KEYWORDS FOR AMERICAN CULTURAL STUDIES
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Edited by
Bruce Burgett
Forthcoming in cloth and paperback
from New York University Press in Fall 2007 (to
pre-order
from amazon.com, click
here)
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According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a “keyword” is “a word that is of great importance or significance.” On the web, "keywords" organize vast quantities of complex information. Keywords for American Cultural Studies offers these features and more to its readers, providing indispensable meditations on terms and concepts used in cultural studies, American studies, and beyond.
Collaborative in design and
execution, Keywords collects
sixty-four new essays from
interdisciplinary scholars, each on a single term such as “America,”
“body,” “ethnicity,” and “religion.” Alongside “community,”
“immigration,” "queer," and many others, these words are the nodal
points in many of today’s most dynamic and vexed discussions of
political and social life, both inside and outside of the
academy.
Here are essays by scholars working
in literary studies and political economy, cultural anthropology and
ethnic studies, African American history and performance studies,
gender studies and political theory. Lauren Berlant writes on
“citizenship,” Micaela di Leonardo on "city," Eric Lott on “class,”
Brent Hayes Edwards on “diaspora,” Judith Halberstam on “gender,” Lisa
Lowe on “globalization,” Timothy Mitchell on “economy.” Christopher
Newfield on “corporation,” Robert Warrior on “Indian,” Nikhil Pal Singh
on “liberalism,” Vijay Prashad on “orientalism,” Walter Johnson on
“slavery.”
Some entries are explicitly
argumentative; others are more descriptive. Throughout, readers
will find clear, challenging, critically engaged thinking and
writing. Keywords for American
Cultural Studies provides an
accessible A to Z survey of prevailing academic buzzwords, and a
flexible tool for carving out new areas of inquiry. It is equally
useful for college students who are trying to understand what their
professors are talking about, for general readers who want to know
what’s new in scholarly research, and for professors who just want to
keep up.
| TABLE
OF CONTENTS |
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| Keywords:
An Introduction by Bruce
Burgett & Glenn Hendler 1. Abolition by Robert Fanuzzi 2. Aesthetics by Russ Castronovo 3. African by Kevin Gaines 4. America by Kirsten Silva Gruesz 5. Asian by Jack Tchen 6. Body by Eva Cherniavsky 7. Border by Mary Pat Brady 8. Capitalism by David F. Ruccio 9. Citizenship by Lauren Berlant 10. City by Micaela di Leonardo 11. Civilization by David Shields 12. Class by Eric Lott 13. Colonial by David Kazanjian 14. Community by Miranda Joseph 15. Contract by Amy Dru Stanley 16. Coolie by Moon-Ho Jung 17. Corporation by Christopher Newfield 18. Culture by George Yudice 19. Democracy by Fred Moten 20. Dialect by Shelley Fisher Fishkin 21. Diaspora by Brent Hayes Edwards 22. Disability by Kanta Kochhar-Lindgren 23. Domestic by Rosemary Marangoly George 24. Economy by Tim Mitchell 25. Empire by Shelley Streeby 26. Environment by Vermonja Alston 27. Ethnicity by Henry Yu 28. Exceptionalism by Donald Pease 29. Family by Carla Peterson 30. Gender by Judith Halberstam 31. Globalization by Lisa Lowe |
32. Identity by Carla Kaplan 33. Immigration by Eithne Luibhéid 34. Indian by Robert Warrior 35. Interiority by Christopher Castiglia 36. Internment by Caroline Chung Simpson 37. Liberalism by Nikhil Pal Singh 38. Literature by Sandra M. Gustafson 39. Market by Meredith McGill 40. Marriage by Beth Freeman 41. Mestizo/a by Curtis Marez 42. Modern by Chandan Reddy 43. Nation by Alys Weinbaum 44. Naturalization by Priscilla Wald 45. Orientalism by Vijay Prashad 46. Performance by Susan Manning 47. Property by Grace Hong 48. Public by Bruce Robbins 49. Queer by Siobhan Somerville 50. Race by Roderick A. Ferguson 51. Reform by Susan M. Ryan 52. Region by Sandra Zagarell 53. Religion by Janet R. Jakobsen 54. Science by Laura Briggs 55. Secularism by Michael Warner 56. Sentiment by June Howard 57. Sex by Bruce Burgett 58. Slavery by Walter Johnson 59. Society by Glenn Hendler 60. South by Matthew Guterl 61. State by Paul Thomas 62. War by Susan Jeffords 63. West by Krista Comer 64. White by Pamela Perry |
Keywords for American Cultural Studies can and should be used as an essential handbook, but it really is more like a treasury of the intellect, bulging with sharp insights and lasting revelations.
A crucial collection that's sure to spark discussion and debate. Filled with lively and incisive contributions from leading scholars in the field, Keywords for American Cultural Studies will serve as a touchstone for American Studies and related fields for years to come.