Introducing Cultural Studies: A Graphic Guide

Introducing Graphic Guides

by Ziauddin Sardar, Borin Van Loon (Illustrator)

Cultural Studies signals a major academic revolution for the 21st century. But what exactly is it, and how is it applied? It is a discipline that claims not to be a discipline; it is a radical critical approach for understanding racial, national, social and gender identities. "Introducing Cultural Studies" provides an incisive tour through the minefield of this complex subject, charting its origins in Britain and its migration to the USA, Canada, France, Australia and South Asia, examining the ideas of its leading exponents and providing a flavour of its use around the world. Covering the ground from Gramsci to Raymond Williams, postcolonial discourse to the politics of diaspora, feminism to queer theory, technoculture and the media to globalization, it serves as an insightful guide to the essential concepts of this fascinating area of study. It is essential reading for all those concerned with the quickening pulse of old, new and emerging cultures.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cultural Studies, Philosophy, Sociology, Academic, Theory, Cultural

351 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 16, 1994

About the author

Ziauddin Sardar has written or edited 45 books over a period of 30 years, many with his long-time co-author Merryl Wyn Davies. Recent titles include Balti Britain: a Journey Through the British Asian Experience (Granta, 2008); and How Do You Know: Reading Ziauddin Sardar on Islam, Science and Cultural Relations (Pluto, 2006). The first volume of his memoirs is Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim (Granta, 2006). His recent television work includes a 90-minute documentary for the BBC in 2006 called 'Battle for Islam'. Sardar's online work includes a year-long blog on the Qur'an published in 2008 by The Guardian newspaper.
Sardar is a Visiting Professor of Postcolonial Studies in the Department of Arts Policy and Management at City University London and is Editor of the forecasting and planning journal, Futures. He is also a member of the UK Commission on Equality and Human Rights. His journalism appears most often in The Guardian and The Observer, as well as the UK weekly magazine, New Statesman. In the 1980s, he was among the founders of Inquiry, a magazine of ideas and policy focusing on Muslim countries. His early career includes working as a science correspondent for Nature and New Scientist magazines and as a reporter for London Weekend Television.
>>(from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziauddin... )<<
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*You can know more from his own site:
http://www.ziauddinsardar.com/Biograp...

Reviews

[Imane · Rating 4 out of 5]

.i have read this book in my last year at uni and i still go back to it whenever i need to

.simple, very informative and the illustrations used never makes the content feel bland or boring

[R1CEC4KE · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very brief (and therefore far from comprehensive) yet wide-spanning introduction. Some personal opinion from the author seeps through but heck, what is this field without being rooted in identity and opinion (and how each is formed?)

The conclusion is very locked in its time for the field and doesn't consider (or actively ignores) Adorno or Horkheimer's contributions to the importance of critical analysis of mass culture, hence being generally opposed to the analysis of "trash".

Granted, this is about Culture Studies, while my own Cultural Analysis bachelor is founded more within the Dutch school instead of the English school, so my expectations for a more nuanced take from this book might be misplaced.

It's a cute book, made me laugh, and wasn't explicitly inaccurate or misleading at any point. The misprint of Edward Said on page 109 earns it an arbitrary bonus point

[Lit Bug (Foram) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A succinct introductory guide to the vast complexities of the field called Cultural Studies. tracing its roots from Britain to today's Western nations, it covers ground from my ever-favorite Gramsci to Raymond Williams, examines postcolonial discourse going on to the politics of diaspora, charts its way through feminism, queer studies and comments on digitization and globalization - all perfect sites for the examination of cultural studies. An insightful guide, provides essential concepts that form the foundation to this amazing field of study. Recommended for those who like to examine current history from a cultural point of view.

[muthuvel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Culture must be understood through the experiences and contributions of the winners and losers. We cannot impose judgements where “only the successful are remembered”, while “the blind alleys, the lost causes, and the losers themselves are forgotten”.

A brief essence of British, Canadian, American, French, Oriental, Indian, South Asian, Feminist, Queer, Media, Globalized and other variations in this unconventional field of studies.

