Popular culture Books
Rutgers University Press Played Out: The Race Man in Twenty-First-Century
Book SynopsisDating back to the blackface minstrel performances of Bert Williams and the trickster figure of Uncle Julius in Charles Chesnutt’s Conjure Tales, black humorists have negotiated American racial ideologies as they reclaimed the ability to represent themselves in the changing landscape of the early 20th century. Marginalized communities routinely use humor, specifically satire, to subvert the political, social, and cultural realities of race and racism in America. Through contemporary examples in popular culture and politics, including the work of Kendrick Lamar, Key and Peele and the presidency of Barack Obama and many others, in Played Out: The Race Man in 21st Century Satire author Brandon J. Manning examines how Black satirists create vulnerability to highlight the inner emotional lives of Black men. In focusing on vulnerability these satirists attend to America’s most basic assumptions about Black men. Contemporary Black satire is a highly visible and celebrated site of black masculine self-expression. Black satirists leverage this visibility to trouble discourses on race and gender in the Post-Civil Rights era. More specifically, contemporary Black satire uses laughter to decenter Black men from the socio-political tradition of the Race Man. Trade Review"Played Out is an instantly canonical book. It tackles narratives of the Race Man, racial uplift, and respectability politics through the lens of satire to reveal the enduring mythos of acceptable Black social justice work. Through this brilliant, deeply researched book, Brandon Manning rescripts the pathways to social transformation and progress." -- Robin R. Means Coleman * author of African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy: Situating Racial Humor *“Brandon Manning joins a group of brilliant scholars working on contemporary African American satire who have redefined scholarship on Black texts and Black bodies. His analyses of Percival Everett’s recent work and President Barack Obama’s role in this era cannot be missed.” -- Darryl Dickson-Carr * author of Spoofing the Modern: Satire in the Harlem Renaissance *Left of Black | Brandon J. Manning on Black Satire * Left of Black Podcast, produced by the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute *"Played Out is an instantly canonical book. It tackles narratives of the Race Man, racial uplift, and respectability politics through the lens of satire to reveal the enduring mythos of acceptable Black social justice work. Through this brilliant, deeply researched book, Brandon Manning rescripts the pathways to social transformation and progress." -- Robin R. Means Coleman * author of African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy: Situating Racial Humor *“Brandon Manning joins a group of brilliant scholars working on contemporary African American satire who have redefined scholarship on Black texts and Black bodies. His analyses of Percival Everett’s recent work and President Barack Obama’s role in this era cannot be missed.” -- Darryl Dickson-Carr * author of Spoofing the Modern: Satire in the Harlem Renaissance *Left of Black | Brandon J. Manning on Black Satire * Left of Black Podcast, produced by the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgements Preface Introduction: Please Let Me Be Misunderstood Chapter 1: Of Our Satirical Strivings Chapter 2: Neoliberalism and the Funny Race Man Chapter 3: Integrationist Intimacies Chapter 4: The President and His Translator Conclusion: Beyond the Funny Race Man
£55.25
Rutgers University Press Desegregating Comics: Debating Blackness in the
Book SynopsisSome comics fans view the industry’s Golden Age (1930s-1950s) as a challenging time when it comes to representations of race, an era when the few Black characters appeared as brutal savages, devious witch doctors, or unintelligible minstrels. Yet the true portrait is more complex and reveals that even as caricatures predominated, some Golden Age comics creators offered more progressive and nuanced depictions of Black people. Desegregating Comics assembles a team of leading scholars to explore how debates about the representation of Blackness shaped both the production and reception of Golden Age comics. Some essays showcase rare titles like Negro Romance and consider the formal innovations introduced by Black comics creators like Matt Baker and Alvin Hollingsworth, while others examine the treatment of race in the work of such canonical cartoonists as George Herriman and Will Eisner. The collection also investigates how Black fans read and loved comics, but implored publishers to stop including hurtful stereotypes. As this book shows, Golden Age comics artists, writers, editors, distributors, and readers engaged in heated negotiations over how Blackness should be portrayed, and the outcomes of those debates continue to shape popular culture today.Trade Review“Only someone living in a cave wouldn't see how thoroughly comics permeate American culture. But even those knowledgeable about graphic arts may not be aware of how comics mirror this nation's often tortured racial history. And even fewer people know about the pioneering Black artists who worked to challenge and change racist stereotypes. What that means is that the groundbreaking essays in Desegregating Comics are essential contributions to an exciting, relatively new field of long-overdue scholarship.” -- Charles Johnson * National Book Award-winning author of Middle Passage *"Desegregating Comics is essential reading for those seeking a more complex and revisionist history of the Black image in comics in the first half of the twentieth century. It includes leading voices in media, literature, gender, and Black studies who unearth the collaborative efforts in the industry to reshape visual and narrative renderings of spectacular blackness and speculations of blackness." -- Deborah Elizabeth Whaley * author of Black Women in Sequence: Re-inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime *Table of ContentsIntroduction: “An Apt Cartoon” QIANA WHITTED Part I Iconographies of Race and Racism 1 Rose O’Neill and Visual Tropes of Blackness IAN GORDON 2 The Passing Fancies of Krazy Kat NICHOLAS SAMMOND 3 “How Else Could I Have Created a Black Boy in That Era?”: Racial Caricature and Will Eisner’s Legacy 61 ANDREW J. KUNKA Part II Formal Innovation and Aesthetic Range 4 Desegregating Black Art Genealogies: An Invitation REBECCA WANZO 5 Misdirections in Matt Baker’s Phantom Lady CHRIS GAVALER AND MONALESIA EARLE 6 The Art of Alvin Hollingsworth BLAIR DAVIS 7 “Hello Public!”: Jackie Ormes in the Print Culture of the Pittsburgh Courier ELI BOONIN-VAIL Part III Comics Readership and Respectability Politics 8 “Never Any Dirty Ones”: Comics Readership among African American Youth in the Mid-Twentieth Century CAROL L. TILLEY 9 All-Negro Comics and Counterhistories of Race in the Golden Age QIANA WHITTED 10 “This Business of White and Black”: Captain Marvel’s Steamboat, the Youthbuilders, and Fawcett’s Roy Campanella, Baseball Hero BRIAN CREMINS 11 Al Hollingsworth’s Kandy: Race, Colorism, and Romance in African American Newspaper Comics MORA J. BEAUCHAMP-BYRD Part IV Disrupting Genre, Character, and Convention 12 Diabolical Master of Black Magic: Examining Agency through Villainy in “The Voodoo Man” PHILLIP LAMARR CUNNINGHAM 13 Love in Color: Fawcett’s Revolutionary Negro Romance JACQUE NODELL 14 An Afrofuturist Legacy: Neil Knight and Black Speculative Capital JULIAN C. CHAMBLISS 15 “For They Were There!”: Dell Comics’ Lobo and the Black Cowboy in American Comic Books MIKE LEMON Acknowledgments Bibliography Notes on Contributors Index
£28.90
Rutgers University Press Desegregating Comics: Debating Blackness in the
Book SynopsisSome comics fans view the industry’s Golden Age (1930s-1950s) as a challenging time when it comes to representations of race, an era when the few Black characters appeared as brutal savages, devious witch doctors, or unintelligible minstrels. Yet the true portrait is more complex and reveals that even as caricatures predominated, some Golden Age comics creators offered more progressive and nuanced depictions of Black people. Desegregating Comics assembles a team of leading scholars to explore how debates about the representation of Blackness shaped both the production and reception of Golden Age comics. Some essays showcase rare titles like Negro Romance and consider the formal innovations introduced by Black comics creators like Matt Baker and Alvin Hollingsworth, while others examine the treatment of race in the work of such canonical cartoonists as George Herriman and Will Eisner. The collection also investigates how Black fans read and loved comics, but implored publishers to stop including hurtful stereotypes. As this book shows, Golden Age comics artists, writers, editors, distributors, and readers engaged in heated negotiations over how Blackness should be portrayed, and the outcomes of those debates continue to shape popular culture today.Trade Review“Only someone living in a cave wouldn't see how thoroughly comics permeate American culture. But even those knowledgeable about graphic arts may not be aware of how comics mirror this nation's often tortured racial history. And even fewer people know about the pioneering Black artists who worked to challenge and change racist stereotypes. What that means is that the groundbreaking essays in Desegregating Comics are essential contributions to an exciting, relatively new field of long-overdue scholarship.” -- Charles Johnson * National Book Award-winning author of Middle Passage *"Desegregating Comics is essential reading for those seeking a more complex and revisionist history of the Black image in comics in the first half of the twentieth century. It includes leading voices in media, literature, gender, and Black studies who unearth the collaborative efforts in the industry to reshape visual and narrative renderings of spectacular blackness and speculations of blackness." -- Deborah Elizabeth Whaley * author of Black Women in Sequence: Re-inking Comics, Graphic Novels, and Anime *Table of ContentsIntroduction: “An Apt Cartoon” QIANA WHITTED Part I Iconographies of Race and Racism 1 Rose O’Neill and Visual Tropes of Blackness IAN GORDON 2 The Passing Fancies of Krazy Kat NICHOLAS SAMMOND 3 “How Else Could I Have Created a Black Boy in That Era?”: Racial Caricature and Will Eisner’s Legacy 61 ANDREW J. KUNKA Part II Formal Innovation and Aesthetic Range 4 Desegregating Black Art Genealogies: An Invitation REBECCA WANZO 5 Misdirections in Matt Baker’s Phantom Lady CHRIS GAVALER AND MONALESIA EARLE 6 The Art of Alvin Hollingsworth BLAIR DAVIS 7 “Hello Public!”: Jackie Ormes in the Print Culture of the Pittsburgh Courier ELI BOONIN-VAIL Part III Comics Readership and Respectability Politics 8 “Never Any Dirty Ones”: Comics Readership among African American Youth in the Mid-Twentieth Century CAROL L. TILLEY 9 All-Negro Comics and Counterhistories of Race in the Golden Age QIANA WHITTED 10 “This Business of White and Black”: Captain Marvel’s Steamboat, the Youthbuilders, and Fawcett’s Roy Campanella, Baseball Hero BRIAN CREMINS 11 Al Hollingsworth’s Kandy: Race, Colorism, and Romance in African American Newspaper Comics MORA J. BEAUCHAMP-BYRD Part IV Disrupting Genre, Character, and Convention 12 Diabolical Master of Black Magic: Examining Agency through Villainy in “The Voodoo Man” PHILLIP LAMARR CUNNINGHAM 13 Love in Color: Fawcett’s Revolutionary Negro Romance JACQUE NODELL 14 An Afrofuturist Legacy: Neil Knight and Black Speculative Capital JULIAN C. CHAMBLISS 15 “For They Were There!”: Dell Comics’ Lobo and the Black Cowboy in American Comic Books MIKE LEMON Acknowledgments Bibliography Notes on Contributors Index
£59.20
Rutgers University Press The Counterfeit Coin: Videogames and Fantasies of
Book SynopsisThe Counterfeit Coin argues that games and related entertainment media have become almost inseparable from fantasy. In turn, these media are making fantasy itself visible in new ways. Though apparently asocial and egocentric—an internal mental image expressing the fulfillment of some wish—fantasy has become a key term in social contestations of the emerging medium. At issue is whose fantasies are catered to, who feels powerful and gets their way, and who is left out. This book seeks to undo the monolith of commercial gaming by locating multiplicity and difference within fantasy itself. It introduces and tracks three broad fantasy traditions that dynamically connect apparently distinct strata of a game (story and play), that join games to other media, and that encircle players in pleasurable loops as they follow these connections.Trade Review“Christopher Goetz’s The Counterfeit Coin: Videogames and Fantasies of Empowerment is a triumphant theoretical leap forward for game studies. The Counterfeit Coin invites readers to go on an adventure in game and media studies by unlocking how games and media let us play through our fantasies, whether those fantasies are what tether us into a safe spot, let us exceed and transcend bodily limitations, or just accrue more and more loot. Reading across a wide range of games, film, anime and television series, Goetz’s The Counterfeit Coin illuminates how and why players find comfort, transcendence, and accomplishment in the routine and familiar ways we play." -- Sheila C. Murphy * author of How Television Invented New Media *Table of Contents Introduction: Feeling Powerful and Getting Your Way 1 The Fantasy of Bodily Transcendence 2 The Fantasy of Bodily Transcendence in Narrative Media 3 The Tether Fantasy 4 The Fantasy of Accretions Conclusion: Surface Narratives and the Contrivance of Fantasy Acknowledgments Notes Works Cited Index
£28.90
Rutgers University Press The Counterfeit Coin: Videogames and Fantasies of
Book SynopsisThe Counterfeit Coin argues that games and related entertainment media have become almost inseparable from fantasy. In turn, these media are making fantasy itself visible in new ways. Though apparently asocial and egocentric—an internal mental image expressing the fulfillment of some wish—fantasy has become a key term in social contestations of the emerging medium. At issue is whose fantasies are catered to, who feels powerful and gets their way, and who is left out. This book seeks to undo the monolith of commercial gaming by locating multiplicity and difference within fantasy itself. It introduces and tracks three broad fantasy traditions that dynamically connect apparently distinct strata of a game (story and play), that join games to other media, and that encircle players in pleasurable loops as they follow these connections.Trade Review“Christopher Goetz’s The Counterfeit Coin: Videogames and Fantasies of Empowerment is a triumphant theoretical leap forward for game studies. The Counterfeit Coin invites readers to go on an adventure in game and media studies by unlocking how games and media let us play through our fantasies, whether those fantasies are what tether us into a safe spot, let us exceed and transcend bodily limitations, or just accrue more and more loot. Reading across a wide range of games, film, anime and television series, Goetz’s The Counterfeit Coin illuminates how and why players find comfort, transcendence, and accomplishment in the routine and familiar ways we play."— Sheila C. Murphy, author of How Television Invented New MediaTable of ContentsIntroduction: Feeling Powerful and Getting Your Way 1 The Fantasy of Bodily Transcendence 2 The Fantasy of Bodily Transcendence in Narrative Media 3 The Tether Fantasy 4 The Fantasy of Accretions Conclusion: Surface Narratives and the Contrivance of Fantasy Acknowledgments Notes Works Cited Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press See Me Naked: Black Women Defining Pleasure in
Book SynopsisPleasure refers to the freedom to pursue a desire, deliberately sought in order to satisfy the self. Putting pleasure first is liberating. During their extraordinary lives, Lena Horne, Moms Mabley, Yolande DuBois, and Memphis Minnie enjoyed pleasure as they gave pleasure to both those in their lives and to the public at large. They were Black women who, despite their public profiles, whether through Black society or through the world of entertainment, discovered ways to enjoy pleasure.They left home, undertook careers they loved, and did what they wanted, despite perhaps not meeting the standards for respectability in the interwar era. See Me Naked looks at these women as representative of other Black women of the time, who were watched, criticized, and judged by their families, peers, and, in some cases, the government, yet still managed to enjoy themselves. Among the voyeurs of Black women was Langston Hughes, whose novel Not Without Laughter was clearly a work of fiction inspired by women he observed in public and knew personally, including Black clubwomen, blues performers, and his mother. How did these complicated women wrest loose from the voyeurs to define their own sense of themselves? At very young ages, they found and celebrated aspects of themselves. Using examples from these women’s lives, Green explores their challenges and achievements.Trade Review"Whatever you think you know about the project of 'respectability politics' in Black life, letters and history will be upended in See Me Naked. A bold feminist examination of pleasure in the Interwar Period through some of our most enduring feminist legends – Ma Rainey and Moms Mabley among others – Green’s astute and captivating assessment here will open doors for new imaginings of blackness." -- Sharon P. Holland * author of The Erotic Life of Racism *"In her careful engagement with Nina Yolande Du Bois Williams, Lena Horne, Moms Mabley and Memphis Minnie, Tara T. Green’s See Me Naked offers a groundbreaking exploration of black women’s pursuit of pleasure during the interwar years. Her careful exploration of pleasure’s fundamental relationship to black women’s self-making offers a necessary intervention into the fields of black studies, feminist studies, and sexuality studies." -- Jennifer C. Nash * author of Birthing Black Mothers *Tara T. Green in The Black Writer's Studio * The Black Writer's Studio *"Whatever you think you know about the project of 'respectability politics' in Black life, letters and history will be upended in See Me Naked. A bold feminist examination of pleasure in the Interwar Period through some of our most enduring feminist legends – Ma Rainey and Moms Mabley among others – Green’s astute and captivating assessment here will open doors for new imaginings of blackness." -- Sharon P. Holland * author of The Erotic Life of Racism *"In her careful engagement with Nina Yolande Du Bois Williams, Lena Horne, Moms Mabley and Memphis Minnie, Tara T. Green’s See Me Naked offers a groundbreaking exploration of black women’s pursuit of pleasure during the interwar years. Her careful exploration of pleasure’s fundamental relationship to black women’s self-making offers a necessary intervention into the fields of black studies, feminist studies, and sexuality studies." -- Jennifer C. Nash * author of Birthing Black Mothers *Tara T. Green in The Black Writer's Studio * The Black Writer's Studio *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Pleasure Is All Mine 1. Finding Yolande Du Bois’s Pleasure 2. Lena Horne and Respectable Pleasure 3. Moms Mabley and the Art of Pleasure 4. Memphis Minnie and Songs of Pleasure 5. Pleasurable Resistance in Langston Hughes’s Not Without Laughter Conclusion: Black Feminist Musings from Nature, The Context of Pleasure in 2020 Acknowledgements Bibliography Index
£25.19
Rutgers University Press Perfect Copies: Reproduction and the Contemporary
Book SynopsisAnalyzing the way that recent works of graphic narrative use the comics form to engage with the “problem” of reproduction, Shiamin Kwa’s Perfect Copies reminds us that the mode of production and the manner in which we perceive comics are often quite similar to the stories they tell. Perfect Copies considers the dual notions of reproduction, mechanical as well as biological, and explores how comics are works of reproduction that embed questions about the nature of reproduction itself. Through close readings of the comics My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, The Black Project by Gareth Brookes, The Generous Bosom series by Conor Stechschulte, Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, and Panther by Brecht Evens, Perfect Copies shows how these comics makers push the limits of different ideas of “reproduction” in strikingly different ways. Kwa suggests that reading and thinking about books like these, that push us to engage with these complicated questions, teaches us how to become better readers.Trade Review“Perfect Copies is about the creation and impact of comics that skirt the line of what readers might imagine would be considered typical within the medium. This book pushes readers to think about the ways that comics creators nudge the boundaries of how comics might look, "read" and visually "feel.” It is a must read for everyone who loves the ways that comics have revolutionized art and aesthetics and that art has revolutionized comics and notions of reproduction.”— Rachel Marie-Crane Williams, Dean of Liberal Arts, UNC School of The ArtsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 The People Upstairs: Space, Memory, and the Queered Family in My Favorite Thing Is Monsters 2 Reach Out and Touch Someone: The Haptic Dreams of Gareth Brookes 3 Phantom Threads: Seeing in the Dark and Conor Stechschulte 4 If You See Something Say Something: Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina 5 There is a Monster in My Closet: Brecht Evens’s Panther Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£55.25
