Diffractions – Graduate Journal for the Study of Culture
POPPING THE QUESTION: THE QUESTION OF POPULAR CULTURE
Deadline for article submissions: November 30, 2014
As a concept, the popular – or popular culture for that matter – has never ceased to be debatable and ambivalent. Although it has come to occupy a particular place under the spotlight over the past decades within the broad study of culture, such apparently privileged position has not deprived it of the manifold ambiguities, complexities or misconceptions that have often involved its general understanding (John Storey, 2012; Angela McRobbie, 1994; Andrew Ross, 1989; John Fiske, 1989).
Following its emergence within the context of the processes of industrialization and the changes they brought about, namely in terms of cultural relations and the development of the capitalist market economy, the concept of popular culture was, for a considerable period of time, not only utterly rejected by intellectuals and scholars alike, but also denied any possibility of constituting a serious and valid topic for academic debate. Up until the mid twentieth-century, popular culture was often equated to a poor and simplistic form of entertainment and pleasure, and was even deemed morally and ethically questionable, not to mention aesthetically. However, and particularly after the 1950s, new perspectives would soon alter this perception in very significant ways, especially with the emergence of Cultural Studies and the influence their project had on both sides of the Atlantic (Lawrence Grossberg, 1997). From severe condemnation, popular culture quickly evolved into a discourse of positive reception and celebration, which resulted from critical work developed inside the academia, but also popular demand outside it.
The concept of the popular was then adopted both as an intrinsic feature, and as topic in its own right of artistic creation developed under the sign of pop. From pop art to pop music, a new understanding of culture has been put forth, building from what is embedded in the ambivalence of the popular and its many possibilities of intersection with new artistic forms of expression.
After the first decade of the twenty-first century, popular culture finds itself at a crossroads: has the concept been drained of its meaning because of its overwhelming popularity? After the euphoria around the popular, what afterlife can be expected from it? Should we still be discussing the popular as opposed to high and folk culture? And where and how do pop art forms intersect with the current notion of the popular?
Themes to be addressed by contributors may include but are not restricted to the following:
- Popular Culture in Theory
- Life and Afterlife of Popular Culture
- Popular, Power and Politics
- Popular Culture: Globalization, Centres and Peripheries
- Material Culture
- Popular music studies
- Celebrity culture and Fandom: The Dynamics of Popularity
- Contemporary Cinema and Digital Culture
- 2.0 and Convergence practices
- Youth cultures, Subcultures, Scenes and Tribes
- Retromania, Nostalgia and Authenticity
- Pop and Popular: Overlap, Dissemblance and Divergence
- Popular Culture and the Practices of Everyday Life
- Folklore, Tradition and Preservation
- National Identities and Transnational Circulations
- Cultural memory and popular culture
- Fashion and luxury
- Television and the Seriality of Popular Culture
- Feminism, Postfeminism and Popular Culture
- Popular Culture and Masculinities
- Queering Popular Culture
- Games Culture and New Media
- Graffiti, Street Art and Urban Policies
- Creative Industries and Cultural Economy
We look forward to receiving full articles of no more than 20 A4 pages (not including bibliography) and a short bio of about 150 words by November 30, 2014 at the following address: submissions@diffractions.net. Diffractions accepts submissions in Portuguese, English and Spanish.
DIFFRACTIONS also accepts book reviews that may not be related to the issue’s topic. If you wish to write a book review, feel free to check the books available athttp://www.diffractions.net/books-for-review and contact us at reviews@diffractions.net.
Diffractions is the international, online and peer-reviewed journal of the doctoral program in Culture Studies at the Catholic University of Portugal.
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