This article examines some of the issues arising from the proliferation of cultural
studies as a form of national-identity research. Looking at the case of the recent
rise of culture studies in South Africa, we examine how certain items of received
wisdom about cultural studies have obscured some of the academic dynamics
that have actually driven the growth of cultural studies. In contrast with some of
these aspects we consider cultural studies as a form of inquiry, driven by the
reality of its subject-matter, and review some of the normative concepts that govern
the communication of research findings. Based on C.S. Peirce's pragmatic
conception of the logic of scientific communication, and on pragmatic trends
arising among African writers like D.A. Masolo and Kwasi Wiredu, we consider
just what has become the subject-matter of cultural studies. We offer an alternate
formulation based in communication practice and provide an example of how
this was presented in conference on the African Renaissance. We conclude
with suggestions about how cultural studies might recover Its original radical
democratic impetus in a world where socialism has lost much of its intellectual
integrity.
