[csaa-forum] Seminars in the ACT

[Jennifer Webb]

Visiting Professor Jim McGuigan, Professor of Cultural Analysis at
Loughborough University, UK, will give two seminars at the University of
Canberra in March. All welcome to attend.

The first, A COMMUNITY OF COMMUNITIES
will be held in room 9C25 on March 10 at 3:30pm (drinks to follow)
(Enquiries: Ann Willis, 02 62012035 or email: Ann.Willis at canberra.edu.au)
 
ABSTRACT:
This paper draws connections between cultural studies as an
interdisciplinary field and the emergence of 'cool capitalism'. Drawing on
the work of Thomas Frank amongst others, a distinct affinity is identified
between the one-dimensional emphasis on consumption in a great deal of
cultural studies research and the phemonenon of cool capitalism, which
amounts to a decline and incorporation of dissent in contemporary culture
and society The paper is not so much a critique of cultural studies itself
as of a particular trajectory in the field that has, arguably, been dominant
in recent years. There are, however, alternative trajectories to it.
 
 
The second, CULTURAL STUDIES AND COOL CAPITALISM
will be in the Council Room (Bldg 1) on March 11 at 3:30pm (drinks to
follow)
(Enquiries:  Jen Webb, 02 62012321 or email: Jennifer.Webb at canberra.edu.au)
 
ABSTRACT:
This paper draws connections between cultural studies as an
interdisciplinary field and the emergence of 'cool capitalism'. Drawing on
the work of Thomas Frank amongst others, a distinct affinity is identified
between the one-dimensional emphasis on consumption in a great deal of
cultural studies research and the phenomenon of cool capitalism, which
amounts to a decline and incorporation of dissent in contemporary culture
and society The paper is not so much a critique of cultural studies itself
as of a particular trajectory in the field that has, arguably, been dominant
in recent years. There are, however, alternative trajectories to it.
 

BIO NOTES:
After studying at the Universities of Bradford, Leeds and Leicester, Jim
McGuigan worked as a research officer at the Arts Council and as a script
editor in BBC TV¹s Drama (Plays) Department. His research at the Arts
Council was published in 1981 as Writers and the Arts, which immediately
attracted a great deal of media attention and public debate.
 
Jim¹s interests are in critical social theory and cultural studies,
sometimes with a policy orientation. He recently conducted an empirical
research project on the Millennium Dome, funded by the Arts and Humanities
Research Board. He has published a number of books, his best known being
Cultural Populism, which came out in 1992. Since then, he has published
Cultural Methodologies (1997), Culture and the Public Sphere (1996),
Modernity and Postmodern Culture (1999), and Rethinking Cultural Policy
(2004); and he has co-edited Studying Culture (1993 & 1997) with Ann Gray
and Technocities (1999) with John Downey. Jim has also published in numerous
journals, including Cultural Studies, the Sociological Review and Sociology.
He is on the editorial boards of Cultural Studies, Critical Methodologies
and the International Journal of Cultural Policy.
 

-- 
Assoc Prof Jen Webb
School of Creative Communication
University of Canberra
ACT 2601
telephone:  +61 (0)2 6201 2321
fax:        +61 (0)2 6201 5300