In Media Res
Race, Identity, and Pop Culture in the Twenty-First Century
Edited by James Braxton Peterson
Not available to order
Publication date:
18 December 2014Length of book:
318 pagesPublisher
Bucknell University PressISBN-13: 9781611486506
In Media Res is a manifold collection that reflects the intersectional qualities of university programming in the twenty-first century. Taking race, gender, and popular culture as its central thematic subjects, the volume collects academic essays, speeches, poems, and creative works that critically engage a wide range of issues, including American imperialism, racial and gender discrimination, the globalization of culture, and the limitations of our new multimedia world. This diverse assortment of works by scholars, activists, and artists models the complex ways that we must engage university students, faculty, staff, and administration in a moment where so many of us are confounded by the “in medias res” nature of our interface with the world in the current moment. Featuring contributions from Imani Perry, Michael Eric Dyson, Suheir Hammad, John Jennings, and Adam Mansbach, In Media Res is a primer for academic inquiry into popular culture; American studies; critical media literacy; women, gender, and sexuality studies; and Africana studies.
With this collection, James Braxton Peterson brings together an amazing group of scholars, who collectively grapple with issues of race, identity, media, and popular culture. In Media Res embodies a scholarly cypher, whereupon each brilliant contribution elevates the other, challenging each of us to step up our game, to expand the intellectual horizons, and to push the scholarly conversation toward real change. Instructive and engaging, this work bridges the scholarly and educational missions, the traditions of literary theory and hip-hop, and the cultural productions and ongoing struggles for inclusion, each of which are transforming America’s colleges and universities in profound ways.