Cultural Studies ─ A Critical Introduction

Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction is a wide-ranging and stimulating introduction to the history and theory of Cultural Studies from Leavisism, through the era of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, to the global nature of contemporary Cultural Studies. Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction begins with an introduction to the field and its theoretical history and then presents a series of short essays on key areas of Cultural Studies, designed to provoke discussion and raise questions. Each thematic section examines and explains a key topic within Cultural Studies.Sections include:* the discipline* time* space* media and the public sphere* identity* sexuality and gender* value

Simon During is a Professor in the English department at John Hopkins University. He has published widely in the field of Cultural Studies. His latest publication is Modern Enchantments: The Cultural Power of Secular Magic (Harvard University Press, 2004)

Part 1: The Discipline, 1 Going global, 2 Enterprise culture, 3 Genres and genealogies, 4 Problems, Part 2: Time 1 The Past: cultural history/cultural memory, 2 The Present, 3 The Future: policies and prophesies, Part 3: Space 1 Thinking globalisation, 2 The regional, national and local, Part 4: Media and the Public Sphere, 1 Television, 2 Popular music, 3 The internet and technoculture, Part 5: Identity, 1 Debating identity, 2 Multiculturalism, 3 Race, Part 6: Sexuality and Gender, 1 Feminism's aftermath: gender today, 2 Queer culture, Part 7: Value, 1 Culture high and low, 2 The nature of culture