[Castles · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like this book admits, and as the field of cultural studies, it’s a mish-mash of several different topics bonded together in an attempt to form a legitimate academic field which nobody’s sure what’s its properties.

[Abhidev H M · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Cultural studies started as a dissenting intellectual tradition outside academia, dedicated to exposing power in all its cultural forms. But it has now become a discipline and a part of the academic establishment and its power structure."

[Deki Napolju · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the less successful of the Introducing series, perhaps due to the breadth of the subject it's attempting to summarise. Does succeed in proving that Cultural Studies is everything, nothing and constantly subject to mutation. I'm not sure if there has been a revised edition but reading a c.1997 work on CS in 2020 suggests one is due.

[Sally Sugarman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I knew something about Cultural Studies before reading this book, my knowledge and insights were greatly expanded. I wanted to go back to my reading of Williams and Thompson and Stuart Hall because the book raised fresh questions for me. The other major impact of the book was learning about cultural studies in other countries. Starting in Great Britain, not surprisingly cultural studies was changed by each of the countries that adopted some of the issues and strategies of investigating their own cultures. Not only did I want to read the theorists from the different cultures, but I wanted to watch the films and read the books that were from these different countries and that reflected their particular cultures. As a student of popular and media culture, I have read bell hooks and Henry Louis Gates, Jr. but probably not enough. Queer theory, feminist studies, black culture were also addressed as was diaspora space which I had never thought of in the way in which they presented it. As always the graphics engaged the reader and emphasized the points visually that were being made in the text. The suggested reading list was most exciting to contemplate.

[James Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather complex book about a subject that can be really interesting and that is the study of the cultures of nations. The study of a culture basically requires a study of a lot of areas of the culture including its past, it's present, it's economy, religion, groups and subgroups, its belief systems and a host of other topics.

It also means a person needs to learn about a culture's law, its customs, its art and even its entertainment systems.

The book is rather complicated and sometimes seems to get lost in its own attempt to define terms. One thing it does cover is the mass media and how that makes cultures somewhat easier to study than before.

I think there could have been more about exactly why we should know about other cultures and just what kinds of problems have happened in the past (and present) when a people and its leaders don't take the time to try to find out basically just where other people and natio

[Bernie Gourley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Culture is a deep and fascinating topic, but a dirty little secret of academia is that there are two words used to signal subjects and courses for the not-so-bright kids: one is “Studies” and the other is “for.” (As in “Math FOR Economists,” a course that I once took that was – I’m sure of it – greatly dumbed down from what Math majors learned. “Economics FOR Business Majors” is a more widely known example; it’s Economics for people who are afraid of equations and who can’t figure out which way is up on a supply and demand curve.) So, I wasn’t sure what to expect from a guide to “Cultural Studies,” as opposed to a book about, say, Cultural Anthropology, which I believe is the big-boy pants version of the discipline under discussion.

The author is forthright that cultural studies is a bit amorphous and that it struggles to find its place amid the established disciplines that touch upon culture from varying perspectives (i.e. psychology, philosophy, anthropology, etc.) The book begins before there was a “Cultural Studies,” per se, discussing competing definitions of culture and related precursor disciplines, e.g. semiotics. It then describes the evolution of the subject and its varied points of focus and ideas across its major epicenters: Europe, North America, Australia, and South Asia. It investigates colonization and its influence on indigenous cultures, and it looks at how a range of concepts intersect with culture, including: science, technology, race, gender, sexuality, and media. It concludes by reflecting on globalization and the discontents who wish to end or replace this homogenizing force.

I did learn quite a few new things from this book, and if you’re looking to understand culture as a landscape of academic study, it’s worth having a look at it.

[Adam Kovynia]

I picked up a copy of this book "Introducing Cultural Studies: A Graphic Guide. (it's a small book that can fit in your pocket, at a goodwill or savers store for only a dollar and because it looked very interesting with all the topics inside and comic book style illustrations I thought I would enjoy it and learn some things. I found that it was more complex than I thought it would be in the way that it was written. there is not a lot of writing but each bit of writing gets very complex like a philosophy book and most of the people in the book are not going to be very familiar to most people especially an American in their 20s or 30s which is OK but I just wanted to make note of that. It's a book from the UK so a lot of it deals with things from the UK and the connection with India which is interesting to me. Some American figures are in the book also such as Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates. For me it's valuable because it sparks an interest in looking up and studying topics in the book in my own way. for example, watching a video on the history of England and it's relationship with other countries.

