The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain
Insights and Imperatives on the Practice of Cultural Studies in the Spanish University
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2163911 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Chantal Cornut-Gentille D''Arcy, Chantal Cornut-Gentille D'Arcy, Chantal Cornut-Gentille D’Arcy (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2005 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 318-337 |
| Publication date | 2005-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Cultural Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0950-2386 • E-ISSN: 1466-4348 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09502380500146964 |
| OpenAlex | W1571063457 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 14 |
As is known, ‘the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain’ is a famous line from George Bernard Shaw's play, Pygmalion (1912), a witty and highly entertaining study of Victorian class distinctions and social conventions. Broadly speaking, my aim is to exploit the cultural credentials of both the work and its celebrated rhyme by using them as a rhetorical device from which to stake out the position of cultural studies within the Spanish university. The approach I will advance tries to take account of the principles listed by Cary Nelson in his cultural manifesto (1996, pp. 273–86), even though it derives more directly from the immediate conditions of higher education in Spain and specifically from my own experience as a university teacher. As I hope to demonstrate, several connections may be established between ‘the rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain’ and the difficulties that arise in trying to speak/write about cultural studies. Likewise, the rhyme as well as certain details in the comedy's plot can serve as useful cultural analogies for some of the ‘meta-problems’ faced by cultural studies in the Spanish context. And more crucially, the famous line can be put to use in the classroom as a helpful, eye-opening exercise for future cultural agents or ‘producers’ (Striphas, 1998: 457). I shall therefore move from problems of discourse, to inherent power structures and finally unto the actual practice of cultural studies
Aesthetics · Art · Context (archaeology · Cultural capital · Literature · Manifesto · Media studies · Poetry · Political science · Power (physics · Rhetorical question · Rhyme · Social science · Sociology · Cultural Studies and Colonialism · History · Law · Literature Analysis and Criticism · Theater, Performance, and Music History
British Cultural Studies
The Cultural Studies Reader
Text, culture, rhetoric
The Anti-political Populism of Cultural Studies
Cultural Studies in Question
British Cultural Studies
The cultural studies' crossroads blues
After Political Correctness
The Politics of Cultural Studies
Literature and Gender
Class and Class Consciousness in the Industrial Revolution, 1780-1850
Introduction the long March
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,11 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2010 (4) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |