Cultural Studies and Beyond: Fragments of Empire

Cultural Studies and Beyondtraces the origins, growth and diffusion of Cultural Studies, inside Britain, the United States, Canada and Australia. The book looks at the origins of Cultural Studies in the early years of theNew Left Reviewand the Adult Education movements, and introduces the central theoretical issues and key personalities over a near forty year span, beginning in 1956. Ioan Davies argues that Cultural Studies, part social movement and part interdisciplinary studies, emerged and developed in resistance to established definitions of culture. He shows that in so doing, it drew on traditions (in particular those deriving from a reading of Marx) inside and outside Britain that articulated this resistance. The debates about Englishness, gender, race, and difference are covered as well as the love-hate engagements with aesthetics and popular culture. Extensively researched, wide-ranging and lively, this book will be essential reading for both studentsand teachers of Cultural Studies, and for all those seeking to understand the recent rapid transformations in the Culture of the West.