Cultural Studies

"Culture is an instrument wielded by professors to manufacture professors." — Simone Weil

Reverse Cowboy
Disentangling fact from myth in the figure of the American cowboy.
Greg JacksonJul 29, 2018
- Cultural Studies
- History
Friends and Enemies: On Slogan Tees
"The popularity of the slogan tee is evidence of the dissolution of the political." Rachel Greenwald Smith on the recent popularity of the slogan tee.
Rachel Greenwald SmithJul 16, 2018
- Cultural Studies
- Politics
Balancing Act: Richard Sennett’s “Building and Dwelling”
Richard Sennett’s notion of an “open city” articulates how to achieve, or at least think about, the ethical city in the 21st century.
Josh StephensJun 15, 2018
An Elegy for Cemeteries
A book on the rise and fall of American cemeteries.
Sam HolleranJun 13, 2018
The New Primitives
Primitivism is back, not that it ever left. Ben Etherington on the historical and contemporary notions of primitivism.
Ben EtheringtonMay 24, 2018
The Words We Don’t Use: On Eviatar Zerubavel’s “Taken for Granted: The Remarkable Power of the Unremarkable”
Dan Friedman parses “Taken for Granted: The Remarkable Power of the Unremarkable” by Eviatar Zerubavel.
Dan FriedmanMay 23, 2018
- Cultural Studies
Cisco and Microsoft — Their Part in My Downfall; or, the Lost Ethics of Higher Ed; or, Maybe, a Sob Story
Toby Miller reflects on his unfortunate experiences in British academia.
Toby MillerMay 10, 2018
Of Fairylands, Borders, and Charmed Circles: On Julio Capó Jr.’s “Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami before 1940”
Carlos Ulises Decena finds a welcome, nuanced portrait of queer history in Julio Capó Jr.’s “Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami before 1940.”
Carlos Ulises DecenaMay 6, 2018
Speaking of the Working Class: On Richard Hoggart
Steven Gotzler on the legacy of Richard Hoggart’s “The Uses of Literacy.”
Steven GotzlerApr 25, 2018
- Cultural Studies
The Dark Side of Nice
D. Berton Emerson on Carrie Tirado Bramen’s “American Niceness: A Cultural History”
D. Berton EmersonApr 22, 2018
- Cultural Studies
- History
Nomads
On Jessica Bruder's "Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century."
Justin Tyler ClarkApr 4, 2018
Getting to the Middle of Nowhere: On Jon K. Lauck’s “From Warm Center to Ragged Edge”
Stephanie Foote navigates “From Warm Center to Ragged Edge: The Erosion of Midwestern Literary and Historical Regionalism, 1920–1965” by Jon K. Lauck.
Stephanie FooteMar 18, 2018
- Cultural Studies
- Literary Criticism