SC224: Useful Texts

There is no single textbook that contains all the readings for a course of this kind. However, there are several useful textbooks that address most of the subjects treated in this course. You might like to buy one rather than another depending on your preferences and the aspects of the course that you feel drawn to.

Recommended Textbooks

Dominic Strinati (1995) An Introduction to Theories of Popular Culture. London and New York: Routledge.  A competent overview of different theoretical approaches to the study of popular cultures. Unlike the Media Studies Reader, Strinati offers a critical summary and commentary on the main traditions analysed in this course. Highly recommended for the spring term.

Paul Marris and Sue Thornham (1996) Media Studies: A Reader. Edinburgh University Press (imp.! 2nd edition)  This is one of the best readers in media studies and it is very useful for the course as a whole.

Meenakshi Gigi Durham and Douglas M. Kellner (2001) Media and cultural studies: Keyworks. Oxford: Blackwell.  A good recent edited collection of key texts in media and cultural studies

Marisa Sturken and Lisa Cartwright (2001) Practices of Looking: An Introduction to visual culture. Oxford University Press.  A new textbook on visual cultures that addresses many of the issues of this course.

Randall Packer and Ken Jordan (eds) (2001) Multimedia: From Wagner to Virtual Reality. Norton and Company. Classic texts on digital media – a key running strand of the second part of the course

David Trend ed. (2001) Reading Digital Culture. Oxford: Blackwell. A useful edited collection about new media cultures

Online Tips

Ctheory: an international journal of theory, technology and culture http://www.ctheory.net/

Postmodern Culture (electronic journal of interdisciplinary thought on contemporary cultures,) http://www.iath.virginia.edu/pmc/contents.all.html

First Monday (Peer-reviewed journal about the Internet and the Global Information Infrastructure) http://www.firstmonday.dk/

Sarah Zupko’s Cultural Studies Centre http://www.popcultures.com/