Rutgers University Press Perfect Copies: Reproduction and the Contemporary
Book SynopsisAnalyzing the way that recent works of graphic narrative use the comics form to engage with the “problem” of reproduction, Shiamin Kwa’s Perfect Copies reminds us that the mode of production and the manner in which we perceive comics are often quite similar to the stories they tell. Perfect Copies considers the dual notions of reproduction, mechanical as well as biological, and explores how comics are works of reproduction that embed questions about the nature of reproduction itself. Through close readings of the comics My Favorite Thing Is Monsters by Emil Ferris, The Black Project by Gareth Brookes, The Generous Bosom series by Conor Stechschulte, Sabrina by Nick Drnaso, and Panther by Brecht Evens, Perfect Copies shows how these comics makers push the limits of different ideas of “reproduction” in strikingly different ways. Kwa suggests that reading and thinking about books like these, that push us to engage with these complicated questions, teaches us how to become better readers.Trade Review“Perfect Copies is about the creation and impact of comics that skirt the line of what readers might imagine would be considered typical within the medium. This book pushes readers to think about the ways that comics creators nudge the boundaries of how comics might look, "read" and visually "feel.” It is a must read for everyone who loves the ways that comics have revolutionized art and aesthetics and that art has revolutionized comics and notions of reproduction.”— Rachel Marie-Crane Williams, Dean of Liberal Arts, UNC School of The ArtsTable of ContentsIntroduction 1 The People Upstairs: Space, Memory, and the Queered Family in My Favorite Thing Is Monsters 2 Reach Out and Touch Someone: The Haptic Dreams of Gareth Brookes 3 Phantom Threads: Seeing in the Dark and Conor Stechschulte 4 If You See Something Say Something: Nick Drnaso’s Sabrina 5 There is a Monster in My Closet: Brecht Evens’s Panther Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£25.19
Rutgers University Press Badass Feminist Politics: Exploring Radical Edges
Book SynopsisIn the late 2010s, the United States experienced a period of widespread silencing. Protests of unsafe drinking water have been met with tear gas; national park employees, environmentalists, and scientists have been ordered to stop communicating publicly. Advocates for gun control are silenced even as mass shootings continue. Expressed dissent to political power is labeled as “fake news.” DREAMers, Muslims, Trans military members, women, black bodies, the LGBTQI+ community, Latina/o/x communities, rape survivors, sex workers, and immigrants have all been systematically silenced. During this difficult time and despite such restrictions, advocates and allies persist and resist, forming dialogues that call to repel inequality in its many forms. Addressing the oppression of women of color, white women, women with (dis)abilities, and LBTQI+ individuals across cultures and contexts remains a central posit of feminist struggle and requires “a distinctly feminist politics of recognition.” However, as second wave debates about feminism have revealed, there is no single way to express a feminist politic. Rather, living feminist politics requires individual interpretation and struggle, collective discussion and disagreement, and recognizing difference among women as well as points of convergence in feminist struggle. Badass Feminist Politics includes a diverse range of engaging feminist political projects to not only analyze the work being done on the ground but provide an overview for action that can be taken on by those seeking to engage in feminist activism in their own communities. Contributors included here are working for equality and equity and resisting violent, racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, and sexist language and action during this tension-filled political moment. Collectively, the book explores what it means to live and communicate feminist politics in everyday choices and actions, and how we can facilitate learning by analyzing these examples. Taking up current issues and new theoretical perspectives, the authors offer novel perspectives into what it means to live feminist politics. This book is a testament to resilience, resistance, communication, and forward thinking about what these themes all mean for new feminist agendas. Learning how to resist oppressive structures through words and actions is particularly important for students. Badass Feminist Politics features scholars from non-dominant groups taking up issues of marginalization and oppression, which can help people accomplish their social justice goals of inclusivity on the ground and in the classroom. Trade Review"If ever there was a time for a badass feminist communication declaration, that time is now! Blithe and Bauer have carefully crafted a collection where perspectives, passions, voices, and views not only fill a gap in research, but carve a new path. The brilliance of the contributors is reflected in an affirmation of social identities across contexts representing 'what feminism looks like' for the next generation of badass feminist scholars aiming to right wrongs, ignite change, and sustain transformative practices in everyday lived experiences." -- Karla D. Scott * author of The Language of Strong Black Womanhood: Myths, Models, Messages and a New Mandate for Self-Care *"Sarah Jane Blithe and Janell C. Bauer have curated a must read edited collection for anyone interested in feminisms, communication, and identity justice. This is an important and timely resource for feminist scholar-teachers that engages critical questions about gender, race, and intersectionality in communication research and pedagogy by centering black feminist voices throughout." -- Stephanie Norander * Executive Director of Communication Across the Curriculum, UNC Charlotte *"If ever there was a time for a badass feminist communication declaration, that time is now! Blithe and Bauer have carefully crafted a collection where perspectives, passions, voices, and views not only fill a gap in research, but carve a new path. The brilliance of the contributors is reflected in an affirmation of social identities across contexts representing 'what feminism looks like' for the next generation of badass feminist scholars aiming to right wrongs, ignite change, and sustain transformative practices in everyday lived experiences." -- Karla D. Scott * author of The Language of Strong Black Womanhood: Myths, Models, Messages and a New Mandate for Self *"Sarah Jane Blithe and Janell C. Bauer have curated a must read edited collection for anyone interested in feminisms, communication, and identity justice. This is an important and timely resource for feminist scholar-teachers that engages critical questions about gender, race, and intersectionality in communication research and pedagogy by centering black feminist voices throughout." -- Stephanie Norander * Executive Director of Communication Across the Curriculum, UNC Charlotte *Table of Contents1 IntroductionSARAH JANE BLITHE AND JANELL C. BAUER2 Badass Activities for Threading Together Theory, Pedagogy, and ActivismJANELL C. BAUER AND SARAH JANE BLITHEPart I Black Lives Matter: Research and Reflections3 Being Black in the Ivory: Telling Our Truth and Taking Up SpaceANGELA N. GIST-MACKEY, ASHLEY R. HALL, AND SHARDÉ M. DAVIS4 #BlackIndigenousStoriesMatterANITA MIXON5 Your Black Friends Are TiredANDREA EWING6 Inciting Change with My Keyboard: Leveraging Hashtag Activism to Fight Anti-Black Racism during COVID-19SHARDÉ M. DAVIS7 The Reality of Our Dreams: Black Lives’ FearsPRISCA S. NGONDO8 Black Women in Black Lives Matter: Navigating Being Both Engaged and DismissedCERISE L. GLENN9 Antiracist Holistic Change in “STEM” Higher EducationMELANIE DUCKWORTH AND KELLY J. CROSS10 Fighting for Black Studies: An Essay about Educational EmpowermentIDRISSA N. SNIDER11 When You Can’t Call the Cops: Intimate Partner Violence and #BlackLivesMatterREBECCA MERCADO JONES AND JAYNA MARIE JONES12 Discovering Your Social Justice Gift amid the Distraction of Systemic RacismSIOBHAN E. SMITH-JONES AND JOHNNY JONES13 Sexuality in My Reality: An Autoethnography of a Black Woman’s Resistance of Sexual StereotypesSAVAUGHN WILLIAMS14 The Forgotten Ones (for Those Who Survive Black Death)ROBIN M. BOYLORN15 Performative Activism: Inauthentic Allyship in the Midst of a Racial PandemicTINA M. HARRISPart II Narrating the Material Body16 Nevertheless, She Feels Pretty: A Critical Co-constructed Autoethnography on Fat Persistence and ResistanceCASSIDY D. ELLIS AND SARAH GONZALEZ NOVEIRI17 Visual Activism, Persistence, and Identity: Ostomy Selfies as a Form of Resistance to Dominant Body IdeologiesRUTH J. BEERMAN AND MICHAEL S. MARTIN18 The Silence of LaughterLYDIA HUERTA MORENOPart III Living Feminist Politics in Mediated Environments19 Mónica Robles: (De?)colonizing Mexican Womanhood through the Power of MemesANA GOMEZ PARGA20 Smart Talk: Feminist Communication Questions for Artificial IntelligenceMAUREEN EBBEN AND CHERIS KRAMARAE21 The Silencing of Elizabeth Warren: A Case of Digital PersistenceKATHLEEN RUSHFORTHPart IV New Feminist Theorizing22 Social Justice Organizing through the Closet MetaphorJAMES McDONALD AND SARA DeTURK23 Disrupting the Ratchet-Respectable Binary: Explorations of Ratchet Feminism and Ratchet Respectability in Daily and Popular LifeDANETTE M. PUGH- PATTON AND ANTONIO L. SPIKES24 Afrofuturist Lessons in PersistenceJENNA N. HANCHEYAcknowledgmentsNotes on ContributorsIndex
£25.19
Rutgers University Press Badass Feminist Politics: Exploring Radical Edges
Book SynopsisIn the late 2010s, the United States experienced a period of widespread silencing. Protests of unsafe drinking water have been met with tear gas; national park employees, environmentalists, and scientists have been ordered to stop communicating publicly. Advocates for gun control are silenced even as mass shootings continue. Expressed dissent to political power is labeled as “fake news.” DREAMers, Muslims, Trans military members, women, black bodies, the LGBTQI+ community, Latina/o/x communities, rape survivors, sex workers, and immigrants have all been systematically silenced. During this difficult time and despite such restrictions, advocates and allies persist and resist, forming dialogues that call to repel inequality in its many forms. Addressing the oppression of women of color, white women, women with (dis)abilities, and LBTQI+ individuals across cultures and contexts remains a central posit of feminist struggle and requires “a distinctly feminist politics of recognition.” However, as second wave debates about feminism have revealed, there is no single way to express a feminist politic. Rather, living feminist politics requires individual interpretation and struggle, collective discussion and disagreement, and recognizing difference among women as well as points of convergence in feminist struggle. Badass Feminist Politics includes a diverse range of engaging feminist political projects to not only analyze the work being done on the ground but provide an overview for action that can be taken on by those seeking to engage in feminist activism in their own communities. Contributors included here are working for equality and equity and resisting violent, racist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic, and sexist language and action during this tension-filled political moment. Collectively, the book explores what it means to live and communicate feminist politics in everyday choices and actions, and how we can facilitate learning by analyzing these examples. Taking up current issues and new theoretical perspectives, the authors offer novel perspectives into what it means to live feminist politics. This book is a testament to resilience, resistance, communication, and forward thinking about what these themes all mean for new feminist agendas. Learning how to resist oppressive structures through words and actions is particularly important for students. Badass Feminist Politics features scholars from non-dominant groups taking up issues of marginalization and oppression, which can help people accomplish their social justice goals of inclusivity on the ground and in the classroom. Trade Review"If ever there was a time for a badass feminist communication declaration, that time is now! Blithe and Bauer have carefully crafted a collection where perspectives, passions, voices, and views not only fill a gap in research, but carve a new path. The brilliance of the contributors is reflected in an affirmation of social identities across contexts representing 'what feminism looks like' for the next generation of badass feminist scholars aiming to right wrongs, ignite change, and sustain transformative practices in everyday lived experiences." -- Karla D. Scott * author of The Language of Strong Black Womanhood: Myths, Models, Messages and a New Mandate for Self-Care *"Sarah Jane Blithe and Janell C. Bauer have curated a must read edited collection for anyone interested in feminisms, communication, and identity justice. This is an important and timely resource for feminist scholar-teachers that engages critical questions about gender, race, and intersectionality in communication research and pedagogy by centering black feminist voices throughout." -- Stephanie Norander * Executive Director of Communication Across the Curriculum, UNC Charlotte *"If ever there was a time for a badass feminist communication declaration, that time is now! Blithe and Bauer have carefully crafted a collection where perspectives, passions, voices, and views not only fill a gap in research, but carve a new path. The brilliance of the contributors is reflected in an affirmation of social identities across contexts representing 'what feminism looks like' for the next generation of badass feminist scholars aiming to right wrongs, ignite change, and sustain transformative practices in everyday lived experiences." -- Karla D. Scott * author of The Language of Strong Black Womanhood: Myths, Models, Messages and a New Mandate for Self *"Sarah Jane Blithe and Janell C. Bauer have curated a must read edited collection for anyone interested in feminisms, communication, and identity justice. This is an important and timely resource for feminist scholar-teachers that engages critical questions about gender, race, and intersectionality in communication research and pedagogy by centering black feminist voices throughout." -- Stephanie Norander * Executive Director of Communication Across the Curriculum, UNC Charlotte *Table of Contents1 IntroductionSARAH JANE BLITHE AND JANELL C. BAUER2 Badass Activities for Threading Together Theory, Pedagogy, and ActivismJANELL C. BAUER AND SARAH JANE BLITHEPart I Black Lives Matter: Research and Reflections3 Being Black in the Ivory: Telling Our Truth and Taking Up SpaceANGELA N. GIST-MACKEY, ASHLEY R. HALL, AND SHARDÉ M. DAVIS4 #BlackIndigenousStoriesMatterANITA MIXON5 Your Black Friends Are TiredANDREA EWING6 Inciting Change with My Keyboard: Leveraging Hashtag Activism to Fight Anti-Black Racism during COVID-19SHARDÉ M. DAVIS7 The Reality of Our Dreams: Black Lives’ FearsPRISCA S. NGONDO8 Black Women in Black Lives Matter: Navigating Being Both Engaged and DismissedCERISE L. GLENN9 Antiracist Holistic Change in “STEM” Higher EducationMELANIE DUCKWORTH AND KELLY J. CROSS10 Fighting for Black Studies: An Essay about Educational EmpowermentIDRISSA N. SNIDER11 When You Can’t Call the Cops: Intimate Partner Violence and #BlackLivesMatterREBECCA MERCADO JONES AND JAYNA MARIE JONES12 Discovering Your Social Justice Gift amid the Distraction of Systemic RacismSIOBHAN E. SMITH-JONES AND JOHNNY JONES13 Sexuality in My Reality: An Autoethnography of a Black Woman’s Resistance of Sexual StereotypesSAVAUGHN WILLIAMS14 The Forgotten Ones (for Those Who Survive Black Death)ROBIN M. BOYLORN15 Performative Activism: Inauthentic Allyship in the Midst of a Racial PandemicTINA M. HARRISPart II Narrating the Material Body16 Nevertheless, She Feels Pretty: A Critical Co-constructed Autoethnography on Fat Persistence and ResistanceCASSIDY D. ELLIS AND SARAH GONZALEZ NOVEIRI17 Visual Activism, Persistence, and Identity: Ostomy Selfies as a Form of Resistance to Dominant Body IdeologiesRUTH J. BEERMAN AND MICHAEL S. MARTIN18 The Silence of LaughterLYDIA HUERTA MORENOPart III Living Feminist Politics in Mediated Environments19 Mónica Robles: (De?)colonizing Mexican Womanhood through the Power of MemesANA GOMEZ PARGA20 Smart Talk: Feminist Communication Questions for Artificial IntelligenceMAUREEN EBBEN AND CHERIS KRAMARAE21 The Silencing of Elizabeth Warren: A Case of Digital PersistenceKATHLEEN RUSHFORTHPart IV New Feminist Theorizing22 Social Justice Organizing through the Closet MetaphorJAMES McDONALD AND SARA DeTURK23 Disrupting the Ratchet-Respectable Binary: Explorations of Ratchet Feminism and Ratchet Respectability in Daily and Popular LifeDANETTE M. PUGH- PATTON AND ANTONIO L. SPIKES24 Afrofuturist Lessons in PersistenceJENNA N. HANCHEYAcknowledgmentsNotes on ContributorsIndex
£55.25
Rutgers University Press Janelle Monáe's Queer Afrofuturism: Defying Every
Book SynopsisSinger. Dancer. Movie star. Activist. Queer icon. Afrofuturist. Working class heroine. Time traveler. Prophet. Feminist. Android. Dirty Computer. Janelle Monáe is all these things and more, making her one of the most fascinating artists to emerge in the twenty-first century. This provocative new study explores how Monáe’s work has connected different media platforms to strengthen and enhance new movements in art, theory, and politics. It considers not only Monáe’s groundbreaking albums The ArchAndroid, The Electric Lady, and Dirty Computer, but also Monáe’s work as an actress in such films as Hidden Figures and Antebellum, as well as her soundtrack appearances in socially-engaged projects ranging from I May Destroy You to Us. Examining Monáe as a cultural icon whose work is profoundly intersectional, this book maps how she is actively reshaping discourses around race, gender, sexuality, and capitalism. Tracing Monáe’s performances of joy, desire, pain, and hope across a wide range of media forms, it shows how she imagines Afrofuturist, posthumanist, and postcapitalist utopias, while remaining grounded in the realities of being a Black woman in a white-dominated industry. This is an exciting introduction to an audacious innovator whose work offers us fresh ways to talk about identity, desire, and power.Trade Review“An expert critic of the ideological construction of transmedia worlds, Dan Hassler-Forest offers a tour de force analysis of virtuoso music and media artist Janelle Monae as a vernacular theorist and intersectional figure. The resulting book makes a compelling case that her interventions into popular culture may help to shape how we collectively imagine our futures and the world according to Janelle Monae is a better one by far.” -- Henry Jenkins * co-editor of Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: Case Studies of Creative Social Change *"Building on a close reading of the transformative potential central to Afrofuturism, Janelle Monáe's Queer Afrofuturism highlights how Monáe's mix of speculation and liberation shines a light on acceptance, care, and community central to Afrofuturism's appeal. Carefully framing intersectional concerns around bodies and power expressed in Monáe's artistic work allows Hassler-Forest to provide an intriguing examination of an artist who has quickly come to embody the transformative potential of black speculative practice." -- Julian C. Chambliss * co-editor of Cities Imagined: The African Diaspora in Media and History *“Hassler-Forest clarifies why artist-activists like Monae are so central not only to how we can imagine a future that is free from the strictures of white supremacy but also to how we can harness the power of utopian thinking in the here and the now.” -- TreaAndrea Russworm * author of From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry *Pg. 99: Dan Hassler-Forest's "Janelle Monáe’s Queer Afrofuturism" * The Page 99 Test/Campaign for the American Reader *Table of ContentsIntroduction Vector 1: AFROFUTURISM Vector 2: BLACK FEMINISM Vector 3: : INTERSECTIONALITY Vector 4: : POSTHUMANISM Vector 5: POSTCAPITALISM Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£21.59
Rutgers University Press Janelle Monáe's Queer Afrofuturism: Defying Every
