Review: Rainer Winter & Lothar Mikos (Eds.) (2001). Die Fabrikation des Populären. Der John-Fiske-Reader [The Production of the Popular: The John Fiske Reader] / Udo Göttlich, Lothar Mikos & Rainer Winter (Eds.) (2001). Die Werkzeugkiste der Cultural Studies. Perspektiven, Anschlüsse und Interventionen [The Cultural Studies Toolbox: Perspectives, Connections and Interventions]

Abstract

The first volume of the Cultural Studies series—edited by Rainer WINTER and Lothar MIKOS—is comprised of the most important essays of popular culture researcher John FISKE. The author has analyzed the polysemy and popularity of different cultural phenomena such as music videos by Madonna, the television series "Hart to Hart," and the media events surrounding O.J. Simpson. This anthology selectively introduces the reader to the work of FISKE, and deals with Cultural Studies as methods of analyzing social and socio-cultural phenomena. The essence and substance of FISKE's observations and analyses can be seen in the accentuation of a broadly defined concept of culture and in the operationalization and re-evaluation of everyday and popular culture. In this context, culture is defined as that which encompasses all of life, and consists of several changing, competing and conflicting patterns of sense and meaning. The second volume, edited by Udo GÖTTLICH, Lothar MIKOS and Rainer WINTER, consists of a selection of essays which outline the various forms of the Cultural Studies project, its reception in Germany and the interfaces—points of connection, parallels and differences—with other disciplines. The contributions in this book impressively demonstrate the relevance and the possibilities of the Cultural Studies approach to connect ethnographic, semiotic and hermeneutic methods across disciplinary boundaries. The essays also show how Cultural Studies continuously describe and question everyday and popular culture not only of the masses, but also of subgroups. The anthology offers the reader the possibility of obtaining an interesting view of the historical and international branches of this research tradition. This publication makes a promising contribution to the establishment of the Cultural Studies approach in German-speaking countries. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0303132