Non-Fiction
What's it about?
Popular media present a vast array of stories about women and men. What impact do these images and ideas have on people’s identities? The new edition of Media, Gender and Identity is a highly readable introduction to the relationship between media and gender identities today. Fully revised and updated, including new case studies and a new chapter, it considers a wide range of research and provides new ways for thinking about the media’s influence on gender and sexuality.
Why do I want to read it?
David Gauntlett discusses movies such as Knocked Up and Spiderman 3, men’s and women’s magazines, TV shows, self-help books, YouTube videos, and more, to show how the media play a role in the shaping of individual self-identities.
Where can I find it?
305.3 GAU in the Non-fiction section of the Library
What's it about?
The publication of Simulacra et Simulation in 1981 marked Jean Baudrillard's first important step toward theorizing the postmodern. Moving away from the Marxist/Freudian approaches that had concerned him earlier, Baudrillard developed in this book a theory of contemporary culture that relies on displacing economic notions of cultural production with notions of cultural expenditure.
Why do I want to read it?
Baudrillard uses the concepts of the simulacra—the copy without an original—and simulation. These terms are crucial to an understanding of the postmodern, to the extent that they address the concept of mass reproduction and reproduceability that characterizes our electronic media culture. Baudrillard's book represents a unique and original effort to rethink cultural theory from the perspective of a new concept of cultural materialism, one that radically redefines postmodern formulations of the body.
Where can I find it?
301 BAU in the Non-fiction section of the Library
What's it about?
One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category 'woman' and continues in this vein with examinations of 'the masculine' and 'the feminine'. Best known however, but also most often misinterpreted, is Butler's concept of gender as a reiterated social performance rather than the expression of a prior reality.
Why do I want to read it?
Thrilling and provocative, few other academic works have roused passions to the same extent.
Where can I find it?
305.3 BUT in the Non-fiction section of the Library
What's it about?
Feminists have long recognized the significance of the media as a site for the expression of - or challenges to - existing constructions of gender. In this broad-ranging analysis, Liesbet van Zoonen explores the ways in which feminist theory and research contribute to the fuller understanding of the multiple roles of the media in the construction of gender in contemporary societies.
Why do I want to read it?
The text initially outlines some major themes in feminist media studies and the ways in which they offer specific models for understanding the media. The author goes on to examine the key questions posed by a gendered approach within communication and cultural studies.
Where can I find it?
302.23 ZOO in the Non-fiction section of the Library
What's it about?
Beginning with a broad survey of feminism's most important themes and concerns, Bell Hooks demystifies contentious concepts and turns apparent ideology into common sense.
Why do I want to read it?
Providing a critical evaluation of the successes and failures of contemporary feminism, she looks at a wide variety of topics including reproductive rights, sexual violence, race, class and work. hooks encourages us to demand alternatives to patriarchal, racist and homophobic culture and thereby to seek out a different future.
Where can I find it?
305.42 HOO in the Non-fiction section of the Library
What's it about?
When Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center was first published in 1984, it was welcomed and praised by feminist thinkers who wanted a new vision. Even so, individual readers frequently found the theory "unsettling" or "provocative."
Why do I want to read it?
Today, the blueprint for feminist movement presented in the book remains as provocative and relevant as ever. Written in Hooks's characteristic direct style, Feminist Theory embodies the hope that feminists can find a common language to spread the word and create a mass, global feminist movement.
Where can I find it?
305.42 HOO in the Non-fiction section of the Library
What's it about?
Paul Gilroy's After Empire - in many ways a sequel to his classic study of race and nation, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack - explores Britain's failure to come to terms with the loss of its empire and pre-eminent global standing.
Why do I want to read it?
A must-read for students of cultural studies, and Britain in the post 9/11 era.
Where can I find it?
305 GIL in the Non-fiction section of the Library
What's it about?
This book attacks the conventional history of the press as a story of progress; offers a critical defence and history of public service broadcasting; provides a myth-busting account of the internet; a subtle account of the impact of social media and explores key debates about the role and politics of the media.
Why do I want to read it?
It has become a standard book on media and other courses: but it has also gone beyond an academic audience to reach a wider public. Hailed as ‘a classic of media history and analysis’ by the Irish Times and a book that has ‘cracked the canon’ by the Times Higher, it has been translated into five languages.
Where can I find it?
302.23 CUR GIL in the Non-fiction section of the Library
What's it about?
Since 1997 Representation has been the go-to textbook for students learning the tools to question and critically analyze institutional and media texts and images. This long-awaited second edition includes updates and refreshes the approaches to representation, signalling key developments in the field; addresses the emergence of new technologies, media formats, politics and theories; includes an entirely new chapter on celebrity culture and reality TV, and; offers new exercises, readings, images and examples for a new generation of students.
Why do I want to read it?
This book provides an indispensable resource for students and teachers in cultural and media studies.
Where can I find it?
306 HAL in the Non-fiction section of the Library