Media/Cultural Studies: Critical Approaches - Tapa dura

This anthology is designed to assist teachers and students in learning how to better understand and interpret our common culture and everyday life. With a focus on contemporary media, consumer, and digital culture, this book combines classic and original writings by both leading and rising scholars in the field. The chapters present key theories, concepts, and methodologies of critical cultural and media studies, as well as cutting-edge research into new media. Sections on teaching media/cultural studies and concrete case studies provide practical examples that illuminate contemporary culture, ranging from new forms of digital media and consumer culture to artifacts from TV and film, including Barbie and Big Macs, soap operas, Talk TV, Facebook, and YouTube. The lively articles show that media/cultural studies is an exciting and relevant arena, and this text should enable students and citizens to become informed readers and critics of their culture and society.

The Editors: Rhonda Hammer is Lecturer and Research Scholar at the Center for the Study of Women at UCLA and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in women's studies; education; communications; and film, television, and digital media. Dr. Hammer has co-authored Rethinking Media Literacy and is the author of Anti-Feminism and Family Terrorism: A Critical Feminist Perspective, as well as a number of articles and chapters on feminisms, globalization, media, and critical cultural studies. She has also been actively involved in grassroots and educational video production for many years. Douglas Kellner is George F. Kneller Philosophy of Education Chair at UCLA and is the author of many books on social theory, politics, history, and culture, including works in cultural studies such as Media Culture and Media Spectacle; a trilogy of books on postmodern theory with Steve Best; and a trilogy of books on the media and the Bush administration, titled Grand Theft 2000, From 9/11 to Terror War, and Media Spectacle and the Crisis of Democracy. Kellner's latest book is Guys and Guns Amok: Domestic Terrorism and School Shootings from the Oklahoma City Bombing.