Book SynopsisSinger. Dancer. Movie star. Activist. Queer icon. Afrofuturist. Working class heroine. Time traveler. Prophet. Feminist. Android. Dirty Computer. Janelle Monáe is all these things and more, making her one of the most fascinating artists to emerge in the twenty-first century. This provocative new study explores how Monáe’s work has connected different media platforms to strengthen and enhance new movements in art, theory, and politics. It considers not only Monáe’s groundbreaking albums The ArchAndroid, The Electric Lady, and Dirty Computer, but also Monáe’s work as an actress in such films as Hidden Figures and Antebellum, as well as her soundtrack appearances in socially-engaged projects ranging from I May Destroy You to Us. Examining Monáe as a cultural icon whose work is profoundly intersectional, this book maps how she is actively reshaping discourses around race, gender, sexuality, and capitalism. Tracing Monáe’s performances of joy, desire, pain, and hope across a wide range of media forms, it shows how she imagines Afrofuturist, posthumanist, and postcapitalist utopias, while remaining grounded in the realities of being a Black woman in a white-dominated industry. This is an exciting introduction to an audacious innovator whose work offers us fresh ways to talk about identity, desire, and power.Trade Review“An expert critic of the ideological construction of transmedia worlds, Dan Hassler-Forest offers a tour de force analysis of virtuoso music and media artist Janelle Monae as a vernacular theorist and intersectional figure. The resulting book makes a compelling case that her interventions into popular culture may help to shape how we collectively imagine our futures and the world according to Janelle Monae is a better one by far.” -- Henry Jenkins * co-editor of Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: Case Studies of Creative Social Change *"Building on a close reading of the transformative potential central to Afrofuturism, Janelle Monáe's Queer Afrofuturism highlights how Monáe's mix of speculation and liberation shines a light on acceptance, care, and community central to Afrofuturism's appeal. Carefully framing intersectional concerns around bodies and power expressed in Monáe's artistic work allows Hassler-Forest to provide an intriguing examination of an artist who has quickly come to embody the transformative potential of black speculative practice." -- Julian C. Chambliss * co-editor of Cities Imagined: The African Diaspora in Media and History *“Hassler-Forest clarifies why artist-activists like Monae are so central not only to how we can imagine a future that is free from the strictures of white supremacy but also to how we can harness the power of utopian thinking in the here and the now.” -- TreaAndrea Russworm * author of From Madea to Media Mogul: Theorizing Tyler Perry *Pg. 99: Dan Hassler-Forest's "Janelle Monáe’s Queer Afrofuturism" * The Page 99 Test/Campaign for the American Reader *Table of ContentsIntroduction Vector 1: AFROFUTURISM Vector 2: BLACK FEMINISM Vector 3: : INTERSECTIONALITY Vector 4: : POSTHUMANISM Vector 5: POSTCAPITALISM Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£55.25
Rutgers University Press Maid for Television: Race, Class, Gender, and a
Book SynopsisMaid for Television examines race, class, and gender relations as embodied in a long history of television servants from 1950 to the turn of the millennium. Although they reside at the visual peripheries, these figures are integral to the idealized American family. Author L. S. Kim redirects viewers' gaze towards the usually overlooked interface between characters, which is drawn through race, class, and gender positioning. Maid for Television tells the stories of servants and the families they work for, in so doing it investigates how Americans have dealt with difference through television as a medium and a mediator.The book philosophically redirects the gaze of television and its projection of racial discourse. Trade Review"Maid for Television is a rigorously intersectional and interdisciplinary study that places the racialized domestic servant at the center of U.S. television history. This figure is ubiquitously invisible, yet also absolutely essential to maintaining the white middle-class family as the nation’s social, economic, and political norm."— Chon A. Noriega, author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano CinemaTable of Contents1 Introduction: The Figure of the Racialized Domestic in American Television 2 Domesticating Blackness: African Americans in Service in Comedy and Drama 3 Shades of Whiteness: White Servants Keeping Up a Class Ideal 4 Unresolvable Roles: Asian American Servants as Perpetual Foreigners 5 Invisible but Viewable: The Latina Maid in the Age of Nannygate Epilogue AcknowledgmentsNotes Bibliography Index
£28.90
Rutgers University Press Maid for Television: Race, Class, Gender, and a
Book SynopsisMaid for Television examines race, class, and gender relations as embodied in a long history of television servants from 1950 to the turn of the millennium. Although they reside at the visual peripheries, these figures are integral to the idealized American family. Author L. S. Kim redirects viewers' gaze towards the usually overlooked interface between characters, which is drawn through race, class, and gender positioning. Maid for Television tells the stories of servants and the families they work for, in so doing it investigates how Americans have dealt with difference through television as a medium and a mediator.The book philosophically redirects the gaze of television and its projection of racial discourse. Trade Review"Maid for Television is a rigorously intersectional and interdisciplinary study that places the racialized domestic servant at the center of U.S. television history. This figure is ubiquitously invisible, yet also absolutely essential to maintaining the white middle-class family as the nation’s social, economic, and political norm." -- Chon A. Noriega * author of Shot in America: Television, the State, and the Rise of Chicano Cinema *Table of Contents1 Introduction: The Figure of the Racialized Domestic in American Television 2 Domesticating Blackness: African Americans in Service in Comedy and Drama 3 Shades of Whiteness: White Servants Keeping Up a Class Ideal 4 Unresolvable Roles: Asian American Servants as Perpetual Foreigners 5 Invisible but Viewable: The Latina Maid in the Age of Nannygate Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press The Internet Is for Cats: How Animal Images Shape
Book SynopsisLOL cats. Grumpy Cat. Dog-rating Twitter. Pet Instagram accounts. It’s generally understood the internet is for pictures of cute cats (and dogs, and otters, and pandas). But what motivates people to make and share these images, and how do they relate to other online social practices? The Internet is for Cats examines how animal images are employed to create a lighter, more playful mood, uniting users within online spaces that can otherwise easily become fractious and toxic. Placing today’s pet videos, photos, and memes within a longer history of mediated animal images, communication scholar Jessica Maddox also considers the factors that make them unique. She explores the roles that animals play within online economies of cuteness and attention, as well as the ways that animal memes and videos respond to common experiences of life under neoliberalism. Conducting a rich digital ethnography, Maddox combines observations and textual analysis with extensive interviews of the people who create, post and share animal media, including TikTok influencers seeking to make their pets famous, activists tweeting about wildlife conservation, and Redditors upvoting every cute cat photo. The Internet is for Cats will leave you with a new appreciation for the human social practices behind the animal images you encounter online. Trade Review"By exploring the ambivalent overlaps between attention, cuteness, toxicity, and neoliberalism - among other key themes - in animal imagery sharing practices, The Internet is for Cats is essential reading for understanding how and why the fun of animal memes is serious cultural business." — Whitney Phillips, author of You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape "The Internet is for Cats skillfully demonstrates that the visual cultures of animals and pets in social media are not only cute and entertaining—they can also mask the Internet’s hateful and toxic content. Maddox’s project is an important reminder that even the most seemingly frivolous aspects of culture must be carefully examined." — Melissa A. Click, associate professor of communication studies at Gonzaga University "By exploring the ambivalent overlaps between attention, cuteness, toxicity, and neoliberalism - among other key themes - in animal imagery sharing practices, The Internet is for Cats is essential reading for understanding how and why the fun of animal memes is serious cultural business." — Whitney Phillips, author of You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our "[The Internet is for Cats]'s major claim is convincing: there is more to cat (and other animal) pics than meets the eye."— Gregory Hays, New York Review of BooksTable of ContentsContents List of Illustrations Introduction 1 Kittens in Context 2 “I’ve Heard People on TikTok Love This": Attention as Materiality and Looking Relation 3 Beyond Doomscrolling in an Internet of Cute 4 “You Can’t Buy Happiness, But You Can Rescue It”: Neoliberal Pets and Animals 5 Feels Good, Man: Collisions, Collusions, and Cloaks in Pet and Animal Social Media 6 Nature is Healing, We are the Virus: Beyond Signifiers Appendix Acknowledgments Bibliography Index
£21.59
Rutgers University Press The Internet Is for Cats: How Animal Images Shape
Book SynopsisLOL cats. Grumpy Cat. Dog-rating Twitter. Pet Instagram accounts. It’s generally understood the internet is for pictures of cute cats (and dogs, and otters, and pandas). But what motivates people to make and share these images, and how do they relate to other online social practices? The Internet is for Cats examines how animal images are employed to create a lighter, more playful mood, uniting users within online spaces that can otherwise easily become fractious and toxic. Placing today’s pet videos, photos, and memes within a longer history of mediated animal images, communication scholar Jessica Maddox also considers the factors that make them unique. She explores the roles that animals play within online economies of cuteness and attention, as well as the ways that animal memes and videos respond to common experiences of life under neoliberalism. Conducting a rich digital ethnography, Maddox combines observations and textual analysis with extensive interviews of the people who create, post and share animal media, including TikTok influencers seeking to make their pets famous, activists tweeting about wildlife conservation, and Redditors upvoting every cute cat photo. The Internet is for Cats will leave you with a new appreciation for the human social practices behind the animal images you encounter online. Trade Review"By exploring the ambivalent overlaps between attention, cuteness, toxicity, and neoliberalism - among other key themes - in animal imagery sharing practices, The Internet is for Cats is essential reading for understanding how and why the fun of animal memes is serious cultural business." -- Whitney Phillips * author of You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our Polluted Media Landscape *"The Internet is for Cats skillfully demonstrates that the visual cultures of animals and pets in social media are not only cute and entertaining—they can also mask the Internet’s hateful and toxic content. Maddox’s project is an important reminder that even the most seemingly frivolous aspects of culture must be carefully examined." -- Melissa A. Click * associate professor of communication studies at Gonzaga University *"[The Internet is for Cats]'s major claim is convincing: there is more to cat (and other animal) pics than meets the eye." -- Gregory Hays * New York Review of Books *"The Internet is for Cats skillfully demonstrates that the visual cultures of animals and pets in social media are not only cute and entertaining—they can also mask the Internet’s hateful and toxic content. Maddox’s project is an important reminder that even the most seemingly frivolous aspects of culture must be carefully examined." -- Melissa A. Click * associate professor of communication studies at Gonzaga University *"By exploring the ambivalent overlaps between attention, cuteness, toxicity, and neoliberalism - among other key themes - in animal imagery sharing practices, The Internet is for Cats is essential reading for understanding how and why the fun of animal memes is serious cultural business." -- Whitney Phillips * author of You Are Here: A Field Guide for Navigating Polarized Speech, Conspiracy Theories, and Our *Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations Introduction 1 Kittens in Context 2 “I’ve Heard People on TikTok Love This": Attention as Materiality and Looking Relation 3 Beyond Doomscrolling in an Internet of Cute 4 “You Can’t Buy Happiness, But You Can Rescue It”: Neoliberal Pets and Animals 5 Feels Good, Man: Collisions, Collusions, and Cloaks in Pet and Animal Social Media 6 Nature is Healing, We are the Virus: Beyond Signifiers Appendix Acknowledgments Bibliography Index
£47.60
Rutgers University Press Suffering Sappho!: Lesbian Camp in American
Book SynopsisAn ever-expanding and panicked Wonder Woman lurches through a city skyline begging Steve to stop her. A twisted queen of sorority row crashes her convertible trying to escape her queer shame. A suave butch emcee introduces the sequined and feathered stars of the era’s most celebrated drag revue. For an unsettled and retrenching postwar America, these startling figures betrayed the failure of promised consensus and appeasing conformity. They could also be cruel, painful, and disciplinary jokes. It turns out that an obsession with managing gender and female sexuality after the war would hardly contain them. On the contrary, it spread their campy manifestations throughout mainstream culture. Offering the first major consideration of lesbian camp in American popular culture, Suffering Sappho! traces a larger-than-life lesbian menace across midcentury media forms to propose five prototypical queer icons—the sicko, the monster, the spinster, the Amazon, and the rebel. On the pages of comics and sensational pulp fiction and the dramas of television and drive-in movies, Barbara Jane Brickman discovers evidence not just of campy sexual deviants but of troubling female performers, whose failures could be epic but whose subversive potential could inspire. Supplemental images of interest related to this title: George and Lomas; Connie Minerva; Cat On Hot Tin; and Beulah and Oriole.Trade Review"Against the stereotypical image of the humorless no-frills lesbian—typically seen as yin to the gay male camp’s yang—Barbara Brickman convincingly charts a history of midcentury lesbian camp subjects, performance, and spectatorship. In analyses of Tallulah Bankhead’s radio shows, Eve Arden’s TV show, lesbian pulp fiction, vampire movies, Wonder Woman comics, and Stormé DeLarverie's drag performance, among others, Brickman argues for a pre-Stonewall lesbian camp sensibility that helped lesbians negotiate and transmogrify postwar moral panics about lesbian identities and communities into humorous and theatrical play with sex and gender norms." -- Pamela Robertson Wojcik * author of Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna *"If, as Esther Newton has suggested, lesbian camp is a 'very rare bird,' Barbara Brickman has found the flock. At long last, we have a well-researched and incisive book that shatters the fragility of the claim that camp is the sole province of gay males. Brickman delicately balances the seriousness the subject demands with a fond lightheartedness that it deserves." -- Bruce E. Drushel * Ph.D., chair & professor, Department of Media, Journalism & Film, Miami University *“Brickman provides an exhaustive view of the camp lesbian throughout popular culture. She deftly makes icons such as Tallulah Bankhead and Gladys Bentley come to life within the context of their own time, with accounts that are by turns hilarious and bittersweet.” -- Peter B. Seely * professor of Communication Arts, Benedictine University *Table of Contents Introduction 1 The Big “Lesbian” Show in Postwar American Culture, a History 2 Voyage to Camp Lesbos: Pulp Fiction and the Shameful Lesbian “Sicko” 3 A Strange Desire That Never Dies: Monstrous Lesbian Camp at the Movies 4 Spinsters, Career Gals, and Butch Comedy in 1950s Television 5 Amazon Princesses and Sorority Queers, or the Golden Age(s) of Comic Lesbians 6 Sexual Outlaw: Disidentification, Race, and the Postwar Lesbian Rebel Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Selected Filmography Index
£26.35
Rutgers University Press Suffering Sappho!: Lesbian Camp in American
Book SynopsisAn ever-expanding and panicked Wonder Woman lurches through a city skyline begging Steve to stop her. A twisted queen of sorority row crashes her convertible trying to escape her queer shame. A suave butch emcee introduces the sequined and feathered stars of the era’s most celebrated drag revue. For an unsettled and retrenching postwar America, these startling figures betrayed the failure of promised consensus and appeasing conformity. They could also be cruel, painful, and disciplinary jokes. It turns out that an obsession with managing gender and female sexuality after the war would hardly contain them. On the contrary, it spread their campy manifestations throughout mainstream culture. Offering the first major consideration of lesbian camp in American popular culture, Suffering Sappho! traces a larger-than-life lesbian menace across midcentury media forms to propose five prototypical queer icons—the sicko, the monster, the spinster, the Amazon, and the rebel. On the pages of comics and sensational pulp fiction and the dramas of television and drive-in movies, Barbara Jane Brickman discovers evidence not just of campy sexual deviants but of troubling female performers, whose failures could be epic but whose subversive potential could inspire. Supplemental images of interest related to this title: George and Lomas; Connie Minerva; Cat On Hot Tin; and Beulah and Oriole.Trade Review"Against the stereotypical image of the humorless no-frills lesbian—typically seen as yin to the gay male camp’s yang—Barbara Brickman convincingly charts a history of midcentury lesbian camp subjects, performance, and spectatorship. In analyses of Tallulah Bankhead’s radio shows, Eve Arden’s TV show, lesbian pulp fiction, vampire movies, Wonder Woman comics, and Stormé DeLarverie's drag performance, among others, Brickman argues for a pre-Stonewall lesbian camp sensibility that helped lesbians negotiate and transmogrify postwar moral panics about lesbian identities and communities into humorous and theatrical play with sex and gender norms." -- Pamela Robertson Wojcik * author of Guilty Pleasures: Feminist Camp from Mae West to Madonna *"If, as Esther Newton has suggested, lesbian camp is a 'very rare bird,' Barbara Brickman has found the flock. At long last, we have a well-researched and incisive book that shatters the fragility of the claim that camp is the sole province of gay males. Brickman delicately balances the seriousness the subject demands with a fond lightheartedness that it deserves." -- Bruce E. Drushel * Ph.D., chair & professor, Department of Media, Journalism & Film, Miami University *“Brickman provides an exhaustive view of the camp lesbian throughout popular culture. She deftly makes icons such as Tallulah Bankhead and Gladys Bentley come to life within the context of their own time, with accounts that are by turns hilarious and bittersweet.” -- Peter B. Seely * professor of Communication Arts, Benedictine University *Table of Contents Introduction 1 The Big “Lesbian” Show in Postwar American Culture, a History 2 Voyage to Camp Lesbos: Pulp Fiction and the Shameful Lesbian “Sicko” 3 A Strange Desire That Never Dies: Monstrous Lesbian Camp at the Movies 4 Spinsters, Career Gals, and Butch Comedy in 1950s Television 5 Amazon Princesses and Sorority Queers, or the Golden Age(s) of Comic Lesbians 6 Sexual Outlaw: Disidentification, Race, and the Postwar Lesbian Rebel Epilogue Acknowledgments Notes Selected Filmography Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press Single Lives: Modern Women in Literature,
