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Anglo-American Cultural Studies UTB basics 3125 Anglo-American Cultural Studies Bearbeitet von Dr. Jody Skinner 1. Aufl. 2009. Taschenbuch. 336 S. Paperback ISBN 978 3 8252 3125 5 Format (B x L): 15 x 21,5 cm Weitere Fachgebiete > Philosophie, Wissenschaftstheorie, Informationswissenschaft > Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft | Kulturstudien > Kulturwissenschaften: Allgemeines und Interdisziplinäres Zu Inhaltsverzeichnis schnell und portofrei erhältlich bei Die Online-Fachbuchhandlung beck-shop.de ist spezialisiert auf Fachbücher, insbesondere Recht, Steuern und Wirtschaft. Im Sortiment finden Sie alle Medien (Bücher, Zeitschriften, CDs, eBooks, etc.) aller Verlage. Ergänzt wird das Programm durch Services wie Neuerscheinungsdienst oder Zusammenstellungen von Büchern zu Sonderpreisen. Der Shop führt mehr als 8 Millionen Produkte. @E:OIA?DD;H 7d]be# 7c[h_YWd 9kbjkhWb IjkZ_[i 7$<H7D9A; 54")'(+ ;_d[7hX[_ji][c[_diY^W\jZ[hL[hbW][ "yHLAU6ERLAGÀ+yLNÀ7EIMARÀ7IEN 6ERLAG"ARBARA"UDRICHÀ/PLADENÀ&ARMINGTON(ILLS FACULTASWUVÀ7IEN 7ILHELM&INKÀ-~NCHEN !&RANCKE6ERLAGÀ4~BINGENUND"ASEL (AUPT6ERLAGÀ"ERNÀ3TUTTGARTÀ7IEN *ULIUS+LINKHARDT6ERLAGSBUCHHANDLUNGÀ"AD(EILBRUNN ,UCIUS,UCIUS6ERLAGSGESELLSCHAFTÀ3TUTTGART -OHR3IEBECKÀ4~BINGEN /RELL&~SSLI6ERLAGÀ:~RICH %RNST2EINHARDT6ERLAGÀ-~NCHENÀ"ASEL &ERDINAND3CHyNINGHÀ0ADERBORNÀ-~NCHENÀ7IENÀ:~RICH %UGEN5LMER6ERLAGÀ3TUTTGART 56+6ERLAGSGESELLSCHAFTÀ+ONSTANZ 6ANDENHOECK2UPRECHTÀ'yTTINGEN VDF(OCHSCHULVERLAG!'ANDER%4(:~RICH +0%:4,*//&3 7d]be#7c[h_YWd 9kbjkhWbIjkZ_[i "'SBODLF7FSMBH5CJOHFOVOE#BTFM Jody Skinner lehrt angloamerikanische Landes- und Kulturwissenschaft an der Uni- versität Koblenz. Abbildungen Umschlaginnenseite: United Kingdom Map: Teleatlas/EU © European Communities, 1995– 2009; US Map: National Atlas of the United States. Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar. © 2009 · Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG Dischingerweg 5 · D-72070 Tübingen ISBN 978-3-7720-8283-2 Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Gedruckt auf chlorfrei gebleichtem und säurefreiem Werkdruckpapier. Internet: http://www.francke.de E-Mail: [email protected] Einbandgestaltung: Atelier Reichert, Stuttgart Satz: Informationsdesign D. Fratzke, Kirchentellinsfurt Druck und Bindung: CPI – Ebner & Spiegel, Ulm Printed in Germany ISBN 978-3-8252-3125-5 (UTB-Bestellnummer) V Contents Introduction . 1 Part I: Specific Topics in Anglo-American Area Studies . 5 1 The Where (geography) . 6 2 The When (history) . 31 3 The ABCs of British and American Life (special issues) . Ϝ utb-mehr-wissen.de 4 Uniform-ity and Plural-ity (education) . 67 5 Queendom and Republicracy (political life) . 87 6 The Pound Stops Here for a Commonwealth for All? (economics and international relations) . 108 7 Who, Where From, and Where To (minorities and immigration) . 129 8 Weddings, Baptisms, and Funerals in The City on the Hill (religion) . 156 9 From National Parks to Natural Disasters (environmental concerns) . 184 10 Paper, Waves, and Bytes (media) . Ϝ utb-mehr-wissen.de 11 Bread and Circuses (the arts, leisure time activities and sports, food). 201 Part II: Ways of Looking at Anglo-American Cultural Studies . 227 12 Identity: Who’s the Us, Who’s the Them? . 229 13 Power: Those Who Got It and Those That Ain’t . 242 14 Gender: Wo-Men . 256 15 New Media Was, Is, and Always Will Be the Message?. 270 16 Culture with a Big “C” and with a Little “c” in Anglo-American Cultural Studies . 283 VI Contents Conclusion . 307 Recommendations for Further Reading (a partly annotated bibliography) . 312 Index . 319 List of Illustrations . 329 Very special thanks go to three very special readers of the drafts of this book. Susanne Fischer combined encouragement and close reading to become more than just the perfect copy editor. Beate Körner inspired me with her astute critical eye and her voracious curiosity. Edward Martin generously provided ex- pert advice based on his innate love for language and his me- ticulous attention to detail. This book is dedicated to my amazing students of the past and the present… … für Robo − ohne Dich hätte ich es nie geschafft. 