Yuya Kiuchi – författare

Walk through any major or minor league park today and the sights, sounds, and smells of baseball overwhelm. Teams long ago figured out that this immersive quality is a powerful draw, and the "fan experience" has been a major force in their marketing plans.In recent years, advancing technology has altered not only that experience, which now includes LED video boards and blasts of digital music, but the marketing and revenue opportunities for the game. Fans all over the world can subscribe to video and audio streams, acquire credit cards emblazoned with team logos, and follow their favorite players through league-sanctioned blogs. Baseball's ambition and reach are now truly global.Focusing on the game's dual identities as pastime and economic engine, the authors examine the ways that baseball is packaged, promoted and consumed in the United States and, increasingly, abroad.

What does the world's favorite sport mean in the United States? Despite the common belief that it is only a women's sport, an immigrants' sport, a small kids' sport--or that hating soccer is very American, the new essays in this volume attest that soccer indeed is a very American and very popular sport, around since the 1940s.The all-new essays address issues concerning the business of the game, the meaning of men's and women's professional, national, high school and youth soccer, the community formed by the game, the media, the referees, the hooliganism and the treatment of the sport in academe.

Films produced in late 1960s and early 1970s America--along with later films focusing on that period--continue to frame our understanding of the counterculture era. The popular and experimental music of the day is central to the counterculture narrative on film, from the utopian Monterey Pop (1968) to the disenchantment of Gimme Shelter (1970). But the musical side of the movement was not monolithic, and a study of contemporary film soundtracks reveals a great deal of complexity. The coinciding struggles to define collective and individual identities based on race, class, gender and generation are well documented in the music of counterculture cinema.

Young people have long used popular culture to explore, define and express who they are. For many, popular culture is also a tool of survival. Gone are the days when proscriptive programs were needed for young people to transition to adulthood. Today, youth culture is communicated through information technology, particularly social media, enabling young people to engage the world. Yet, as always, youth culture is often a cause of concern for adults and policy makers.This collection of new essays focuses on modern youth popular culture. There are such topics as social justice and youth mobilization in Ferguson, Missouri, social media and sexual literacy among LGBT youth, and youth culture's influence on children's sports.

Essays debunking the notion that contemporary America is a colorblind society.More than half a century after the civil rights era of the mid-1950s to the late 1960s, American society is often characterized as postracial. In other words, that the country has moved away from prejudice based on skin color and we live in a colorblind society. The reality, however, is the opposite. African Americans continue to face both explicit and latent discriminations in housing, healthcare, education, and every facet of their lives. Recent cases involving law enforcement officers shooting unarmed Black men also attest to the reality: the problem of the twenty-first century is still the problem of the color line. In Race Still Matters, contributors drawn from a wide array of disciplines use multidisciplinary methods to explore topics such as Black family experiences, hate crimes, race and popular culture, residual discrimination, economic and occupational opportunity gaps, healthcare disparities, education, law enforcement issues, youth culture, and the depiction of Black female athletes. The volume offers irrefutable evidence that race still very much matters in the United States today.

Many fans loved Fifty Shades of Grey. Many others loved to hate it. E.L. James' trilogy of novels, and the film based on them, created a popular culture sensation, revealing much about a society that is both preoccupied with and scandalized by BDSM eroticism. Some critics argued that the franchise glorified kinky sex and normalized sexual abuse. Others praised it for illuminating consensual sexual practices that have long been marginalized in mainstream media. Yet behind their erotic content, James' novels explored not only everyday failures to identify questionable behaviors in romantic relationships, but also society's obsession with wealth. They also speak to the value and meaning of fan fiction, parodies, merchandizing and product placement.

We expect sports to be fair and equal--everyone who tries out has a chance to play and everyone who plays hard has a chance to win. But is that really true? In reality, female athletes are paid far less than their male counterparts. Youth sports often cost too much for many families to participate in. African American athletes continue to face discrimination both on and off the field. Adaptive sports are considered to be only for those with disabilities.But there are signs of progress as sports organizations try to promote equality and fairness. This study explores the intricacies of inclusion and exclusion in sports.

Reveals how African Americans used cable television as a means of empowerment.While previous scholarship on African Americans and the media has largely focused on issues such as stereotypes and program content, Struggles for Equal Voice reveals how African Americans have utilized access to cable television production and viewership as a significant step toward achieving empowerment during the post–Civil Rights and Black Power era. In this pioneering study of two metropolitan districts-Boston and Detroit-Yuya Kiuchi paints a rich and fascinating historical account of African Americans working with municipal offices, local politicians, cable service providers, and other interested parties to realize fair African American representation and media ownership. Their success provides a useful lesson of community organizing, image production, education, and grassroots political action that remains relevant and applicable even today.

Reveals how African Americans used cable television as a means of empowerment.While previous scholarship on African Americans and the media has largely focused on issues such as stereotypes and program content, Struggles for Equal Voice reveals how African Americans have utilized access to cable television production and viewership as a significant step toward achieving empowerment during the post–Civil Rights and Black Power era. In this pioneering study of two metropolitan districts-Boston and Detroit-Yuya Kiuchi paints a rich and fascinating historical account of African Americans working with municipal offices, local politicians, cable service providers, and other interested parties to realize fair African American representation and media ownership. Their success provides a useful lesson of community organizing, image production, education, and grassroots political action that remains relevant and applicable even today.