Book SynopsisSingle Lives is a collection of singleness studies essays from the interdisciplinary humanities that explores the last two hundred years of literature and popular media by, about, and for single women in the US and the UK. Independent women have always been a center around which social anxieties and excitement coalesced. Moving between the family home and domestic independence, between household and public labor, and between celibacy and a range of sexual relations, the single woman remains a literary and cultural focus, as she has been from the 19th to the 21st centuries. This collection offers readers the opportunity to uncover the social, political, economic, and cultural connections between the "singly blessed" women and "bachelor girls" of the 19th and early 20th century and "all the single ladies" of the 21st century. Essays read singleness across genre and field, offering new approaches to studying modern and contemporary single women in literature, film, and history. Authors engage scholarship from wide ranging fields of social history, women's studies, queer theory, and Black feminism. The collection reads familiar texts against the grain, rethinking archival resources, revisiting familiar figures, and exploring new sources: cookbooks, ephemera, personal documents, recovered film histories, and forms of domestic space and labor.This is a book for scholars of gender and sexuality, social history, feminist film and media scholars, and literary historians, and reflects the urgent contemporary interest in single women as a political, economic, and cultural force. Trade Review"Single Lives, focusing on a wide range of British and American texts from the nineteenth to the present century, makes a timely feminist intervention into ongoing critical conversations about the representation of women’s singleness. This engaging interdisciplinary collection, which foregrounds diverse embodiments of singleness, revisits familiar figures, and promotes expanded methods and sources to better understand single women’s lived experiences, promises to greatly enrich the field of singleness studies." -- Anthea Taylor * author of Celebrity and the Feminist Blockbuster *"Drawing from wide-ranging disciplines and spanning a century of British and American history, Single Lives offers an original and engrossing analysis of how the figure of the single woman stands as an implicit challenge to the norm of the patriarchal nuclear family." -- Kathleen Rowe Karlyn * author of The Unruly Woman: Gender and the Genres of Laughter *"Single Lives, focusing on a wide range of British and American texts from the nineteenth to the present century, makes a timely feminist intervention into ongoing critical conversations about the representation of women’s singleness. This engaging interdisciplinary collection, which foregrounds diverse embodiments of singleness, revisits familiar figures, and promotes expanded methods and sources to better understand single women’s lived experiences, promises to greatly enrich the field of singleness studies." -- Anthea Taylor * author of Celebrity and the Feminist Blockbuster *"Drawing from wide-ranging disciplines and spanning a century of British and American history, Single Lives offers an original and engrossing analysis of how the figure of the single woman stands as an implicit challenge to the norm of the patriarchal nuclear family." -- Kathleen Rowe Karlyn * author of The Unruly Woman: Gender and the Genres of Laughter *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Situating Single Lives by Katherine Fama and Jorie Lagerwey Part I: Singles Studies: Archives and Methods Chapter 1: Searching for Singles: Archival Approaches for Singleness Studies and Black Women’s Collections by Andreá N. Williams Chapter 2: Reclaiming Single Women’s Work: Gender, Melodrama, and the Processes of Adaptation in The Best of Everything by Jennifer S. Clark Chapter 3: Recovering Single Biography: Jane Armstrong Tucker, Illness, and the Single Life by Elizabeth DeWolfe Part II: Familiar Figures: Representing and Reforming the Single Woman Chapter 4: Becoming Single: Gidget “Betwixt and Between” by Pamela Robertson Wojcik Chapter 5: F. Scott Fitzgerald and “The Sinking Ship of Future Matrimony:” The Unmarried Flapper in Literature and on Screen by Martina Mastandrea Chapter 6: Neither Betwixt nor Between: Divorced Mothers in the United States, 1920-1965 by Kristin Celello Chapter 7: Serves One: Exploring Representations of Female Singleness in American Cookbooks by Ursula Kania Part III: Singles at Home: Domestic Labors Chapter 8: Feeling “Like a Queen:” Later-Life Single Women at Home in Modern American Short Fiction by Katherine Fama Chapter 9: “Spinsters’ Rest?”: The Discomforts of Home in British Women’s Short Stories of the 1920s to the 1940s by Emma Liggins Chapter 10: All the Single Nannies: Reforming Elite Domesticity and the Cultural Imaginary by Ann Mattis Afterword by Benjamin Kahan Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Bibliography Index
£226.72
Rutgers University Press Litcomix: Literary Theory and the Graphic Novel
Book SynopsisCritical studies of the graphic novel have often employed methodologies taken from film theory and art criticism. Yet, as graphic novels from Maus to Watchmen have entered the literary canon, perhaps the time has come to develop theories for interpreting and evaluating graphic novels that are drawn from classic models of literary theory and criticism. Using the methodology of Georg Lukács and his detailed defense of literary realism as a socially embedded practice, Litcomix tackles difficult questions about reading graphic novels as literature. What critical standards should we use to measure the quality of a graphic novel? How does the genre contribute to our understanding of ourselves and the world? What qualities distinguish it from other forms of literature? LitComix hones its theoretical approach through case studies taken from across the diverse world of comics, from Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s groundbreaking manga to the Hernandez Brothers’ influential alt-comix. Whether looking at graphic novel adaptations of Proust or considering how Jack Kirby’s use of intertextuality makes him the Balzac of comics, this study offers fresh perspectives on how we might appreciate graphic novels as literature. Trade Review"The authors want comics to 'be treated with the seriousness of so-called proper literature.' In this spirit, their book introduces readers to comics makers who should be celebrated for their significant contributions to expanding the horizons of the pleasures of reading." — Shiamin Kwa, author of Perfect Copies: Reproduction and the Contemporary Comic "Growing up in the UK during the 1960s, to me, Kirby was "The Comics." Kirby created his own genre whose influence is felt to this very day. It's rare to read something so well thought out on my pet subject. Litcomix is a great read!" — Shaky Kane, comic artist, 2000 AD, The Bulletproof Coffin, The Beef "Reflecting upon central elements of Marxist literary theorist and philosopher Georg Lukács, this admirable volume adds momentum to the speed at which we are recognizing the proper value of the comics art form. Insightful and provocative, once I finished reading this book I wanted to pick it up again and start over.” — Jeff McLaughlin, editor of Comics as Philosophy "As a fellow true believer in comics as a high voltage energy conductor, I recommend Geczy and McBurnie's book, one which highlights and categorizes some of the vibrant new methods and genres of cartooning-art power with a well-researched and passionate curation of contemporary gems as examples. May the kaleidoscopic galaxy of comics continue to unfurl!" — Lale Westvind, cartoonist "Litcomix, an original, extremely interesting book, argues that we should treat graphic novels as serious literature, applying to them the theories that are usually reserved for discussion of ‘serious’ literature. In a most timely account, Geczy and McBurnie present fascinating and instructive examples."— David Carrier, author of Philosophical Skepticism as the Subject of Art: Maria Bussmann’s Drawings "Litcomix frames the notion that comics are long overdue for serious attention, and then delivers that attention in the most informed possible manner. For too long, comics have had the boot of cultural bias on its neck. This book supplants that boot and puts the graphic novel on even footing with the best of literature." — Christopher Sperandio, cartoonist and academicTable of ContentsIntroduction Introduction Part I Theories 1 Literary Theory: The Relevant and the Real 2 Recuperating Realism: Lukács 3 Classic Novels, Classic Comics 4 Was Wertham Right? Comics as Antisocial and Subversive 5 The Balzac of Comics: Jack Kirby, World Building, and the Kirbyesque 6 Figurative Pseudonyms: Biography and Confession Part II Case Studies 7 Josh Bayer 8 Nina Bunjevac 9 Simon Hanselmann 10 The Hernandez Brothers 11 Tommi Parrish 12 Yos hihiro Tatsumi Conclusion: Our New Urizens Acknowledgments Notes Index
£25.19
Rutgers University Press Litcomix: Literary Theory and the Graphic Novel
Book SynopsisCritical studies of the graphic novel have often employed methodologies taken from film theory and art criticism. Yet, as graphic novels from Maus to Watchmen have entered the literary canon, perhaps the time has come to develop theories for interpreting and evaluating graphic novels that are drawn from classic models of literary theory and criticism. Using the methodology of Georg Lukács and his detailed defense of literary realism as a socially embedded practice, Litcomix tackles difficult questions about reading graphic novels as literature. What critical standards should we use to measure the quality of a graphic novel? How does the genre contribute to our understanding of ourselves and the world? What qualities distinguish it from other forms of literature? LitComix hones its theoretical approach through case studies taken from across the diverse world of comics, from Yoshihiro Tatsumi’s groundbreaking manga to the Hernandez Brothers’ influential alt-comix. Whether looking at graphic novel adaptations of Proust or considering how Jack Kirby’s use of intertextuality makes him the Balzac of comics, this study offers fresh perspectives on how we might appreciate graphic novels as literature. Trade Review"Litcomix, an original, extremely interesting book, argues that we should treat graphic novels as serious literature, applying to them the theories that are usually reserved for discussion of ‘serious’ literature. In a most timely account, Geczy and McBurnie present fascinating and instructive examples." -- David Carrier * author of Philosophical Skepticism as the Subject of Art: Maria Bussmann’s Drawings *"Growing up in the UK during the 1960s, to me, Kirby was "The Comics." Kirby created his own genre whose influence is felt to this very day. It's rare to read something so well thought out on my pet subject. Litcomix is a great read!" -- Shaky Kane * comic artist, 2000 AD, The Bulletproof Coffin, The Beef *"As a fellow true believer in comics as a high voltage energy conductor, I recommend Geczy and McBurnie's book, one which highlights and categorizes some of the vibrant new methods and genres of cartooning-art power with a well-researched and passionate curation of contemporary gems as examples. May the kaleidoscopic galaxy of comics continue to unfurl!" -- Lale Westvind * cartoonist *"The authors want comics to 'be treated with the seriousness of so-called proper literature.' In this spirit, their book introduces readers to comics makers who should be celebrated for their significant contributions to expanding the horizons of the pleasures of reading." -- Shiamin Kwa * author of Perfect Copies: Reproduction and the Contemporary Comic *"Litcomix frames the notion that comics are long overdue for serious attention, and then delivers that attention in the most informed possible manner. For too long, comics have had the boot of cultural bias on its neck. This book supplants that boot and puts the graphic novel on even footing with the best of literature." -- Christopher Sperandio * cartoonist and academic *"Reflecting upon central elements of Marxist literary theorist and philosopher Georg Lukács, this admirable volume adds momentum to the speed at which we are recognizing the proper value of the comics art form. Insightful and provocative, once I finished reading this book I wanted to pick it up again and start over.” -- Jeff McLaughlin * editor of Comics as Philosophy *Table of ContentsIntroduction Introduction Part I Theories 1 Literary Theory: The Relevant and the Real 2 Recuperating Realism: Lukács 3 Classic Novels, Classic Comics 4 Was Wertham Right? Comics as Antisocial and Subversive 5 The Balzac of Comics: Jack Kirby, World Building, and the Kirbyesque 6 Figurative Pseudonyms: Biography and Confession Part II Case Studies 7 Josh Bayer 8 Nina Bunjevac 9 Simon Hanselmann 10 The Hernandez Brothers 11 Tommi Parrish 12 Yos hihiro Tatsumi Conclusion: Our New Urizens Acknowledgments Notes Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press Stories That Bind: Political Economy and Culture
Book SynopsisStories that Bind: Political Economy and Culture in New India examines the assertion of authoritarian nationalism and neoliberalism; both backed by the authority of the state and argues that contemporary India should be understood as the intersection of the two. More importantly, the book reveals, through its focus on India and its complex media landscape that this intersection has a narrative form, which author, Madhavi Murty labels spectacular realism. The book shows that the intersection of neoliberalism with authoritarian nationalism is strengthened by the circulation of stories about “emergence,” “renewal,” “development,” and “mobility” of the nation and its people. It studies stories told through film, journalism, and popular non-fiction along with the stories narrated by political and corporate leaders to argue that Hindu nationalism and neoliberalism are conjoined in popular culture and that consent for this political economic project is crucially won in the domain of popular culture. Moving between mediascapes to create an archive of popular culture, Murty advances our understanding of political economy through material that is often seen as inconsequential, namely the popular cultural story. These stories stoke our desires (e.g. for wealth), scaffold our instincts (e.g. for a strong leadership) and shape our values. Trade Review"In this beautifully written and timely book, Murty explores how popular cultural forms become politically charged. Moving across journalism, film, and other mediascapes, she shows how new forms of storytelling made sense of and won popular consent for majoritarian nationalism in a nation transformed by neoliberal reforms. Rigorously conceptualized and deeply researched, Stories That Bind is a brilliant exemplar of media and cultural studies." -- Aswin Punathambekar * University of Virginia *"In this beautifully written and timely book, Murty explores how popular cultural forms become politically charged. Moving across journalism, film, and other mediascapes, she shows how new forms of storytelling made sense of and won popular consent for majoritarian nationalism in a nation transformed by neoliberal reforms. Rigorously conceptualized and deeply researched, Stories That Bind is a brilliant exemplar of media and cultural studies." -- Aswin Punathambekar * University of Virginia *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Spectacular Realism and Political-Economic Change 1 The Development Story: Caste, Religion, and Poverty in “New” India 2 Iconicity: Moving between the Real and the Spectacular 3 The Entrepreneur: New Identities for New Times 4 Love in New Times Conclusion AcknowledgmentsNotes Bibliography Index
£28.90
Rutgers University Press Stories That Bind: Political Economy and Culture
Book SynopsisStories that Bind: Political Economy and Culture in New India examines the assertion of authoritarian nationalism and neoliberalism; both backed by the authority of the state and argues that contemporary India should be understood as the intersection of the two. More importantly, the book reveals, through its focus on India and its complex media landscape that this intersection has a narrative form, which author, Madhavi Murty labels spectacular realism. The book shows that the intersection of neoliberalism with authoritarian nationalism is strengthened by the circulation of stories about “emergence,” “renewal,” “development,” and “mobility” of the nation and its people. It studies stories told through film, journalism, and popular non-fiction along with the stories narrated by political and corporate leaders to argue that Hindu nationalism and neoliberalism are conjoined in popular culture and that consent for this political economic project is crucially won in the domain of popular culture. Moving between mediascapes to create an archive of popular culture, Murty advances our understanding of political economy through material that is often seen as inconsequential, namely the popular cultural story. These stories stoke our desires (e.g. for wealth), scaffold our instincts (e.g. for a strong leadership) and shape our values. Trade Review"In this beautifully written and timely book, Murty explores how popular cultural forms become politically charged. Moving across journalism, film, and other mediascapes, she shows how new forms of storytelling made sense of and won popular consent for majoritarian nationalism in a nation transformed by neoliberal reforms. Rigorously conceptualized and deeply researched, Stories That Bind is a brilliant exemplar of media and cultural studies." -- Aswin Punathambekar * University of Virginia *"In this beautifully written and timely book, Murty explores how popular cultural forms become politically charged. Moving across journalism, film, and other mediascapes, she shows how new forms of storytelling made sense of and won popular consent for majoritarian nationalism in a nation transformed by neoliberal reforms. Rigorously conceptualized and deeply researched, Stories That Bind is a brilliant exemplar of media and cultural studies." -- Aswin Punathambekar * University of Virginia *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Spectacular Realism and Political-Economic Change 1 The Development Story: Caste, Religion, and Poverty in “New” India 2 Iconicity: Moving between the Real and the Spectacular 3 The Entrepreneur: New Identities for New Times 4 Love in New Times Conclusion AcknowledgmentsNotes Bibliography Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press Transpacific Cartographies: Narrating the
Book SynopsisTranspacific Cartographies examines how contemporary Chinese diasporic narratives address the existential loss of home for immigrant communities at a time of global precarity and amid rising Sino-US tensions. Focusing on cultural productions of the Chinese diaspora from the 1990s to the present -- including novels by the Sinophone writers Yan Geling (The Criminal Lu Yanshi), Shi Yu (New York Lover), Chen Qian (Listen to the Caged Bird Sing), and Rong Rong (Notes of a Couple), as well as by the Anglophone writer Ha Jin (A Free Life; A Map of Betrayal), selected TV shows (Beijinger in New York; The Way We Were), and online literature -- Melody Yunzi Li argues that the characters in these stories create multilayered maps that transcend the territorial boundaries that make finding a home in a foreign land a seemingly impossible task. In doing so, these “maps” outline a transpacific landscape that reflects the psycho-geography of homemaking for diasporic communities. Intersecting with and bridging Sinophone studies, Chinese American studies, and diaspora studies and drawing on theories of literary cartography, Transpacific Cartographies demonstrates how these “maps” offer their readers different paths for finding a sense of home no matter where they are. Trade Review"Transpacific Cartographies is particularly refreshing and capacious. Focusing on the 'new immigrants' to the U.S. from China since the 1980s, this book expands the study of Chinese American experience to transnational and translingual negotiations in the dire times of Sinophobia and U.S.-China contention. Carefully engaging Sinophone texts with discourses of diaspora and geocriticism, Li sheds light on the powers of mapping and 'homemaking' with which Chinese diasporic communities navigate being and belonging." -- Chih-ming Wang * author of Transpacific Articulations: Study Abroad and the Remaking of Asian America *"Transpacific Cartographies examines diasporic psycho-social instabilities and emergences in timely, fresh, coherent ways never done before. At a time of perilous, if not phobic, interactions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, Melody Li’s focus on the reworlding dynamics and transpacific complexities of “home” from bilingual and diasporic writers like Ha Jin and Yan Geling create insights that are everywhere fresh, poetic, transcultural, uncanny, and elegant." -- Rob Sean Wilson * author of Reimagining the American Pacific: From South Pacific to Bamboo Ridge and Beyond *Table of Contents Introduction 1 Mapping Experiences of De/Reterritorialization: Ha Jin’s A Map of Betrayal 2 Cartographing Carceral Dystopia in the Mao Era: Yan Geling’s The Criminal Lu Yanshi 3 Affective Mapping of Touristic Diasporic Experience 4 Palimpsestic Map of the American and Chinese Dreams: Contested Sites in Overseas Chinese Immigrant Stories Coda: Charting an Online Chinese Diasporic Literary Map Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£26.35
Rutgers University Press Transpacific Cartographies: Narrating the