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a short little book that provides a clear and concise introduction to a surprisingly complex topic, Cultural Studies. It's heavily political, exploring the evolution of the subject throughout the 20th century and looking at different subjects included within it, such as Structuralism, class division, gender, Marxism, and politics. The book is UK-centric but has some international perspectives.

It offers something of a whistle-stop tour and because the subject matter is so complex it could do with slowing down at times for greater elucidation, but then it is only meant as a brief introduction. A lengthy further reading section at the end is invaluable. The only thing I didn't like were the poorly-drawn illustrations, which could have been a lot better.

[Emily Frazier-Rath · Rating 3 out of 5]

Needs to be updated for sure. Some good information, especially in the first half (about the motivations and challenges of British Cultural Studies), but I rolled my eyes about a thousand times in the parts about feminist contributions to Cultural Studies. Seriously? The only thing you can say about it explicitly is Stuart Hall's comment about feminism "shitting all over the field?" UGH. Also, can we please have an introduction to a topic that does not include a reliance on the "founding father" narrative?

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good primer for those wanting to know more about cultural studies. Although this is not an easy book to get through, there are some quite complex ideas and theories involved and a knowledge of sociology, pshychology, politics etc. is helpful.

I would think that this would help an undergraduate student to at least dip their toes into what cultural studies is all about.

[Talita]

So surface-level to the point of being often incomprehensible, more like a catalogue of various things related to the broad field of Cultural Studies, that the reader can then choose to look up more in-depth. I enjoyed reading it in a similar way to how I enjoy scrolling Twitter. The illustrations are very pleasing, like very elite clip art.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Con una narración fluida y caricaturas entretenidas, este libro es una ligera introducción a un tema que, de otra forma, puede resultar muy pesado y aburrido. Sin embargo, es importante remarcar que no se profundiza sobre ningún tema, por la intención de la lectura, que es presentar una idea general sobre este concepto.

[75338 · Rating 4 out of 5]

good not great

Good overview of a field that seems needlessly navel gazing-ish but still a subject that needs scientific study with a lot of work to do cross culturally and globally, comparatively between different regions, countries, and over internal fractures inside state and political entities.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't be fooled by the title, this is quite a dense book, which packs in a lot of information about the development and future of Cultural Studies. I think the illustrations are pretty horrible actually, and don't add much to the experience of reading it.

[Owen M. McKinney · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's just not enough! But too much to handle.

There is not enough to create a synthesis of the information for each subject covered, and there are far too many topics addressed in this short volume. It's just not enough, but too much! Go figure.

[Ram S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theoretical and Practical

The book takes its pains to establish a long winded theoretical basis and follows up with cross geographical evolution of the discipline through the work of multiple authors.

[The Adaptable Educator]

More please, I am all in

Loved this overview!!! It touched on so many current issues and flowed seamlessly from one to the next. My mind is swimming in contemplation! Loved this book!

[Emaa ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting book, it gives you a brief introduction to all the topics related to cultural studies, which is something that is very interesting and relevant. I really enjoyed reading it & I definitely recommend reading it.

[EJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's got illustrations, for Godssakes! *_*
The best "theory" book I've read in a long long time.

[Vijaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this as a summary, excited to start some of the recommended readings.

[Laura-leigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gets very complex very quickly but worth the effort.

[Courtney (Pirogoeth) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am looking forward to assigning parts of thus to my undergrads! A very useful introduction to the broad definition of Cultural studies.

[Ishika Tiwari · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a basic guide on Cultural Studies for visually oriented readers, this makes sense.

[Andrew Noselli · Rating 3 out of 5]

The section on Spivak coincided with my reading of Indian mythology's influence on Greek thinkers in Ernst Cassirer's "Logic of Symbolic Forms." I read these text simultaneously today.

[Akbota]

I want to read this book

[Ayten]

Fine