Introducing Cultural Studies
Learning through Practice
- David Walton - University of Murcia, Spain
"An outstanding entry level text aimed at those with little or no cultural studies knowledge... Innovative, creative and clever."
- Times Higher Education
"The ideal textbook for FE and first year HE cultural studies students. Its quality and character allow the reader to ‘feel’ the enthusiasm of its author which in turn becomes infectious, instilling in the reader a genuine sense of ebullient perturbation."
- Art/Design/Media, The Higher Education Authority
An introduction to the practice of cultural studies, this book is ideal for undergraduate courses. Full of practical exercises that will get students thinking and writing about the issues they encounter, this book offers its readers the conceptual tools to practice cultural analysis for themselves. There are heuristics to help students prepare and write projects, and the book provides plenty of examples to help students develop their own ideas.
Written in a creative, playful and witty style, this book:
- Links key concepts to the key theorists of cultural studies.
- Includes a wide range of references of popular cultural forms.
- Emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of cultural studies.
- Includes pedagogical features, such as dialogues, graphs, images and recommended readings.
- The book's skills-based approach enables students to develop their creative skills, and shows students how to improve their powers of analysis generally.
Walton's book is essential reading for both undergraduates and postgraduates. It takes the foundationsl authors of the field and applies them to contemporary examples, which is important in a subject so highly theorised. Unfortunately, at the moment, our Department is moving away from cultural studies and more into the realm of glocal media studies, and therefore we are not able to adopt it at present.
A really useful text that presents complex ideas in an engaging and accessible format.
We are currently reconsidering our Cultural Studies curriculum. We are therefore looking at different textbooks to see which ones fit our purpose.
This book's slant toward British cultural studies should be taken into account when considering adoption. The heuristic thinking and practice undertone of the entire text is extremely valuable, though it isn't balanced by deep critical analysis.
