Teaching pleasure: Experiments in cultural studies and pedagogy

•This article evaluates pedagogical debates on reconciling critical cultural studies with the increasingly vocational demands of students. The approach is experiential and describes teaching `popular pleasure' at the University of East London, UK. Highlighting a reflexive approach whereby students questioned the partialities of cultural studies in light of their own experience and pleasures, the article draws on student assignments to reach two findings: a failure of reflexivity (coursework was conventionally theoretical or uncritically autobiographical); and sharp discrepancies in student satisfaction. Concluding, then, that the vocational—critical split permeates student culture itself, the essay considers how to reconcile these two constituencies — identifying opportunities in both contemporary higher education and cultural theory (for example, proposing students as cultural intermediaries) — before diagnosing remaining obstacles (from cultural studies' failure to discuss popular culture `authentically' to difficulties in drafting assessment criteria for reflexive assignments). It concludes with some recommendations for future courses. •