Book SynopsisTranspacific Cartographies examines how contemporary Chinese diasporic narratives address the existential loss of home for immigrant communities at a time of global precarity and amid rising Sino-US tensions. Focusing on cultural productions of the Chinese diaspora from the 1990s to the present -- including novels by the Sinophone writers Yan Geling (The Criminal Lu Yanshi), Shi Yu (New York Lover), Chen Qian (Listen to the Caged Bird Sing), and Rong Rong (Notes of a Couple), as well as by the Anglophone writer Ha Jin (A Free Life; A Map of Betrayal), selected TV shows (Beijinger in New York; The Way We Were), and online literature -- Melody Yunzi Li argues that the characters in these stories create multilayered maps that transcend the territorial boundaries that make finding a home in a foreign land a seemingly impossible task. In doing so, these “maps” outline a transpacific landscape that reflects the psycho-geography of homemaking for diasporic communities. Intersecting with and bridging Sinophone studies, Chinese American studies, and diaspora studies and drawing on theories of literary cartography, Transpacific Cartographies demonstrates how these “maps” offer their readers different paths for finding a sense of home no matter where they are. Trade Review"Transpacific Cartographies is particularly refreshing and capacious. Focusing on the 'new immigrants' to the U.S. from China since the 1980s, this book expands the study of Chinese American experience to transnational and translingual negotiations in the dire times of Sinophobia and U.S.-China contention. Carefully engaging Sinophone texts with discourses of diaspora and geocriticism, Li sheds light on the powers of mapping and 'homemaking' with which Chinese diasporic communities navigate being and belonging." -- Chih-ming Wang * author of Transpacific Articulations: Study Abroad and the Remaking of Asian America *"Transpacific Cartographies examines diasporic psycho-social instabilities and emergences in timely, fresh, coherent ways never done before. At a time of perilous, if not phobic, interactions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China, Melody Li’s focus on the reworlding dynamics and transpacific complexities of “home” from bilingual and diasporic writers like Ha Jin and Yan Geling create insights that are everywhere fresh, poetic, transcultural, uncanny, and elegant." -- Rob Sean Wilson * author of Reimagining the American Pacific: From South Pacific to Bamboo Ridge and Beyond *Table of Contents Introduction 1 Mapping Experiences of De/Reterritorialization: Ha Jin’s A Map of Betrayal 2 Cartographing Carceral Dystopia in the Mao Era: Yan Geling’s The Criminal Lu Yanshi 3 Affective Mapping of Touristic Diasporic Experience 4 Palimpsestic Map of the American and Chinese Dreams: Contested Sites in Overseas Chinese Immigrant Stories Coda: Charting an Online Chinese Diasporic Literary Map Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press Rockin' in the Ivory Tower: Rock Music on Campus
Book Synopsis Histories of American rock music and the 1960s counterculture typically focus on the same few places: Woodstock, Monterey, Altamont. Yet there was also a very active college circuit that brought edgy acts like the Jefferson Airplane and the Velvet Underground to different metropolitan regions and smaller towns all over the country. These campus concerts were often programmed, promoted, and reviewed by students themselves, and their diverse tastes challenged narrow definitions of rock music. Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower takes a close look at two smaller universities, Drew in New Jersey and Stony Brook on Long Island, to see how the culture of rock music played an integral role in student life in the late 1960s. Analyzing campus archives and college newspapers, historian James Carter traces connections between rock fandom and the civil rights protests, free speech activism, radical ideas, lifestyle transformations, and anti-war movements that revolutionized universities in the 1960s. Furthermore, he finds that these progressive students refused to segregate genres like folk, R&B, hard rock, and pop. Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower gives readers a front-row seat to a dynamic time for the music industry, countercultural politics, and youth culture. Trade Review“The research and writing are exciting; Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower fills an important gap in the historiography of rock music and the sixties.” -- Dewar MacLeod * author of Making the Scene in the Garden State: Popular Music in New Jersey from Edison to Springste *“Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower offers a welcome entry into a field of study that is only just beginning to flower.” -- Kenneth Womack * author of Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans *Table of Contents Preface and Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Postwar America, the Revolution in Higher Education, and Popular Music 2 “The Sound of the Sixties”: Popular Music and College Campuses 3 “I Blundered My Way Through”: The College Impresario, Fall 1965–Fall 1967 4 “They’re Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower”: Fall 1967–Fall 1968 5 The “Americanization of Rock”: Spring 1969–Fall 1970 Conclusion Appendix A: Bands/Artists at Drew University, 1967–1971 Appendix B: Bands/Artists at Stony Brook University, 1967–1971 Notes Bibliography Index
£26.35
Rutgers University Press Rockin' in the Ivory Tower: Rock Music on Campus
Book SynopsisHistories of American rock music and the 1960s counterculture typically focus on the same few places: Woodstock, Monterey, Altamont. Yet there was also a very active college circuit that brought edgy acts like the Jefferson Airplane and the Velvet Underground to different metropolitan regions and smaller towns all over the country. These campus concerts were often programmed, promoted, and reviewed by students themselves, and their diverse tastes challenged narrow definitions of rock music. Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower takes a close look at two smaller universities, Drew in New Jersey and Stony Brook on Long Island, to see how the culture of rock music played an integral role in student life in the late 1960s. Analyzing campus archives and college newspapers, historian James Carter traces connections between rock fandom and the civil rights protests, free speech activism, radical ideas, lifestyle transformations, and anti-war movements that revolutionized universities in the 1960s. Furthermore, he finds that these progressive students refused to segregate genres like folk, R&B, hard rock, and pop. Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower gives readers a front-row seat to a dynamic time for the music industry, countercultural politics, and youth culture.Trade Review“Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower offers a welcome entry into a field of study that is only just beginning to flower.” — Kenneth Womack, author of Living the Beatles Legend: The Untold Story of Mal Evans “The research and writing are exciting; Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower fills an important gap in the historiography of rock music and the sixties.” — Dewar MacLeod, author of Making the Scene in the Garden State: Popular Music in New Jersey from Edison to SpringsteTable of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Postwar America, the Revolution in Higher Education, and Popular Music 2 “The Sound of the Sixties”: Popular Music and College Campuses 3 “I Blundered My Way Through”: The College Impresario, Fall 1965–Fall 1967 4 “They’re Rockin’ in the Ivory Tower”: Fall 1967–Fall 1968 5 The “Americanization of Rock”: Spring 1969–Fall 1970 Conclusion Appendix A: Bands/Artists at Drew University, 1967–1971 Appendix B: Bands/Artists at Stony Brook University, 1967–1971 Notes Bibliography Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press Branding Black Womanhood: Media Citizenship from
Book SynopsisCaShawn Thompson crafted Black Girls Are Magic as a proclamation of Black women’s resilience in 2013. Less than five years later, it had been repurposed as a gateway to an attractive niche market. Branding Black Womanhood: Media Citizenship from Black Power to Black Girl Magic examines the commercial infrastructure that absorbed Thompson’s mantra. While the terminology may have changed over the years, mainstream brands and mass media companies have consistently sought to acknowledge Black women’s possession of a distinct magic or power when it suits their profit agendas. Beginning with the inception of the Essence brand in the late 1960s, Timeka N. Tounsel examines the individuals and institutions that have reconfigured Black women’s empowerment as a business enterprise. Ultimately, these commercial gatekeepers have constructed an image economy that operates as both a sacred space for Black women and an easy hunting ground for their dollars. Trade Review“Branding Black Womanhood unearths the untold histories of the now-ubiquitous, commercial concept of 'Black Girl Magic.' With clear and compelling prose, Timeka Tounsel thoughtfully tells the story of how representations of Black women as 'magic' both provides Black women with empowerment and delivers a sparkly image that can seriously undercut Black women’s need for care.”— Ralina L. Joseph, author of Generation Mixed Goes to School: Listening to Multiracial KidsTable of ContentsPrologue Introduction: Black Women and the Twenty-First Century Image Economy Chapter 1: The Black Woman that Essence Built Chapter 2: Self-Branding Black Womanhood: The Magic of Susan L. Taylor Chapter 3: Marketing Dignity: The Commercial Grammar of Black Female Empowerment Chapter 4: Beyond Magic: Black Women Content Creators and Productive Vulnerability Epilogue Acknowledgements Notes Selected Bibliography Index
£21.59
Rutgers University Press Branding Black Womanhood: Media Citizenship from
Book SynopsisCaShawn Thompson crafted Black Girls Are Magic as a proclamation of Black women’s resilience in 2013. Less than five years later, it had been repurposed as a gateway to an attractive niche market. Branding Black Womanhood: Media Citizenship from Black Power to Black Girl Magic examines the commercial infrastructure that absorbed Thompson’s mantra. While the terminology may have changed over the years, mainstream brands and mass media companies have consistently sought to acknowledge Black women’s possession of a distinct magic or power when it suits their profit agendas.Beginning with the inception of the Essence brand in the late 1960s, Timeka N. Tounsel examines the individuals and institutions that have reconfigured Black women’s empowerment as a business enterprise. Ultimately, these commercial gatekeepers have constructed an image economy that operates as both a sacred space for Black women and an easy hunting ground for their dollars. Trade Review“Branding Black Womanhood unearths the untold histories of the now-ubiquitous, commercial concept of 'Black Girl Magic.' With clear and compelling prose, Timeka Tounsel thoughtfully tells the story of how representations of Black women as 'magic' both provides Black women with empowerment and delivers a sparkly image that can seriously undercut Black women’s need for care.” -- Ralina L. Joseph * author of Generation Mixed Goes to School: Listening to Multiracial Kids *Table of ContentsPrologueIntroduction: Black Women and the Twenty-First Century Image EconomyChapter 1: The Black Woman that Essence BuiltChapter 2: Self-Branding Black Womanhood: The Magic of Susan L. TaylorChapter 3: Marketing Dignity: The Commercial Grammar of Black Female EmpowermentChapter 4: Beyond Magic: Black Women Content Creators and Productive VulnerabilityEpilogueAcknowledgementsNotesSelected BibliographyIndex
£47.60
Rutgers University Press Elena, Princesa of the Periphery: Disney’s
Book SynopsisIn the summer of 2016, Disney introduced its first Latina princess, Elena of Avalor. Princesa of the Periphery explores this Disney property using multiple case studies to understand its approach to girlhood and Latinidad. Following the circuit of culture model, author Diana Leon-Boys teases out moments of complex negotiations by Disney, producers, and audiences as they navigate Elena’s circulation. Case studies highlight how a flexible Latinidad is deployed through corporate materials, social media pages, theme park experiences, and the television series to create a princess who is both marginal to Disney’s normative vision of princesshood and central to Disney’s claims of diversification. This multi-layered analysis of Disney’s mediated Latina girlhood interrogates the complex relationship between the U.S.’s largest ethnic minority and a global conglomerate that stands in for the U.S. on the global stage. Trade Review"In this fascinating and insightful study, Diana Leon-Boys demonstrates how Disney has constructed notions of Latina girlhood through its first Latina princess. Through apt exploration of Elena of Avalor on screen and at Disney theme parks, she illuminates how Latina girls’ media is positioned as both Latin American and Latinx, and always peripheral to the U.S. mainstream." -- Mary Beltrán * author of Latino TV: A History and Latina/o Stars in U.S. Eyes: The Making and Meanings of Film and *"Well researched and argued, Princesa of the Periphery is a welcome contribution to Latinx/girls/media studies. Focusing on Elena of Avalor, one of Disney’s newest 'empowered' yet marginalized princesses, Leon-Boys helps us to understand the complexities of representing and performing Latina girlhood in U.S. popular culture while also drawing attention to the potential consequences of such depictions for Latina girls, who are hungry for public recognition and deserving of authentic role models." -- Mary Celeste Kearney * author of Girls Make Media and editor of Mediated Girlhoods *"This is a vital and sophisticated study of the connection between Latina girlhood and the dream machine that is Disney. Leon-Boys attends to the voices of Latina girls, and complements this with powerful insights on how Latina girls are seen within media production cultures. The result is a powerful and compelling argument about the marketization of dreams and the reconstitution of Latina marginalization." -- Hector Amaya * author of Citizenship Excess: Latinos/as, Media, and the Nation *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Latina Girls’ Media Studies 1 From Black-and-White Mouse to “Latina” Girl 2 The Flexible Production of a “Latina” Princess 3 Animated Latina Girlhood and the Continuum of Flexibility 4 On-Site Performance of Latinidad from East Coast to West Coast Conclusion: A Princess for All Is a Princess Without a Home Acknowledgments Notes References Index
£23.39
Rutgers University Press Elena, Princesa of the Periphery: Disney’s
Book SynopsisIn the summer of 2016, Disney introduced its first Latina princess, Elena of Avalor. Princesa of the Periphery explores this Disney property using multiple case studies to understand its approach to girlhood and Latinidad. Following the circuit of culture model, author Diana Leon-Boys teases out moments of complex negotiations by Disney, producers, and audiences as they navigate Elena’s circulation. Case studies highlight how a flexible Latinidad is deployed through corporate materials, social media pages, theme park experiences, and the television series to create a princess who is both marginal to Disney’s normative vision of princesshood and central to Disney’s claims of diversification. This multi-layered analysis of Disney’s mediated Latina girlhood interrogates the complex relationship between the U.S.’s largest ethnic minority and a global conglomerate that stands in for the U.S. on the global stage. Trade Review"In this fascinating and insightful study, Diana Leon-Boys demonstrates how Disney has constructed notions of Latina girlhood through its first Latina princess. Through apt exploration of Elena of Avalor on screen and at Disney theme parks, she illuminates how Latina girls’ media is positioned as both Latin American and Latinx, and always peripheral to the U.S. mainstream."— Mary Beltrán, author of Latino TV: A History and Latina/o Stars in U.S. Eyes: The Making and Meanings of Film and "Well researched and argued, Princesa of the Periphery is a welcome contribution to Latinx/girls/media studies. Focusing on Elena of Avalor, one of Disney’s newest 'empowered' yet marginalized princesses, Leon-Boys helps us to understand the complexities of representing and performing Latina girlhood in U.S. popular culture while also drawing attention to the potential consequences of such depictions for Latina girls, who are hungry for public recognition and deserving of authentic role models."— Mary Celeste Kearney, author of Girls Make Media and editor of Mediated Girlhoods "This is a vital and sophisticated study of the connection between Latina girlhood and the dream machine that is Disney. Leon-Boys attends to the voices of Latina girls, and complements this with powerful insights on how Latina girls are seen within media production cultures. The result is a powerful and compelling argument about the marketization of dreams and the reconstitution of Latina marginalization."— Hector Amaya, author of Citizenship Excess: Latinos/as, Media, and the NationTable of ContentsIntroduction: Latina Girls’ Media Studies 1 From Black-and-White Mouse to “Latina” Girl 2 The Flexible Production of a “Latina” Princess 3 Animated Latina Girlhood and the Continuum of Flexibility 4 On-Site Performance of Latinidad from East Coast to West Coast Conclusion: A Princess for All Is a Princess Without a Home Acknowledgments Notes References Index
£47.60
Rutgers University Press Just Like Us: Digital Debates on Feminism and
Book SynopsisIn Just Like Us: Digital Debates on Feminism and Fame, Caitlin E. Lawson examines the rise of celebrity feminism, its intersections with digital culture, and its complicated relationships with race, sexuality, capitalism, and misogyny. Through in-depth analyses of debates across social media and news platforms, Lawson maps the processes by which celebrity culture, digital platforms, and feminism transform one another. As she analyzes celebrity-centered stories ranging from “The Fappening” and the digital attack on actress Leslie Jones to stars’ activism in response to #MeToo, Lawson demonstrates how celebrity culture functions as a hypervisible space in which networked publics confront white feminism, assert the value of productive anger in feminist politics, and seek remedies for women’s vulnerabilities in digital spaces and beyond. Just Like Us asserts that, together, celebrity culture and digital platforms form a crucial discursive arena where postfeminist logics are unsettled, opening up more public, collective modes of holding individuals and groups accountable for their actions. Trade Review"An incisive look at the role of technology and celebrity culture during the #MeToo moment and beyond. In key case studies, Lawson shows how 21st-century strides for women have been confronted by misogynistic backlash, enabled by digital platforms. A critical read at this pivotal moment for women’s rights." -- Andrea McDonnell * co-author of Celebrity: A History of Fame *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Rise of Celebrity Feminism 1 Hacking Celebrity: Sexuality, Privacy, and Networked Misogyny in the Celebrity Nude Photo Hack 2 Staging Feminism: Negotiating Labor and Calling Out Racism at the 2015 Academy Awards 3 Nasty Women, Silly Girls: Feminist Generation Gaps and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Presidential Campaign 4 Platform Vulnerabilities: Fighting Harassment and Misogynoir in the Digital Attack on Leslie Jones 5 TIME’S UP: Celebrity Feminism after #MeToo Conclusion: Celebrity Feminist Futures Acknowledgments Notes References Index
£21.59
Rutgers University Press Just Like Us: Digital Debates on Feminism and
Book SynopsisIn Just Like Us: Digital Debates on Feminism and Fame, Caitlin E. Lawson examines the rise of celebrity feminism, its intersections with digital culture, and its complicated relationships with race, sexuality, capitalism, and misogyny. Through in-depth analyses of debates across social media and news platforms, Lawson maps the processes by which celebrity culture, digital platforms, and feminism transform one another. As she analyzes celebrity-centered stories ranging from “The Fappening” and the digital attack on actress Leslie Jones to stars’ activism in response to #MeToo, Lawson demonstrates how celebrity culture functions as a hypervisible space in which networked publics confront white feminism, assert the value of productive anger in feminist politics, and seek remedies for women’s vulnerabilities in digital spaces and beyond. Just Like Us asserts that, together, celebrity culture and digital platforms form a crucial discursive arena where postfeminist logics are unsettled, opening up more public, collective modes of holding individuals and groups accountable for their actions. Trade Review"An incisive look at the role of technology and celebrity culture during the #MeToo moment and beyond. In key case studies, Lawson shows how 21st-century strides for women have been confronted by misogynistic backlash, enabled by digital platforms. A critical read at this pivotal moment for women’s rights." -- Andrea McDonnell * co-author of Celebrity: A History of Fame *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Rise of Celebrity Feminism 1 Hacking Celebrity: Sexuality, Privacy, and Networked Misogyny in the Celebrity Nude Photo Hack 2 Staging Feminism: Negotiating Labor and Calling Out Racism at the 2015 Academy Awards 3 Nasty Women, Silly Girls: Feminist Generation Gaps and Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Presidential Campaign 4 Platform Vulnerabilities: Fighting Harassment and Misogynoir in the Digital Attack on Leslie Jones 5 TIME’S UP: Celebrity Feminism after #MeToo Conclusion: Celebrity Feminist Futures Acknowledgments Notes References Index