1 Introduction Let’s begin this introduction with a few words about the title of both US and UK? our book. I use Anglo-American as an adjective to refer to both the United Kingdom and the United States. Why cover both the UK and the US? Especially since you can often just skim the sur- face in a book of this size? It’s always a question of what’s better: being able to cover a lot more by skimming the surface like a surfer or diving into the waves like a deep sea diver but at the cost of not seeing enough of the whole. I hope you’ll find it sat- isfying to see more of the surface and then use this UTB Basics book as a springboard to take your deep sea dives in places that you hadn’t thought of before. Through comparison I think we can gain more interesting insights than just by covering one country. Covering American Studies alone would leave out the interesting comparisons with Britain, which is closer to Germany and part of the European Union . Covering British Studies alone would leave out America, which, for better or worse, is a force to be reckoned with. Ameri- can culture in the broadest possible sense can be seen as a sym- bol of freedom, as a monstrous threat, or as a glorious promise, but you would probably need less energy to try to understand America than to try to ignore it. And there are unfortunately no introductory books currently in print on American issues writ- ten in English especially for German university students. I’ve written this book for different audiences. If you’re pursu- intended audiences ing a degree in English and are taking courses where information about the United Kingdom and the United States is either taught or is presupposed, you can read any of the chapters in Part I for an overview, which you’ll hopefully find entertaining and will help you prepare for examinations on topics about American and British life. I’m also writing for interested people with a German back- ground who want to understand aspects of American and British 2 Introduction life that they find puzzling. I assume that you’re not interested in reading a tourist guide that only emphasizes positive things about both countries. While I hope that my enthusiasm is conta- gious, I’ll also try to encourage you to develop a critical perspec- tive with the goal of a deeper understanding of things American and things British. cultural studies And what about the Cultural Studies part of the title? The sub- ject called “cultural studies” has become very popular in publish- ing, teaching, and in research at universities in Britain and in the US since the 1960s and now too in other parts of the world. In Part II we’ll be looking at some of the same information covered in Part I from a different perspective, giving you the chance not only to review the “facts” but also to see how newer ways of look- ing at culture have changed our attitude towards these “facts.” In Part II we’ll be seeing how key words like “identity” and “power ” and “gender ” can lend a new light to things British and Ameri- can. I hope that students doing degrees in English or sociology at German universities will find Part II of our book useful as a springboard to dive into the depths of cultural studies. America? A few words about terminology. You’ll notice that I often refer to the United States either informally as the US (without the pe- riods) or as America. When I use the term America to refer to the United States, I’m of course aware that the United States makes up only about a third of the area of the continent of North Amer- ica. Even noting that almost 75 % of the population of the entire continent lives in the United States wouldn’t justify ignoring Canada and Mexico. Perhaps another English noun will gradu- ally come to be used as a substitute for America in the meaning of the United States. Or perhaps if Spanish continues to gain in importance, a new term will come into existence that will clearly indicate the US without perhaps offending Latin Americans. Britain? The terminology connected with Britain is so complicated that it deserves its own chapter as you’ll see in just a few pages. But for now I’ll just say that I use Britain to refer to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. You’ll perhaps be surprised about the style of writing, which, me while perhaps startlingly informal in comparison to academic books in Germany , is actually not so uncommon at all in the Anglo-American academic world. Perhaps you’re used to read- ing academic books in German in which the author is invisible Introduction 3 and the reader is not addressed. Academic writing in the US and in Britain often involves the first person. The author chooses the material he or she thinks is relevant and important. This choice is always partly subjective. Not using “I” wouldn’t make the choice any more objective. And since subjectivity and iden- tity play a very important role in cultural studies, I’ve taken the liberty of making my identity more explicit than you may have expected for reasons that I hope to make clearer in the second part of the book. You’ll have also noticed that I address you the reader in the you 2nd person. By addressing you directly I hope to encourage a dialogue that on the pages of this book must remain one-sided but can become a true dialogue on the companion website at utb-mehr-wissen.de.
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