Libros

Media, Margins and Popular Culture is a collection from established and emerging scholars in Media and Cultural Studies and the Social Sciences, and focuses on marginalised voices and representations; socially marginalised, marginalised in media and media scholarship. The book spans five continents and is divided into sections on gender, sexuality, nation, disability, disciplinary boundaries, youth and age. It covers media forms from Flickr to film. Chapters look at the structural and ideological construction of marginality in state and media producer censorship (in Singapore) and media scholarship (Sherlock Holmes and its adaptations). Authors consider; representations of social marginality, e.g. people with dementia; artistic and self-fashioning marginality, from Quentin Crisp to tattoo artists online; and the engagement of marginal users in media spaces (fathers on Mumsnet). This book takes a fresh look at the ideological work of constructing and confronting marginality in media, from Dalits ('untouchables') in Indian cinema to neuro-diverse (autism spectrum) audience interpretations of Doctor Who.

In 2105, a multinational corporation, East African Breweries Ltd. (EABL), launched a traditional dance competition in Uganda, the Senator National Cultural Extravaganza. Across the country, local groups were called upon to perform their regional traditional dance styles, and also to compose and perform original songs and dances in praise of Senator Extra Lager, a brand of beer EABL designed specifically for poor rural markets. David G. Pier offers an ethnographic study of the Senator Extravaganza, and the performers, marketers, and other actors who were involved in it. Pier illustrates the event as part of a broader moment in Ugandan and African public culture – one in which marketing is playing an increasingly dominant role. He considers how geographical images of the traditional "village" and the cosmopolitan "town" are being artistically renewed and revised within contemporary economic, political, and technological articulations.

This book deals with the often-neglected link between indigenous languages, the media and democracy in Africa. It explores the politics associated with the use or lack of use of indigenous languages in Africa. Language enables both political and cultural expression as well as identity formation. The book recognizes that indeed the media play a key amplifying or 'publicizing' role without which modern-day expression, public participation and ultimately democracy would be inconceivable. It recognises that the majority of African nations today have, at the formal level, opened up to a multiplicity of media channels and to a variety of political views. However, whether this plurality equals diversity in different African contexts remains a matter for more specific scrutiny. Mirroring the argument of the Goldsmith Media Group, the authors argue that one must make a distinction between access that enables consumption as opposed to access that enables plurality and diversity.