£47.60
Rutgers University Press 1980: America's Pivotal Year
Book Synopsis1980 was a turning point in American history. When the year began, it was still very much the 1970s, with Jimmy Carter in the White House, a sluggish economy marked by high inflation, and the disco still riding the airwaves. When it ended, Ronald Reagan won the presidency in a landslide, inaugurating a rightward turn in American politics and culture. We still feel the effects of this tectonic shift today, as even subsequent Democratic administrations have offered neoliberal economic and social policies that owe more to Reagan than to FDR or LBJ. To understand what the American public was thinking during this pivotal year, we need to examine what they were reading, listening to, and watching. 1980: America's Pivotal Year puts the news events of the era—everything from the Iran hostage crisis to the rise of televangelism—into conversation with the year’s popular culture. Separate chapters focus on the movies, television shows, songs, and books that Americans were talking about that year, including both the biggest hits and some notable flops that failed to capture the shifting zeitgeist. As he looks at the events that had Americans glued to their screens, from the Miracle on Ice to the mystery of Who Shot J.R., cultural historian Jim Cullen garners surprising insights about how Americans’ attitudes were changing as they entered the 1980s. Praise for Jim Cullen's previous Rutgers University Press books: "Informed and perceptive" —Norman Lear on Those Were the Days: Why All in the Family Still Matters "Jim Cullen is one of the most acute cultural historians writing today." —Louis P. Masur, author of The Sum of Our Dreams on Martin Scorsese and the American Dream "This is a terrific book, fun and learned and provocative....Cullen provides an entertaining and thoughtful account of the ways that we remember and how this is influenced and directed by what we watch." —Jerome de Groot, author of Consuming History on From Memory to HistoryTrade Review"That 1980 was a pivotal year in American politics is well-established. But just as important were cultural shifts and media evolutions emerging in the same period; leaving the 1970s behind, 1980's popular culture pointed to a distinct and discernible future. When viewed through the lens of popular culture Ronald Reagan's political success in 1980 and events occurring in the ensuing decade become more clearly explainable. Jim Cullen's 1980: American Culture in Transition offers a well-written, engaging, and thoughtful review of the era." — Michael J. Socolow, Author of Six Minutes in Berlin: Broadcast Spectacle and Rowing Gold at the Nazi Olympics "With 1980: American Culture in Transition, Jim Cullen has provided important context on the relationship between American political theater in the late 1970s, its correlating representational texts, and concurrent movements in the development of contemporary media industries."— Josh Shepperd, Assistant Professor of Media Studies at the University of Colorado BoulderTable of ContentsIntroduction: Facing Janus Chapter 1 / On the Cusp: American Politics and Culture in 1979 Chapter 2 / Wind Shear: The Political Cultures of 1980 Chapter 3 / The Closing of Heaven’s Gate: Hollywood in Transition Chapter 4 / Starting Over: Pop Music’s Future Goes Back to the Past Chapter 5 / Ebb and Flow: Tidal Shifts in Broadcast Television Chapter 6 / Turning the Page: The Publishing Industry in 1980 Chapter 7 / Inflection Point: Autumn, 1980 Conclusion: Inaugurating the Eighties Acknowledgments Notes About the author Index
£23.39
Rutgers University Press Intoxication: An Ethnography of Effervescent
Book SynopsisFor two decades, Sébastien Tutenges has conducted research in bars, nightclubs, festivals, drug dens, nightlife resorts, and underground dance parties in a quest to answer a fundamental question: Why do people across cultures gather regularly to intoxicate themselves? Vivid and at times deeply personal, this book offers new insights into a wide variety of intoxicating experiences, from the intimate feeling of connection among concertgoers to the adrenaline-fueled rush of a fight, to the thrill of jumping off a balcony into a swimming pool. Tutenges shows what it means and feels to move beyond the ordinary into altered states in which the transgressive, spectacular, and unexpected take place. He argues that the primary aim of group intoxication is the religious experience that Émile Durkheim calls collective effervescence, the essence of which is a sense of connecting with other people and being part of a larger whole. This experience is empowering and emboldening and may lead to crime and deviance, but it is at the same time vital to our humanity because it strengthens social bonds and solidarity. The book fills important gaps in Durkheim’s social theory and contributes to current debates in micro-sociology as well as cultural criminology and cultural sociology. Here, for the first time, readers will discover a detailed account of collective effervescence in contemporary society that includes: an explanation of what collective effervescence is; a description of the conditions that generate collective effervescence; a typology of the varieties of collective effervescence; a discussion of how collective effervescence manifests in the realm of nightlife, politics, sports, and religion; and an analysis of how commercial forces amplify and capitalize on the universal human need for intoxication.This book is also freely available online as an open access digital edition.Download the open access ebook here.Trade Review"Intoxication is a remarkable and ambitious book. Rarely is ethnography connected to classical social theory with such productive results. Tutenges offers a significant extension of the concept of collective effervescence. We learn that Durkheim, Mauss, and Bataille are essential resources for understanding the self, the sacred, and the collectivity in modernity." -- Philip Smith * Professor of Sociology, Yale University *"Tutenges’s study of collective effervescence is commanding, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. Intoxication is a stunning example of ethnographically informed social theory." -- Lois Presser * author of Why We Harm *"From sports to religion to party venues, effervescence is as much a blind spot of research as it is a phenomenon fundamental to society’s very make-up. Intoxication introduces us to the party practices of today’s youth in vivid fashion and with a remarkable interpretative sensitivity. Far from being the wastelands of meaning they appear to be, these drunken landscapes are existential theaters for the abandonment of the self to social forces and the experience of other ways of being and feeling. A long-awaited book which could well become a campus classic." -- François Gauthier * author of Religion, Modernity, Globalisation. Nation-State to Market *"Intoxication is a remarkable and ambitious book. Rarely is ethnography connected to classical social theory with such productive results. Tutenges offers a significant extension of the concept of collective effervescence. We learn that Durkheim, Mauss, and Bataille are essential resources for understanding the self, the sacred, and the collectivity in modernity." -- Philip Smith * Professor of Sociology, Yale University *"Tutenges’s study of collective effervescence is commanding, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. Intoxication is a stunning example of ethnographically informed social theory." -- Lois Presser * author of Why We Harm *"From sports to religion to party venues, effervescence is as much a blind spot of research as it is a phenomenon fundamental to society’s very make-up. Intoxication introduces us to the party practices of today’s youth in vivid fashion and with a remarkable interpretative sensitivity. Far from being the wastelands of meaning they appear to be, these drunken landscapes are existential theaters for the abandonment of the self to social forces and the experience of other ways of being and feeling. A long-awaited book which could well become a campus classic." -- François Gauthier * author of Religion, Modernity, Globalisation. Nation-State to Market *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements1 Introduction2 Ways to Effervescence3 Unity 4 Intensity 5 Transgression 6 Symbolization 7 Revitalization 8 Afterword NotesReferences Index
£22.94
Rutgers University Press Intoxication: An Ethnography of Effervescent
Book SynopsisFor two decades, Sébastien Tutenges has conducted research in bars, nightclubs, festivals, drug dens, nightlife resorts, and underground dance parties in a quest to answer a fundamental question: Why do people across cultures gather regularly to intoxicate themselves? Vivid and at times deeply personal, this book offers new insights into a wide variety of intoxicating experiences, from the intimate feeling of connection among concertgoers to the adrenaline-fueled rush of a fight, to the thrill of jumping off a balcony into a swimming pool. Tutenges shows what it means and feels to move beyond the ordinary into altered states in which the transgressive, spectacular, and unexpected take place. He argues that the primary aim of group intoxication is the religious experience that Émile Durkheim calls collective effervescence, the essence of which is a sense of connecting with other people and being part of a larger whole. This experience is empowering and emboldening and may lead to crime and deviance, but it is at the same time vital to our humanity because it strengthens social bonds and solidarity. The book fills important gaps in Durkheim’s social theory and contributes to current debates in micro-sociology as well as cultural criminology and cultural sociology. Here, for the first time, readers will discover a detailed account of collective effervescence in contemporary society that includes: an explanation of what collective effervescence is; a description of the conditions that generate collective effervescence; a typology of the varieties of collective effervescence; a discussion of how collective effervescence manifests in the realm of nightlife, politics, sports, and religion; and an analysis of how commercial forces amplify and capitalize on the universal human need for intoxication. This book is also freely available online as an open access digital edition. Download the open access ebook here.Trade Review"Intoxication is a remarkable and ambitious book. Rarely is ethnography connected to classical social theory with such productive results. Tutenges offers a significant extension of the concept of collective effervescence. We learn that Durkheim, Mauss, and Bataille are essential resources for understanding the self, the sacred, and the collectivity in modernity."— Philip Smith, Professor of Sociology, Yale University "Tutenges’s study of collective effervescence is commanding, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. Intoxication is a stunning example of ethnographically informed social theory."— Lois Presser, author of Why We Harm "From sports to religion to party venues, effervescence is as much a blind spot of research as it is a phenomenon fundamental to society’s very make-up. Intoxication introduces us to the party practices of today’s youth in vivid fashion and with a remarkable interpretative sensitivity. Far from being the wastelands of meaning they appear to be, these drunken landscapes are existential theaters for the abandonment of the self to social forces and the experience of other ways of being and feeling. A long-awaited book which could well become a campus classic."— François Gauthier, author of Religion, Modernity, Globalisation. Nation-State to Market "Tutenges’s study of collective effervescence is commanding, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. Intoxication is a stunning example of ethnographically informed social theory."— Lois Presser, author of Why We Harm "From sports to religion to party venues, effervescence is as much a blind spot of research as it is a phenomenon fundamental to society’s very make-up. Intoxication introduces us to the party practices of today’s youth in vivid fashion and with a remarkable interpretative sensitivity. Far from being the wastelands of meaning they appear to be, these drunken landscapes are existential theaters for the abandonment of the self to social forces and the experience of other ways of being and feeling. A long-awaited book which could well become a campus classic."— François Gauthier, author of Religion, Modernity, Globalisation. Nation-State to Market "Intoxication is a remarkable and ambitious book. Rarely is ethnography connected to classical social theory with such productive results. Tutenges offers a significant extension of the concept of collective effervescence. We learn that Durkheim, Mauss, and Bataille are essential resources for understanding the self, the sacred, and the collectivity in modernity."— Philip Smith, Professor of Sociology, Yale UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgements 1 Introduction 2 Ways to Effervescence 3 Unity 4 Intensity 5 Transgression 6 Symbolization 7 Revitalization 8 Afterword Notes References Index
£55.25
Rutgers University Press Mainstreaming Gays: Critical Convergences of
Book SynopsisMainstreaming Gays discusses a key transitional period linking the eras of legacy and streaming, analyzing how queer production and interaction that had earlier occurred outside the mainstream was transformed by multiple converging trends: the emergence of digital media, the rising influence of fan cultures, and increasing interest in LGBTQ content within commercial media. The U.S. networks Bravo and Logo broke new ground in the early 2000s and 2010s with their channel programming, as well as bringing in a new cohort of LGBTQ digital content creators, providing unprecedented opportunities for independent queer producers, and hosting distinctive spaces for queer interaction online centered on pop culture and politics rather than dating. These developments constituted the ground from which recent developments for LGBTQ content and queer sociality online have emerged. Mainstreaming Gays is critical reading for those interested in media production, fandom, subcultures, and LGBTQ digital media. Trade Review"Mainstreaming Gays investigates the role that LGBTQ media professionals, television, and online content played at a pivotal moment in media convergence and the consolidation of multiplatform content delivery. Impeccably researched and accessibly written, Eve Ng’s book offers a nuanced analysis of the central role LGBTQ media and marketing played during a vital period in media history." — Katherine Sender, professor and director of Graduate Studies, Department of Communication, Cornell University "How did legacy TV morph into streaming and take queerness with it? Eve Ng brings intellectual force and clarity to a key change in queer media, redefining what 'mainstream' means and showing us how power, capital, and reinvention have long sparred—and danced—on the fields of queer culture." — Lisa Henderson, Dean, Faculty of Media and Information Studies, Western University "Chronicled in these pages are a host of culturally significant portals for LGBTQ news and entertainment which, Ng convincingly argues, contributed to the mainstreaming of historically marginalized communities. With her rigorous investigation into the people who created and benefited from these sites, Ng shows how the distance between the margins and the center, fans and producers, amateurs and professionals, is much narrower than scholars typically assume. This is an essential book for scholars of queer media.” — Aymar Jean Christian, author of Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web TelevisionTable of ContentsIntroduction – Between Legacy and Streaming Chapter 1 – New Convergences in LGBTQ Media Production: Digital Pathways Into Commercial Media Chapter 2 – The New Queer Digital Spaces Chapter 3 – Gaystreaming, Dualcasting, and Changing Queer Alignments Chapter 4 – Beyond Queer Niche: Remaking the Mainstream Conclusion – Legacies and Futures for Mainstreaming Gays Appendix – List of Research Interviews and Events Acknowledgments Bibliography Index
£25.19
Rutgers University Press Resilient Kitchens: American Immigrant Cooking in
Book Synopsis Immigrants have left their mark on the great melting pot of American cuisine, and they have continued working hard to keep America’s kitchens running, even during times of crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic. For some immigrant cooks, the pandemic brought home the lack of protection for essential workers in the American food system. For others, cooking was a way of reconnecting with homelands they could not visit during periods of lockdown. Resilient Kitchens: American Immigrant Cooking in a Time of Crisis is a stimulating collection of essays about the lives of immigrants in the United States before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, told through the lens of food. It includes a vibrant mix of perspectives from professional food writers, restaurateurs, scholars, and activists, whose stories range from emotional reflections on hardship, loss, and resilience to journalistic investigations of racism in the American food system. Each contribution is accompanied by a recipe of special importance to the author, giving readers a taste of cuisines from around the world. Every essay is accompanied by gorgeous food photography, the authors’ snapshots of pandemic life, and hand-drawn illustrations by Filipino American artist Angelo Dolojan. Trade Review"This eloquently written collection of essays takes you on a journey into the memories and foodways that sustain, bind and ground us, especially during times of adversity such as the COVID pandemic. Deeply personal and evocative, these powerful narratives are sure to resonate with everyone." -- Laila el-Haddad * coauthor of The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey *"Resilient Kitchens collects the deeply personal accounts of immigrant chefs, writers, and scholars of how their experiences as “other” informed their use of food and cooking to stay centered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their stories are vastly different but all bear on why food matters so much to personal identity." -- Marion Nestle * author of Slow Cooked: An Unexpected Life in Food Politics *"This illuminating, often deeply personal collection of essays and interviews gives voice to the immigrant experience during the worst public health crisis of the past century. The chefs, writers, artists, scholars, and humanitarians in this volume speak of fractures to the system -- some freshly made, some untreated from many, many years ago. But they also speak of food as a solace, a connection to home, and a way to find meaning amid the chaos." -- Tim Carman * food reporter and columnist with The Washington Post *"Resilient Kitchens: American Immigrant Cooking in a Time of Crisis beautifully details the recipes, writings, and personal stories from a collection of incredible immigrant chefs and food writers in America during the COVID-19 crisis - how they fed our communities, combated food insecurity, fostered food equity, and comforted so many of us through their deeply poignant and inspiring stories." -- Marisel Salazar * food writer, cook, host, and immigrant *Table of ContentsPreface 1 The Lost Year Reem Kassis Recipe: Malfoof (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls) 2 Quarantine Cooking in an Improvised HouseholdStephanie Jolly and Krishnendu Ray Recipe: Pasta with Shallots and White Wine 3 Duck TalesTien Nguyen Recipe: Cà Phê Sữa Đá (Iced Coffee with Condensed Milk) 4 Cooking with the Lights OffBonnie Frumkin Morales Recipe: Mom’s Chicken Kotleti 5 The Meaning of Martin YanMayukh Sen Recipe: Martin Yan’s Hot Walnut Soup 6 Pound Cake and PuriGeetika Agrawal and Fernay McPherson Recipes: Sour Cream Pound Cake and Puri 7 Teta Thursdays: Conversations on Food, Culture, and Identity during a Global PandemicAntonio Tahhan Recipe: Kousa Mahshi (Aleppan-Style Stuffed Squash) 8 The Map to MyselfSangeeta Lakhani Recipe: Murgh Makhani (Butter Chicken) 9 There Will Always Be a Seawritten by Keenan Dava, recipe by Tim Flores Recipe: Kasama Chicken Adobo 10 Food and Caring during the Times of COVID-19 on the U.S.–Mexico BorderGuillermina Gina Núñez-Mchiri Recipe: Red Chilaquiles 11 Intimate Tables: Food and Migration in a Time of CrisisPhilip Gleissner and Harry Eli Kashdan Recipes: Hefezopf / Tsoureki (German-Greek Bread) and Almond, Lemon, and Ricotta Cake for Passover AcknowledgmentsNotes on ContributorsArt CreditsIndex
