Understanding Contemporary Culture series – serie

`This is a splendid book. It is both intellectually sophisticated and written in an extremely accessible manner' - Professor Jim McGuigan, Loughborough University

`Eloquently written, admirably clear, passionately argued, Schirato and Webb have given us one of the best textbooks on the emergent field of visual culture. Smart, clear and relevant examples challenge readers to question their visual environments and become critics and creators themselves' - Sean Cubitt, University of Waikato

In a world increasingly preoccupied with the visual, it has become essential to understand the dynamics of images and be able to interpret them skilfully. The authors outline our relationship to the visual from ancient times to the cyber-present.

Understanding the Visual shows the reader how to analyse the structure, conventions, contexts and uses of the visual in western cultures.

Richly illustrated and crossing the fields of cultural studies, communication and media studies, film, art, design, and sociology the authors show how to make sense of visual objects of all kinds.

"In only 138 pages Schirato manages a broad sweep across sports history and culture... he brings the eye of a critical fan to his analysis of sport, treating it seriously as a social practice and as a social institution... A useful, provocative and non-dogmatic text that should be useful to undergraduate and graduate sport studies programmes."- Malcolm MacLean, Sport in History

Understanding Sport Culture traces and analyzes the development of the modern field of sport from its ancient and medieval precursors (the festivals of Greece and Rome, and games such as folk football), through to its inception in the mid-nineteenth century as a set of activities designed to instill character and discipline in students in exclusive British public schools, up to its transformation into a global institution and popular spectacle. The narrative also focuses on and provides a detailed account of the gradual coming together of sport and the media. It explains how this relationship has accentuated sport's status as one of the most important sites in contemporary culture, while simultaneously threatening its existence.

As part of the Understanding Contemporary Culture series this book is aimed at a broad range of students from undergraduate to graduate level, who want to know more and be fully informed on sport, its relationship to the media, and its cultural dynamics.

"In only 138 pages Schirato manages a broad sweep across sports history and culture... he brings the eye of a critical fan to his analysis of sport, treating it seriously as a social practice and as a social institution... A useful, provocative and non-dogmatic text that should be useful to undergraduate and graduate sport studies programmes."- Malcolm MacLean, Sport in History

Understanding Sport Culture traces and analyzes the development of the modern field of sport from its ancient and medieval precursors (the festivals of Greece and Rome, and games such as folk football), through to its inception in the mid-nineteenth century as a set of activities designed to instill character and discipline in students in exclusive British public schools, up to its transformation into a global institution and popular spectacle. The narrative also focuses on and provides a detailed account of the gradual coming together of sport and the media. It explains how this relationship has accentuated sport's status as one of the most important sites in contemporary culture, while simultaneously threatening its existence.

As part of the Understanding Contemporary Culture series this book is aimed at a broad range of students from undergraduate to graduate level, who want to know more and be fully informed on sport, its relationship to the media, and its cultural dynamics.

"This is an extraordinarily lucid book. I am not sure that there is anyone who can do this sort of thing better than Jen Webb. It is a gift to students; extremely accessible yet complex and sophisticated in its treatment of theories and concepts of representation." - Jim McGuigan, Loughborough University

Understanding Representation offers a contemporary, coherent and genuinely interdisciplinary introduction to the concept of representation. Drawing together the full range of ideas, practices, techniques and disciplines associated with the subject, this book locates them in a historical context, presents them in a readable fashion, and shows their relevance to everyday life in an engaging and accessible manner. Readers will be shown how to develop a sophisticated attitude to meaning, and understand the relationship to truth and identity that is brought into focus by communicative practices.

With chapters on linguistic and political representation, art and media, and philosophical and cognitive approaches, this book:

Guides readers through complex theoretical terrain with a highly readable and refreshing writing style.Explains the techniques and perspectives offered by semiotics, discourse analysis, poetics, politics, narratology, visual culture, cognitive theory, performance theory and theories of embodied subjectivity.Covers the new ideas and practices that have emerged since the work of Barthes, Eco and Foucault - especially communication and meaning-making in the digital environment, and the new paradigms of understanding associated with cognitive theories of identity and language.Teaches readers how to interpret and interrogate the world of signs in which they live.

