Description
In the context of the growing diversity of contemporary societies and the central importance of the electronic media, the place of popular culture in the school curriculum has become an increasingly controversial political issue. Based on in-depth research in an ethnically mixed, working-class secondary school, Cultural Studies Goes to School is concerned with the relationships between young people's involvement in popular culture outside school and their experiences of media education within the formal school curriculum. The first part of the book provides a detailed analysis of students' readings and uses of popular media, ranging from computer games and soap operas to comics and rap music. It offers a further challenge to received notions of young people as passive victims of ideological manipulation by the media and develops a social theory of reading that acknowledges the complex roles of gender, race and social class. The second part describes a number of classroom projects involving both critical and practical aspects of media education. Through analysis of students' work in a range of media, including photography, video and print, the authors develop a challenging theory of learning about popular culture and its place in the school curriculum. This book offers an exciting and accessible account of young people reading and making popular culture, which challenges many of the political claims and received wisdoms of academic Cultural Studies.
Table of Contents
List of Figures, Acknowledgments, Series Editor’s Introduction, Chapter 1 Introduction: Reading and Teaching Popular Media, Part 1 Reading and Writing, Chapter 2 Making Sense of the Media: From Reading to Culture, Chapter 3 A Boy’s Own Story: Writing Masculine Genres, Chapter 4 Hardcore Rappin’: Popular Music, Identity and Critical Discourse, Chapter 5 ‘The “Me” in the Picture is Not “Me’”: Photography as Writing, Chapter 6 Reading Audiences: The Subjective and the Social, Part 2 Teaching and Learning Chapter 7 Intervening in Culture: Media Studies, English and the Response to ‘Mass’ Culture, Chapter 8 In Other Words: Evaluation, Writing and Reflection, Chapter 9 Going Critical: The Development of Critical Discourse, Chapter 10 Solving the Theoretical Problems?: Positive Images and Practical Work, Chapter 11 Conclusion: Dialogues with the Future, References, Index
