Description
University of Wisconsin Press Preview 2001 Plus 1997 Edition by Browne & Fishwick
To some people the realization of the approach of a new millenium is staggering, to others promising, to all suggestive of a new beginning, of new possibilities.In this new age, what are the possibilities of cultural studies in general and of popular culture studies in particular? Surely there is a new page turned on which we may key in new attitudes toward democratic studies and potentially new achievements. The United States and the world are driving toward more individual freedoms and rights and more forceful assertions of those rights. With those assertions must come more awareness and more responsibility if the resulting melee is not to cause chaos. The proper study of a democratic world is the institutions of democracy, else democracy might slide into chaos or totalitarianism. An uninformed democracy is a powerful engine driving hard toward an unsighted goal.The educational opportunities of the new millennium are endless if our efforts are informed. If not, they will be catalogs of failures or half-successes. The essays in this collection, written by some of the leading scholars in Popular Culture Studies, turn the page on the new millennium to see what are the directions of approach and the opportunities to be gained in recognition of the compelling need for studies in everyday cultures. These essays help chart the course for themes and directions of such studies into the new world that is waiting to be born. Their value is indispensable.