£21.59
Rutgers University Press A History of Horror, 2nd Edition
Book SynopsisEver since horror leapt from popular fiction to the silver screen in the late 1890s, viewers have experienced fear and pleasure in exquisite combination. Wheeler Winston Dixon's fully revised and updated A History of Horror is still the only book to offer a comprehensive survey of this ever-popular film genre.Arranged by decades, with outliers and franchise films overlapping some years, this one-stop sourcebook unearths the historical origins of characters such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolfman and their various incarnations in film from the silent era to comedic sequels. In covering the last decade, this new edition includes coverage of the resurgence of the genre, covering the swath of new groundbreaking horror films directed by women, Black and queer horror films, and a new international wave in body horror films.A History of Horror explores how the horror film fits into the Hollywood studio system, how the distribution and exhibition of horror films have changed in a post-COVID world, and how its enormous success in American and European culture expanded globally over time.Dixon examines key periods in the horror film-in which the basic precepts of the genre were established, then banished into conveniently reliable and malleable forms, and then, after collapsing into parody, rose again and again to create new levels of intensity and menace. A History of Horror, supported by rare stills from classic films, brings over sixty timeless horror films into frightfully clear focus, zooms in on today's top horror Web sites, and champions the stars, directors, and subgenres that make the horror film so exciting and popular with contemporary audiences. Trade Review"Dixon is recognized as an eminent film scholar and the current title is an impressive addition to his oeuvre. This book certainly has solid scholarship, but it is also a book that once picked up is hard to put down. Essential." * Choice *"Dixon is a deft and knowledgeable guide, leading us from silent ghouls to Universal's monsters. Interspersed throughout this catalogue are nuggets of surprising information." * Times Literary Supplement *"This is an excellent survey of horror movies. The author, a veteran film historian, takes the reader back to the beginning, when, in the first three decades of the twentieth century, such directors as Georges Melies, F. W. Murnau, and Paul Wegener were defining not only the look of a genre but also cinema itself. The period between 1930 and the late 1940s saw the rise of the classic Universal Studios characters—Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy—and the actors who played them: Karloff, Lugosi, Chaney Jr. By the end of the 1940s, horror was dying, 'killed by a plethora of poorly made sequels.' But never fear: the period between the late 1940s and 1970 saw a massive resurgence, due in part to gimmicks (such as 3-D); low-budget quickies from the likes of Roger Corman, the wizard of the B movie; and the stylish resurrection of the classic Universal monsters by Britain's Hammer Film Productions. This survey, which takes the reader right up to the present, is full of fascinating information and is delivered in an accessible manner. Required reading for horror fans." -- David Pitt * Booklist *"Dixon surveys the development of the horror genre from the earliest Frankenstein and Dracula films through the decades of classics by Hammer studios, William Castle, Roger Corman, and Val Lewton. Dixon covers movies seldom found in other histories and more modern, international titles such as Wolf Creek, Black Water, and Grudge. The endurance of horror, trends like remakes and sequels, and such popular franchises as Child's Play and Halloween are also discussed. In the final chapter, Dixon analyzes the decline of modern horror owing to desensitized audiences, graphic gore, violence, and lack of solid plot lines or character development. Lists of the best horror websites as well as the 50 movies covered round out this volume. This concise overview is an informative and entertaining read. Recommended." * Library Journal *"In less than 250 pages, Wheeler Winston Dixon manages to cover the trends and sub-genres of film horror from 1896 to 2009. Bonuses include a list of top horror sites, a list of fifty classic films, and a pretty wonderful bibliography. Well written and well researched and offering an enjoyable overview of more than one hundred years of cinema, A History of Horror is a quick, delightful read." * Seattle Post-Intelligencer *"No mere catalogue of titles, Dixon's account explores all aspects of the genre: literary underpinnings, themes, and transformations, including much on actors and directors. Dixon's mind-priming volume will enhance spine-tingling late-night viewings." * ForeWord Reviews *"A breathtaking panorama, written with wit and candor, showing how the horror film has shaped cinema from the origins of the genre until now." -- Tom Conley, Harvard University"Rich with excellent illustrations and clever anecdotes, this book will appeal to fans of horror as well as film students and scholars interested in a readable overview of the history of the genre." -- Rebecca Bell-Metereau, author of Hollywood Androgyny "There’s No Dark Universe Anymore, Just One Monster After Another," by Robert Ito https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/movies/the-invisible-man-universal.html * New York Times *"New from Rutgers U. Press: A History of Horror" by Dan Aubrey https://www.communitynews.org/princetoninfo/artsandentertainment/new-from-rutgers-u-press-a-history-of-horror/article_3fae29f2-a6fb-11ed-9ef2-ff473369899e.html * U.S. 1, Princeton *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 1 Origins: 1896-1929 2 Classics: 1930-1948 3 Rebirth: 1949-1970 4 New Blood: 1970-1990 5 The Next Wave: 1990-2010 6 The Future: 2010-Present Top Horror Websites 50 Classic Horror Films Bibliography Index
£47.60
Rutgers University Press Dead Funny: The Humor of American Horror
Book SynopsisHorror films strive to make audiences scream, but they also garner plenty of laughs. In fact, there is a long tradition of horror directors who are fluent in humor, from James Whale to John Landis to Jordan Peele. So how might horror and humor overlap more than we would expect? Dead Funny locates humor as a key element in the American horror film, one that is not merely used for extraneous “comic relief” moments but often serves to underscore major themes, intensify suspense, and disorient viewers. Each chapter focuses on a different comic style or device, from the use of funny monsters and scary clowns in movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street to the physical humor and slapstick in movies ranging from The Evil Dead to Final Destination. Along the way, humor scholar David Gillota explores how horror films employ parody, satire, and camp to comment on gender, sexuality, and racial politics. Covering everything from the grotesque body in Freaks to the comedy of awkwardness in Midsommar, this book shows how integral humor has been to the development of the American horror film over the past century. Trade Review"Dead Funny offers a brilliant rethinking of the horror genre as profoundly comic. Exploring parody, the comic monster, body humor, queer camp, cringe comedy, and satire, Dead Funny serves up a comprehensive look at humor’s centrality to the structure and tone of U.S. horror film since the 1930s. You’ll be surprised at some of the films that come up in David Gillota’s provocative book—but I guarantee you’ll also be convinced."— Dawn Keetley, author of Making a Monster: Jesse Pomeroy, the Boy Murderer of 1870s Boston “Historically, horror scholarship has often displayed an almost phobic disregard for horror-comedies and the comedy in horror. You almost would not know that horror is often intricately enmeshed with comedy. David Gillota's Dead Funny corrects this omission, taking on comedic horror from the silent era to Jordan Peele with care and rigor. And the best part: it is even funny.”— Murray Leeder, author of Horror Film: A Critical IntroductionTable of ContentsIntroduction: Approaching Horror through Humor 1. Parodying Horror, Horror as Parody 2. Clowns, Fools, and Dummies: Horror’s Comic Monsters 3. Painfully Funny: The Humor of Body Horror 4. Camping Out: Horror’s Queer Humor and Gender Play 5. Cringes and Creeps: Exploring Awkward Horror 6. Horror, Humor, and Critique: Satire in Horror Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£26.35
Rutgers University Press Dead Funny: The Humor of American Horror
Book SynopsisHorror films strive to make audiences scream, but they also garner plenty of laughs. In fact, there is a long tradition of horror directors who are fluent in humor, from James Whale to John Landis to Jordan Peele. So how might horror and humor overlap more than we would expect? Dead Funny locates humor as a key element in the American horror film, one that is not merely used for extraneous “comic relief” moments but often serves to underscore major themes, intensify suspense, and disorient viewers. Each chapter focuses on a different comic style or device, from the use of funny monsters and scary clowns in movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street to the physical humor and slapstick in movies ranging from The Evil Dead to Final Destination. Along the way, humor scholar David Gillota explores how horror films employ parody, satire, and camp to comment on gender, sexuality, and racial politics. Covering everything from the grotesque body in Freaks to the comedy of awkwardness in Midsommar, this book shows how integral humor has been to the development of the American horror film over the past century. Trade Review"Dead Funny offers a brilliant rethinking of the horror genre as profoundly comic. Exploring parody, the comic monster, body humor, queer camp, cringe comedy, and satire, Dead Funny serves up a comprehensive look at humor’s centrality to the structure and tone of U.S. horror film since the 1930s. You’ll be surprised at some of the films that come up in David Gillota’s provocative book—but I guarantee you’ll also be convinced."— Dawn Keetley, author of Making a Monster: Jesse Pomeroy, the Boy Murderer of 1870s Boston “Historically, horror scholarship has often displayed an almost phobic disregard for horror-comedies and the comedy in horror. You almost would not know that horror is often intricately enmeshed with comedy. David Gillota's Dead Funny corrects this omission, taking on comedic horror from the silent era to Jordan Peele with care and rigor. And the best part: it is even funny.”— Murray Leeder, author of Horror Film: A Critical IntroductionTable of ContentsIntroduction: Approaching Horror through Humor 1. Parodying Horror, Horror as Parody 2. Clowns, Fools, and Dummies: Horror’s Comic Monsters 3. Painfully Funny: The Humor of Body Horror 4. Camping Out: Horror’s Queer Humor and Gender Play 5. Cringes and Creeps: Exploring Awkward Horror 6. Horror, Humor, and Critique: Satire in Horror Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£55.25
Rutgers University Press Scratchin' and Survivin': Hustle Economics and
Book Synopsis The 1970s was a golden age for representations of African American life on TV sitcoms: Sanford & Son, Good Times, The Jeffersons. Surprisingly, nearly all the decade’s notable Black sitcoms were made by a single company, Tandem Productions. Founded by two white men, the successful team behind All in the Family, writer Norman Lear and director Bud Yorkin, Tandem gave unprecedented opportunities to Black actors, writers, and producers to break into the television industry. However, these Black auteurs also struggled to get the economic privileges and creative autonomy regularly granted to their white counterparts. Scratchin’ and Survivin’ discovers surprising parallels between the behind-the-scenes drama at Tandem and the plotlines that aired on their sitcoms, as both real and fictional African Americans devised various strategies for getting their fair share out of systems prone to exploiting their labor. The media scholar Adrien Sebro describes these tactics as a form of “hustle economics,” and he pays special attention to the ways that Black women—including actresses like LaWanda Page, Isabel Sanford, and Esther Rolle—had to hustle for recognition. Exploring Tandem’s complex legacy, including its hit racially mixed sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, he showcases the Black talent whose creative agency and labor resilience helped to transform the television industry. Trade Review"Adrien Sebro's fascinating and instructive look at these series will force industry stakeholders to see and pursue them anew." -- Beretta E. Smith-Shomade * editor of Watching While Black: Centering the Television of Black Audiences *“This is what the next generation of scholarship on critical black television and media studies look like—original, probing, curious, courageous, confident. By taking on complex questions of Black family life, social class, passing and Black difference, and the role of Black women, Scratchin’ and Survivin’ reframes the radical nature of the meanings, impacts, and struggles over representation and production.” -- Herman S. Gray * author of Cultural Moves: African Americans and the Politics of Representation *"In Scratchin’ and Survivin’, Adrien Sebro pays close attention to and honors the often-invisible labor of Black culture industries workers. Using the framework of 'hustle economics,' Sebro uncovers a treasure trove of hidden and archival transcripts that give voice to Black-cast sitcom stars like Redd Foxx and Esther Rolle as more than talented actors, but Black Americans working in Hollywood trying to get, as The Jeffersons’ theme song says, their 'piece of the pie'.” -- Alfred L. Martin * author of The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Hustle 1 Approaching Tandem Productions 2 Sanford and Son 3 Good Times 4 The Jeffersons Conclusion: A Piece of the Pie Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£25.19
Rutgers University Press Scratchin' and Survivin': Hustle Economics and
Book Synopsis The 1970s was a golden age for representations of African American life on TV sitcoms: Sanford & Son, Good Times, The Jeffersons. Surprisingly, nearly all the decade’s notable Black sitcoms were made by a single company, Tandem Productions. Founded by two white men, the successful team behind All in the Family, writer Norman Lear and director Bud Yorkin, Tandem gave unprecedented opportunities to Black actors, writers, and producers to break into the television industry. However, these Black auteurs also struggled to get the economic privileges and creative autonomy regularly granted to their white counterparts. Scratchin’ and Survivin’ discovers surprising parallels between the behind-the-scenes drama at Tandem and the plotlines that aired on their sitcoms, as both real and fictional African Americans devised various strategies for getting their fair share out of systems prone to exploiting their labor. The media scholar Adrien Sebro describes these tactics as a form of “hustle economics,” and he pays special attention to the ways that Black women—including actresses like LaWanda Page, Isabel Sanford, and Esther Rolle—had to hustle for recognition. Exploring Tandem’s complex legacy, including its hit racially mixed sitcom Diff’rent Strokes, he showcases the Black talent whose creative agency and labor resilience helped to transform the television industry. Trade Review"Adrien Sebro's fascinating and instructive look at these series will force industry stakeholders to see and pursue them anew." -- Beretta E. Smith-Shomade * editor of Watching While Black: Centering the Television of Black Audiences *“This is what the next generation of scholarship on critical black television and media studies look like—original, probing, curious, courageous, confident. By taking on complex questions of Black family life, social class, passing and Black difference, and the role of Black women, Scratchin’ and Survivin’ reframes the radical nature of the meanings, impacts, and struggles over representation and production.” -- Herman S. Gray * author of Cultural Moves: African Americans and the Politics of Representation *"In Scratchin’ and Survivin’, Adrien Sebro pays close attention to and honors the often-invisible labor of Black culture industries workers. Using the framework of 'hustle economics,' Sebro uncovers a treasure trove of hidden and archival transcripts that give voice to Black-cast sitcom stars like Redd Foxx and Esther Rolle as more than talented actors, but Black Americans working in Hollywood trying to get, as The Jeffersons’ theme song says, their 'piece of the pie'.” -- Alfred L. Martin * author of The Generic Closet: Black Gayness and the Black-Cast Sitcom *Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Hustle 1 Approaching Tandem Productions 2 Sanford and Son 3 Good Times 4 The Jeffersons Conclusion: A Piece of the Pie Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press There She Goes Again: Gender, Power, and
Book SynopsisThere She Goes Again interrogates the representation of ostensibly powerful women in transmedia franchises, examining how presumed feminine traits—love, empathy, altruism, diplomacy—are alternately lauded and repudiated as possibilities for effecting long-lasting social change. By questioning how these franchises reimagine their protagonists over time, the book reflects on the role that gendered exceptionalism plays in social and political action, as well as what forms of knowledge and power are presumed distinctly feminine. The franchises explored in this book illustrate the ambivalent (post)feminist representation of women protagonists as uniquely gifted in ways both gendered and seemingly ungendered, and yet inherently bound to expressions of their femininity. At heart,There She Goes Again asks under what terms and in what contexts women protagonists are imagined, envisioned, embodied, and replicated in media. Especially now, in a period of gradually increasing representation, women protagonists demonstrate the importance of considering how we should define—and whether we need—feminine forms of knowledge and power.Trade Review"In an analysis both invigorating and theoretically rigorous, Aviva Dove-Viebahn skillfully deconstructs the age-old dichotomy of feminism versus femininity to produce a nuanced reading of popular culture's mediation of gendered empowerment. This is essential reading for readers interested in gender, media and power, and a valuable contribution to ongoing cultural debates.”— Miriam Kent, author of Women in Marvel Films "For all of us who love our pop-culture wonder women and have wondered about their feminist implications, There She Goes Again asks fearless questions about these characters and offers brilliant insights about their appeal. Aviva Dove-Viebahn explores what female exceptionalism means for super-powered heroines, and as the title suggests, advances timely insights about how we imagine and picture extraordinary women in the postfeminist era." — Linda Mizejewski, author of Hardboiled & High Heeled: The Woman Detective in Popular Culture “Relying on close readings that in turn recognize nuances of media texts, Dove-Viebahn accurately and persuasively enumerates the potentialities and pitfalls of gendered understandings. She brings together media analysis with a serious sense of what is at stake, which is, in short, the contemporary state of feminist thought.” — Suzanne Leonard, co-editor of Imagining "We" in the Age of "I": Romance and Social Bonding in Contemporary CultureTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Why Feminine Intuition?: The Gendering of Knowledge and Power 2. Seriality and ‘Strong Female Characters’: The Double Bind of Women’s Empowerment 3. From Girl Power to Intersectional Sisterhood: Exceptionalism and the Imperatives of Belonging 4. Motherhood and Myth: Inside and Outside the Family Circle 5. At the End of the World: Apocalyptic Bodies and the Feminine Sublime Acknowledgments Bibliography Index
£25.19
Rutgers University Press There She Goes Again: Gender, Power, and
