From Panem to the Pandemic: An Introduction to Cultural Studies

Today, virtually all BA programs in English at German universities place a strong focus on Cultural Studies. However, textbooks that introduce first-year students to the subject are rare, and the few existing ones are too complicated or not comprehensive enough. By contrast, this textbook introduces the key theories and concepts of Cultural Studies systematically and thoroughly. It puts particular emphasis on their application, aiming to enable students to do their own analyses of cultural artefacts and practices. The author draws on many sample examples, mostly taken from American culture, but in each chapter, he applies the ideas introduced to The Hunger Games franchise and the Coronavirus pandemic to show how different theories can lead to very different interpretations of the same phenomenon. Each chapter ends with exercises that allow students to apply what they have learned.

Inhalt:
Part I: The Circuit of Culture
1. Representation I: Language
2. Representation II: Medium, Genre and Mode
3. Representation III: Narrative
4. Representation IV: Discourse
5. Identity I: Personal, Collective and National Identity
6. Identity II: Gender and Sexuality
7. Identity III: Race and Ethnicity
8. Identity IV: Class
9. Identity V: Intersectionality
10. Production, Consumption and Regulation

Part II: Doing Cultural Studies
11. Ideology and Hegemony
12. Time
13. Space
14. Memory
15. Popular Culture
16. Visual Culture
17. Material Culture
18. Convergence Culture


Autoreninformation:
Michael Butter ist Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Amerikanische Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte an der Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen.