrant and diasporic cultural communities.
- Cultures of the everyday focuses on the analysis of quotidian culture: domestic cultures, lifestyle, fashion and the culture of food - and in the relationship of these to the constitution of cultural identities.
- The Strategy in Communication Group (SinC) is a distinctive sub-group of researchers in the areas of critical discourse analysis, pragmatics and discursive psychology. SinC aims to promote and advance linguistic research into the strategic nature of communication in areas including business, the media, the legal process, reasoning, politeness and sexual identity.
Research and publishing centres
Of particular importance in delivering its mission are ICAn's two specialised research and academic publishing enterprises:
- The Theory, Cultural & Society (TCS) Centre is the research and publishing base of the internationally acclaimed journals Theory, Culture & Society and Body & Society and the Theory, Culture and Society / SAGE book series. The central current research project of the TCS Centre is the New Encyclopaedia Project (NEP).
- ICAn also provides the publishing base of Space and Culture: International Journal of Social Spaces , providing a unique interdisciplinary critical focus on social spaces such as the home, the laboratory, the city, leisure spaces and virtual spaces.
Events
ICAn/TCS Seminar
The ICAn /TCS Seminar provides annual programmes of seminars given by members and guest speakers on particular themes. Highlights have included Empire (2001-02); Reading Ricoeur (2002-03); Walter Benjamin (2003-04); Religion and Politics (2004-05); Culture and Mobilities (2005-6); and Diasporic and Migrant Cultures (2007-08).
ICAn also hosts a number of other programmes:
- Media and Cultural Studies Guest Speaker and Day Symposia Series: an annual event organised by the Cultures of the Everyday cluster. Themes have included Taste (2004), Technology (2005) and Class (2007).
- Linguistic Strategies: an annual seminar series organised by SinC.
- Occasional special events associated with specific research programmes - examples of these include a day symposium on Contemporary Chinese Cinema for the China, Media, Globalization project in 2005, and the symposium Re-Thinking Media in 2007.
Outreach
ICAn seeks to extend its work from the University into the local community, via public events held in association with the BFI-affiliated Nottingham Broadway Media Centre. These have included collaboration in the Broadly Speaking programme featuring public lectures/discussions on contemporary cultural issues and events formed around screenings/discussions. ICAn members have also been involved in the development of GAMECITY, the first international festival of videogames hosted by the University and the City of Nottingham in October 2007.
Resources
Since 2004 ICAn has been accommodated in a dedicated research suite of 17 new rooms. These include:
- two large seminar/meeting rooms
- a dedicated administrative and archive suite for the TCS Centre
- a meeting area and kitchen
- high-grade IT provision and audio-visual facilities.
Teaching programmes and research supervision
ICAn has a thriving international community of postgraduate research students and supervision to MPhil/PhD is offered across a wide range of research areas We offer an innovative MA programme in Media and Globalization which attracts students from across the world and are currently developing a new Master of Research (M.Res) programme based around the research specialisms of our members.