Book SynopsisThere She Goes Again interrogates the representation of ostensibly powerful women in transmedia franchises, examining how presumed feminine traits—love, empathy, altruism, diplomacy—are alternately lauded and repudiated as possibilities for effecting long-lasting social change. By questioning how these franchises reimagine their protagonists over time, the book reflects on the role that gendered exceptionalism plays in social and political action, as well as what forms of knowledge and power are presumed distinctly feminine. The franchises explored in this book illustrate the ambivalent (post)feminist representation of women protagonists as uniquely gifted in ways both gendered and seemingly ungendered, and yet inherently bound to expressions of their femininity. At heart,There She Goes Again asks under what terms and in what contexts women protagonists are imagined, envisioned, embodied, and replicated in media. Especially now, in a period of gradually increasing representation, women protagonists demonstrate the importance of considering how we should define—and whether we need—feminine forms of knowledge and power.Trade Review"In an analysis both invigorating and theoretically rigorous, Aviva Dove-Viebahn skillfully deconstructs the age-old dichotomy of feminism versus femininity to produce a nuanced reading of popular culture's mediation of gendered empowerment. This is essential reading for readers interested in gender, media and power, and a valuable contribution to ongoing cultural debates.”— Miriam Kent, author of Women in Marvel Films "For all of us who love our pop-culture wonder women and have wondered about their feminist implications, There She Goes Again asks fearless questions about these characters and offers brilliant insights about their appeal. Aviva Dove-Viebahn explores what female exceptionalism means for super-powered heroines, and as the title suggests, advances timely insights about how we imagine and picture extraordinary women in the postfeminist era." — Linda Mizejewski, author of Hardboiled & High Heeled: The Woman Detective in Popular Culture “Relying on close readings that in turn recognize nuances of media texts, Dove-Viebahn accurately and persuasively enumerates the potentialities and pitfalls of gendered understandings. She brings together media analysis with a serious sense of what is at stake, which is, in short, the contemporary state of feminist thought.” — Suzanne Leonard, co-editor of Imagining "We" in the Age of "I": Romance and Social Bonding in Contemporary CultureTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Why Feminine Intuition?: The Gendering of Knowledge and Power 2. Seriality and ‘Strong Female Characters’: The Double Bind of Women’s Empowerment 3. From Girl Power to Intersectional Sisterhood: Exceptionalism and the Imperatives of Belonging 4. Motherhood and Myth: Inside and Outside the Family Circle 5. At the End of the World: Apocalyptic Bodies and the Feminine Sublime Acknowledgments Bibliography Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press New Israeli Horror: Local Cinema, Global Genre
Book SynopsisBefore 2010, there were no Israeli horror films. Then distinctly Israeli serial killers, zombies, vampires, and ghosts invaded local screens. The next decade saw a blossoming of the genre by young Israeli filmmakers. New Israeli Horror is the first book to tell their story. Through in-depth analysis, engaging storytelling, and interviews with the filmmakers, Olga Gershenson explores their films from inception to reception. She shows how these films challenge traditional representations of Israel and its people, while also appealing to audiences around the world. Gershenson introduces an innovative conceptual framework of adaptation, which explains how filmmakers adapt global genre tropes to local reality. It illuminates the ways in which Israeli horror borrows and diverges from its international models. New Israeli Horror offers an exciting and original contribution to our understanding of both Israeli cinema and the horror genre. A companion website to this book is available at https://blogs.umass.edu/newisraelihorror/ (https://blogs.umass.edu/newisraelihorror/) Book trailer: https://youtu.be/oVJsD0QCORw (https://youtu.be/oVJsD0QCORw) Trade Review“This is a fantastic book that looks at the intellectual, industrial, funding, and reception contexts of Israeli horror but without bouncing between them like demented pinball. Instead, what we get is an extraordinarily integrated interdisciplinary account that should operate as an exemplar for horror scholarship for decades to come!” — Mark Jancovich, author of Horror and editor of Horror, The Film Reader “New Israeli Horror perceptively chronicles the origins and evolution of Israeli horror films. It brilliantly analyzes how this corpus of films replicated or subverted the familiar tropes of the horror genre and demonstrates that they possess implicit and eventually explicit relevance to the political and social conflicts within Israel.” — Lawrence Baron, author of Projecting The Holocaust Into The Present and editor of The Modern Jewish Experience in Wo "New Israeli Horror is the definitive study of Israeli cinema’s most unorthodox genre from its inception among a small group of students at Tel Aviv University to its success on the international film festival circuit and in online piracy in the Arab world. Through an examination of technology, financing, transnational adaptation, local and international reception, and interviews with filmmakers it deciphers the meanings behind the throng of serial killers in uniform, Palestinian ghosts, zombies, cannibals, and monsters from Jewish folklore that have invaded Israeli screens in this millennium." — Boaz Hagin, co-editor of Deeper Than Oblivion: Trauma and Memory in Israeli Cinema “This significant work charts the ways in which New Israeli Horror films offer a critique of the violence that lies at the heart of Israeli society, the damaging masculinity of the military machine, and the suppression of Palestinian trauma. The result is a hugely readable and subtly nuanced work that makes a substantive contribution to our understanding of both modern Israel and the horror genre’s ability to articulate national trauma. It’s essential reading for all with an interest in the genre and in national cinema more broadly.” — Linnie Blake, Manchester Metropolitan University and author of The Wounds of Nations: Horror Cinema, Historical TrTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 The Precursors: From The Angel Was a Devil to Frozen Days Part I Subversion 2 The First Hebrew Horror: Rabies 3 A Korean Revenge Thriller in the Israeli Countryside: Big Bad Wolves Part II Conversion 4 Horror in the IDF Zombies in the Fatigues: Poisoned and Cannon Fodder Freak Out: “The Final Boy” on the Base The Specters of Violence in The Damned 5 The Jewish Supernatural: JeruZalem 6 Slasher on the Kibbutz: Children of the Fall Part III Aversion 7 Escaping Israel: Another World, Madam Yankelova’s Fine Literature Club, and The Golem Coda: Is There I-Horror? Notes Index
£28.90
Rutgers University Press New Israeli Horror: Local Cinema, Global Genre
Book SynopsisBefore 2010, there were no Israeli horror films. Then distinctly Israeli serial killers, zombies, vampires, and ghosts invaded local screens. The next decade saw a blossoming of the genre by young Israeli filmmakers. New Israeli Horror is the first book to tell their story. Through in-depth analysis, engaging storytelling, and interviews with the filmmakers, Olga Gershenson explores their films from inception to reception. She shows how these films challenge traditional representations of Israel and its people, while also appealing to audiences around the world. Gershenson introduces an innovative conceptual framework of adaptation, which explains how filmmakers adapt global genre tropes to local reality. It illuminates the ways in which Israeli horror borrows and diverges from its international models. New Israeli Horror offers an exciting and original contribution to our understanding of both Israeli cinema and the horror genre. A companion website to this book is available at https://blogs.umass.edu/newisraelihorror/ (https://blogs.umass.edu/newisraelihorror/) Book trailer: https://youtu.be/oVJsD0QCORw (https://youtu.be/oVJsD0QCORw) Trade Review“This is a fantastic book that looks at the intellectual, industrial, funding, and reception contexts of Israeli horror but without bouncing between them like demented pinball. Instead, what we get is an extraordinarily integrated interdisciplinary account that should operate as an exemplar for horror scholarship for decades to come!” — Mark Jancovich, author of Horror and editor of Horror, The Film Reader “New Israeli Horror perceptively chronicles the origins and evolution of Israeli horror films. It brilliantly analyzes how this corpus of films replicated or subverted the familiar tropes of the horror genre and demonstrates that they possess implicit and eventually explicit relevance to the political and social conflicts within Israel.” — Lawrence Baron, author of Projecting The Holocaust Into The Present and editor of The Modern Jewish Experience in Wo "New Israeli Horror is the definitive study of Israeli cinema’s most unorthodox genre from its inception among a small group of students at Tel Aviv University to its success on the international film festival circuit and in online piracy in the Arab world. Through an examination of technology, financing, transnational adaptation, local and international reception, and interviews with filmmakers it deciphers the meanings behind the throng of serial killers in uniform, Palestinian ghosts, zombies, cannibals, and monsters from Jewish folklore that have invaded Israeli screens in this millennium." — Boaz Hagin, co-editor of Deeper Than Oblivion: Trauma and Memory in Israeli Cinema “This significant work charts the ways in which New Israeli Horror films offer a critique of the violence that lies at the heart of Israeli society, the damaging masculinity of the military machine, and the suppression of Palestinian trauma. The result is a hugely readable and subtly nuanced work that makes a substantive contribution to our understanding of both modern Israel and the horror genre’s ability to articulate national trauma. It’s essential reading for all with an interest in the genre and in national cinema more broadly.” — Linnie Blake, Manchester Metropolitan University and author of The Wounds of Nations: Horror Cinema, Historical TrTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1 The Precursors: From The Angel Was a Devil to Frozen Days Part I Subversion 2 The First Hebrew Horror: Rabies 3 A Korean Revenge Thriller in the Israeli Countryside: Big Bad Wolves Part II Conversion 4 Horror in the IDF Zombies in the Fatigues: Poisoned and Cannon Fodder Freak Out: “The Final Boy” on the Base The Specters of Violence in The Damned 5 The Jewish Supernatural: JeruZalem 6 Slasher on the Kibbutz: Children of the Fall Part III Aversion 7 Escaping Israel: Another World, Madam Yankelova’s Fine Literature Club, and The Golem Coda: Is There I-Horror? Notes Index
£107.20
Rutgers University Press Music Is Power: Popular Songs, Social Justice,
Book SynopsisHonorable Mention, 2019 Foreword INDIES Awards - Performing Arts & Music Honorable Mention, Graphis 2021 Design Annual Competition Popular music has long been a powerful force for social change. Protest songs have served as anthems regarding war, racism, sexism, ecological destruction, and so many other crucial issues. Music Is Power takes us on a guided tour through the past one hundred years of politically conscious music, from Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie to Green Day and NWA. Covering a wide variety of genres, including reggae, country, metal, psychedelia, rap, punk, folk, and soul, Brad Schreiber demonstrates how musicians can take a variety of approaches— angry rallying cries, mournful elegies to the victims of injustice, or even humorous mockeries of authority—to fight for a fairer world. While shining a spotlight on Phil Ochs, Gil Scott-Heron, the Dead Kennedys and other seminal, politicized artists, he also gives readers a new appreciation of classic acts such as Lesley Gore, James Brown, and Black Sabbath, who overcame limitations in their industry to create politically potent music Music Is Power tells fascinating stories about the origins and the impact of dozens of world-changing songs, while revealing political context and the personal challenges of legendary artists from Bob Dylan to Bob Marley. Supplemental material (Artist and Title List): https://d3tto5i5w9ogdd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/24001955/Music_Is_Power_Supplementary_Artist_Title_List.doc Trade Review"Talk with Ted" interview with Brad Schreiber https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-s3b37-e5cbf5— Talk with Ted podcast "Madame Perry's Salon" interview with Brad Schreiber, part two https://www.blogtalkradio.com/madameperryssalon/2020/05/14/writer-producer-brad-schreiber— Madame Perry's Salon, part two Parallax Views with J.G. Michael interview with Brad Schreiber https://parallaxviews.podbean.com/e/schreiber/— Parallax Views "Coast to Coast AM" interview with Brad Schreiber, part 3— Coast to Coast AM, part 3 "A fun and informative read from first page to last."— Midwest Book Review Louisiana Radio Network "Talk Louisiana" interview with Jim Engster and Brad Schreiber https://www.wrkf.org/post/monday-january-20th-faye-williams-daryl-glasper-brad-schreiber— Louisiana Radio Network “Brad Schreiber understands both music and politics, as well as the jagged lines where they overlap and intersect. His clarity, intelligence, and insight provide lasting rewards.” — Anthony DeCurtis, Grammy Award–winning journalist, for Rolling Stone, author of Lou Reed: A Life "Brad Schreiber Visits Madame Perry's Salon" podcast interview https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brad-schreiber-visits-madame-perrys-salon/id1063919048?i=1000465223311 — Madame Perry's Salon "Coast to Coast AM" interview with Brad, Schreiber, part 1— Coast to Coast AM, part 1 "Episode 37: "Music Is Power: Popular Songs, Social Justice, and The Will to Change" with Brad Schreiber" https://allmusicbooksdeepdive.podbean.com/e/episode-37-music-is-power-popular-songs-social-justice-and-the-will-to-change-with-brad-schreiber/— Deep Dive podcast "Brad Schreiber talks about this topic perfectly...You did a lot of research." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Gaim6C8E3wfeature=youtu.be— The Allan Handelman Show interview with Brad Schreiber: Music Is Power" "How Tom Odell’s Another Love became an unlikely anthem for Ukraine," by James Hall— The Telegraph Unstructured Podcast interview with Brad Schreiber https://unstructuredpod.com/psychotically-eclectic-author-brad-schreiber/— Unstructured Podcast Music Is Power mention in Planet Proctor, December 2019 issue— Planet Proctor Brad Schreiber's Playlist for His Book "Music is Power: Popular Songs, Social Justice, and the Will to Change"— Largehearted Boy "Passing Through" KAAD-LP 103.5 FM interview with Brad Schreiber — Passing Through “A stirring survey of the sometimes sad, sometimes joyful, sometimes angry but ever hopeful music that is the soundtrack for America’s struggle to become a more fair and just society.” — Seth Rosenfeld, journalist, winner of the George Polk Award, author of Subversives: The FBI’s War on Student Radical "Brad Schreiber interview – Episode 288" http://readingandwritingpodcast.com/brad-schreiber-interview/— Reading and Writing podcast "Tuesday, December 8th: Andrea Gallo, Brad Schreiber"— "Talk Louisiana," WRKF "Coast to Coast AM" interview view Brad Schreiber, part 2— Coast to Coast AM, part 2 The Stuph File Program interview with Brad Schreiber— The Stuph File Program "Music Is Power covers the socio-political history of important music, from Bob Dylan to hip-hop, including genres like punk, comedy, folk, psychedelia, RB/soul and major musicals, and encourages listeners to respond to this powerful music with real world activism. It’s a timeless New Year’s gift!"— Planet Proctor "What’s better than a book you didn’t know you needed? Music Is Power is a history of the nexus of music and protest, from Wobbly-turned-musician Joe Hill to Green Day, from folk to hip-hop."— Razorcake "Chatting with Sherri," BlogTalkRadio interview with Brad Schreiber https://www.blogtalkradio.com/rithebard/2020/06/25/chatting-with-sherri— Chatting with Sherri - Blog Talk Radio "Music is Power: Author Brad Schreiber digs into he history and power of protest music" interview with Brad Schreiber https://wgnradio.com/2019/12/10/music-is-power-author-brad-schreiber-digs-into-he-history-and-power-of-protest-music/— Nick Digilio Show - WGN INTERVIEW WITH BRAD SCHREIBER ON ‘MUSIC IS POWER’: PART 1—DIXIE CHICKS, MARVIN GAY https://shadowproof.com/2020/03/31/music-is-power-interview-schreiber-dixie-chicks-marvin-gaye/— Shadowproof "Much has been written about these artists elsewhere, but Schreiber’s focus sets this study apart. He goes beneath the surface to detail how their social consciousness evolved during the course of their careers, and how they came to understand their music’s power to address social ills. This carefully researched book is suitable for fans and scholars alike. Recommended." — Choice "In Music Is Power, Brad Schreiber argues that socially or politically conscious music emerges from practically every genre of popular music, and he takes the reader on a journey through the various ways that musicians have addressed the issues of their day."— Shalon Van Tine, Western Folklore journal “Music Is Power - Part 3: Black Sabbath, Gil Scott-Heron, Public Enemy” https://shadowproof.com/2020/04/28/music-is-power-schreiber-gil-scott-heron-black-sabbath/— Shadowproof, Part 3 "Brad Schreiber, 'Music Is Power: Popular Songs, Social Justice And The Will To Change'" https://www.wortfm.org/brad-schreiber-music-is-power-popular-songs-social-justice-and-the-will-to-change/— Madison Bookbeat Interview with Brad Schreiber on The Stuph File Program— The Stuph File "MWN Episode 144 – Music is Power (Part 2) with Brad Schreiber" https://midnightwriternews.com/mwn-episode-144-music-is-power-part-2-with-brad-schreiber/— Midnight Writer News Interview on "Deep Dish Radio with Tim Powers" with Brad Schreiber https://play.acast.com/s/deepdishradio/7424927b-bdc3-4183-a884-a84f4ba85c5f— Deep Dish Radio with Tim Powers Brad Schreiber interview on “Passing Through” on KAAD-LP 103.5 FM— Passing Through, part 2 "INTERVIEW WITH BRAD SCHREIBER ON ‘MUSIC IS POWER’: PART 2—JIMI HENDRIX, PINK FLOYD"— Shadowproof, Part 2 “An inspiring tour through the history of making change with music and an important call for retrieving music’s intrinsic ability to challenge power.” — Douglas Rushkoff, documentarian, professor of Media Theory and Digital Economics at CUNY/Queens, author of Team Human *Special episode * Music is Power: Donna and Dr Adam in conversation with author Brad Schreiber— Love's A Secret Weapon podcast "An intensively researched yet rollicking tour of socially charged music...A compelling read on the intersection of popular music and social activism, from Pete Seeger to Zappa to Public Enemy and beyond."— American Songwriter Beyond Reality Paranormal Podcast - Hidden History episode interview with Brad Schreiber https://anchor.fm/brparanormal/episodes/Hidden-History---Brad-Schreiber---102020-elclvh— Beyond Reality Paranormal podcast MWN Episode 136 – Popular Songs , Social Justice, and the Will to Change with Brad Schreiber— Midnight Writer News Law and Disorder Radio interview with Brad Schreiber https://lawanddisorder.org/2019/11/law-and-disorder-november-25-2019/— Law and Disorder High Road to Humanity - Music Is Power! Popular Songs, Social Justice, with Guest Brad Schreiber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55j15fa54NIfeature=youtu.be— Nancy Yearout's High Road to Humanity Music's Connection to Societal Issues The Patty Hearst/SLA Case - interview with Brad Schreiber https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7AHdxbXK6Ys— Beyond Reality Radio "In-Depth Interview: Author Brad Schreiber Talks..." interview on the Peter B. Collins Show https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/peter-b-collins-newscomment/e/66984975— The Peter B. Collins Show "A fun read. It provides the old timer with a quick sail down the streams of memory and the younger reader with a useful and concise look at the music of the West that helped form the culture of today."— CounterPunchTable of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1: Musical Workers of the World Unite: Joe Hill, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger Chapter 2: There For More Than Fortune: Phil Ochs, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan Chapter 3: Caged Artists: Lesley Gore, Janis Ian, P.F. Sloan Chapter 4: Parody and Poetry: Tom Lehrer, Peter, Paul and Mary, The Smothers Brothers Chapter 5: Psychedelicate Situation: Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd Chapter 6: Reason and Blues: Marvin Gaye and The Temptations Chapter 7: Say It Loud, We’re Blocked but Proud: James Brown and Curtis Mayfield Chapter 8: Hard Rock Turns Metallic: The Who and Black Sabbath Chapter 9: More Than a Working Class Hero: John Lennon Chapter 10: Out of Place and In Your Face: The Dead Kennedys and The Sex Pistols Chapter 11: Word: Gil Scott Heron and Grandmaster Flash Chapter 12: Global Music Consciousness: Bob Marley and Peter Gabriel Chapter 13: Weird, Funny, Angry: Frank Zappa vs. Everybody Chapter 14: Rap, Not Hip Hop: N.W.A. and Public Enemy Chapter 15: Weapons of Mass Deconstruction: Dixie Chicks and Green Day Epilogue Bibliography
£21.59