Understanding Representation provides students across the social sciences and humanities with an invaluable introduction to what is meant by 'representation'.

"This is an extraordinarily lucid book. I am not sure that there is anyone who can do this sort of thing better than Jen Webb. It is a gift to students; extremely accessible yet complex and sophisticated in its treatment of theories and concepts of representation." - Jim McGuigan, Loughborough University

Understanding Representation offers a contemporary, coherent and genuinely interdisciplinary introduction to the concept of representation. Drawing together the full range of ideas, practices, techniques and disciplines associated with the subject, this book locates them in a historical context, presents them in a readable fashion, and shows their relevance to everyday life in an engaging and accessible manner. Readers will be shown how to develop a sophisticated attitude to meaning, and understand the relationship to truth and identity that is brought into focus by communicative practices.

With chapters on linguistic and political representation, art and media, and philosophical and cognitive approaches, this book:

Guides readers through complex theoretical terrain with a highly readable and refreshing writing style.Explains the techniques and perspectives offered by semiotics, discourse analysis, poetics, politics, narratology, visual culture, cognitive theory, performance theory and theories of embodied subjectivity.Covers the new ideas and practices that have emerged since the work of Barthes, Eco and Foucault - especially communication and meaning-making in the digital environment, and the new paradigms of understanding associated with cognitive theories of identity and language.Teaches readers how to interpret and interrogate the world of signs in which they live.

Understanding Representation provides students across the social sciences and humanities with an invaluable introduction to what is meant by 'representation'.

"An outstandingly good introduction to Foucault's work: lucid, measured, well organised, and covering this complex and in many ways heterogeneous body of work with remarkable thoroughness and ease."- Professor John Frow, University of Melbourne"This is a clear and understandable book, starting with a very helpful glossary of theoretical terms... an accessible introduction to Foucault's major work exploring power and control, governmentality and ethics which are crucial for students to understand."- Tracy Ramsey, Liverpool Hope University"A very good accompaniment to any student thinking seriously about following the work of Foucault... Easy to follow, very well structured."- Mark Timoney, Sligo Institute of TechnologyMichel Foucault is now regarded as one of the most important thinkers of the twentieth century. He is known for his sensibility of critique and his commitment to movements for social change. His analysis of the ways our notions of truth, meaning, knowledge and reason are shaped by historical forces continues to influence thinkers around the world.Understanding Foucault offers a comprehensive introduction to Foucault's work. The authors examine Foucault's thinking in the context of the philosophies he engaged with during his career, and the events he participated in, including the student protests of 1968. A unique feature of the book is its consideration of recently published lectures and minor works, and the authors show how these illuminate and extend our understanding of Foucault's major books.Understanding Foucault provides an accessible entrée to the world of this extraordinary and challenging philosopher.

"A rather perfect textbook at the right level. It opens up issues of transgender very well and is critical in just the right tone. Much needed in media and cultural studies."- Angela McRobbie, GoldsmithsAcknowledged as one of the most influential thinkers of modern times, an understanding of Judith Butler's work is ever more essential to an understanding of not just the landscape of cultural and critical theory, but of the world around us. Understanding Judith Butler, however, can be perceived as a complex and difficult undertaking. It needn't be. Using contemporary and topical examples from the media, popular culture and everyday life, this lively and accessible introduction shows you how the issues, concepts and theories in Butler's work function as socio-cultural practices.Giving due consideration to Butler's earlier and most recent work, and showing how her ideas on subjectivity, gender, sexuality and language overlap and interrelate, this book will give you a better understanding not only of Butler's work, but of its applications to modern-day social and cultural practices and contexts.