The concept cultural studies is rather complex. To begin with the word 'culture' itself means different things to different people, such as great works of art and literature, or works of popular culture, such as pop songs and soap operas, or the way that particular groups of people live their everyday lives. Generally, when you talk about cultural studies as a subject at university it is not so much about another culture, but it has more to do with a particular way of looking at the world in which people live, and how and why people think, produce and do the things they think, produce and do. This self-study pack offers an introduction to cultural studies, using representations of Amsterdam as an illustration. The material assumes no knowledge of Dutch.