Fall 2014, Dr. Mullins

Everybody must sign up to present ANY ONE reading from this list.  All students will read the article, and one student will present a powerpoint on the material to the class.  The presenter is expected to produce an outline of their presentation that will be shared with class members and handed in to me. 

Since there are more students than readings, some individual readings have a presenter AND a discussant.  In those cases, the student named as a discussant will be responsible for leading the class discussion.  The first student will provide the summary.  Both students still need to provide an outline of a full presentation with potential discussion questions.

Please note that the line directly above the reading is the person who will be presenting that reading.  If you intended to volunteer for a different reading, let me know as soon as possible.

If you do not sign up in class for a reading, you can contact me via email to specify which readings you would like to present.  Please provide two or three readings in preferred order.

Contact me if you have any questions.

September 9

Simon Frith, "Rock and Mass Culture," Oncourse

John Fiske, “The Jeaning of America,” in Understanding Popular Culture (2nd Edition), pp. 1-18 (Routledge, 2010).  EBrary

September 16

Simon Frith, "Youth."  Oncourse

Daniel Laughey, Subculture, Club Cultures and Post- Subcultures: Music/Social Interactions? In Music and Youth Culture, pp. 14-54 (Edinburgh University Press, 2006). Ebrary

September 23

Katherine Larsen and Lynn Zubernis, "Lost in Space: Participatory Fandom and the Negotiation of Fan Spaces" in Fandom At The Crossroads : Celebration, Shame and Fan/Producer Relationships, pp.16-35 (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012) on ebrary

  Ryan Keeney                                                       

Christina Olin-Scheller “‘I want Twilight information to grow in my head’: Convergence Culture from a Fan Perspective,” in Interdisciplinary Approaches to Twilight: Studies in Fiction, Media and a Contemporary Cultural Experience, eds. Mariah Larsson and Ann Steiner, pp.159-175 (Nordic Academic Press, 2011) EBrary 

September 30

Sweeney, "The King of White Trash Culture: Elvis Presley and the Aesthetics of Excess" on Oncourse

     Jess Casey                                                                

Jason Sperb, “Reassuring Convergence: New Media, Nostalgia, and the Internet Fandom of Song of the South,” in Disney's Most Notorious Film : Race, Convergence, and the Hidden Histories of Song of the South, pp.200-226 (University of Texas Press, 2012) EBrary

October 7

Lori Kendall, “`White and Nerdy’: Computers, Race, and the Nerd Stereotype.” The Journal of Popular Culture, 44(3): 505–524.  Wiley Online  

     Tyler Coxey                                                         

Ron Eglash, "Race, Sex, and Nerds: From Black Geeks to Asian American Hipsters" Social Text 71(2):49-64.

October 14

John C. McDowell, “’Unlearn what you have learned’ (yoda): the critical study of the myth of Star Wars,” in Understanding Religion and Popular Culture, eds. Terry Ray Clark and Dan W. Clanton (Routledge, 2012).  Ebrary

Christopher J. McDonald, "`Anywhere but Here': Rush and Suburban Desires for Escape," in Rush, Rock Music, and the Middle Class: Dreaming in Middletown, pp.27-61 (Indiana University Press, 2009) Ebrary  

October 28

Rebecca Williams, “Tweeting the TARDIS: Interaction, Liveness, and Social Media in Doctor Who Fandom,” in New Dimensions of Doctor Who: Adventures in Space, Time and Television, ed. Matt Hills, pp. 154-173 (I.B. Tauris, 2013) EBrary.

     Chris Truex                                                                     

Jennifer M. Proffitt and Rich Templin, “`Fight the Dead, Fear the Living’: Zombie Apocalypse, Libertarian Paradise?” in Thinking Dead: What the Zombie Apocalypse Means, ed. Murali Balaji, pp.29-44 (Lexington Books, 2013).  Ebrary

November 11

Frith, "Rock and Sexuality," Oncourse 

    Terri Siler                                                              

Michael Mario Albrecht, Dead Man in the Mirror: The Performative Aspects of Michael Jackson's Posthumous Body, The Journal of Popular Culture 46(4):705-724.  Wiley Online 

November 18

Matt Hills, "A Mainstream Cult?" in Triumph of a Time Lord : Regenerating Doctor Who in the Twenty-first Century, pp. 202-227 (I.B. Tauris, 2010) Ebrary 

    Kirby Miller                                                                 

Linda Ray Pratt, "Elvis, or the Ironies of a Southern Identity" Southern Quarterly 18(1979):93-103 on Oncourse

November 25

Michael Jindra, "Star Trek Fandom as a Religious Phenomenon," Sociology of Religion 55(1 [1994]):27-51.

     Maranda Rowe                                                        

Vikan, "Graceland as Locus Sanctus," Oncourse

December 2

Matt Hills, "Attending Horror Film Festivals and Conventions: Liveness, Subcultural Capital and 'Flesh-and-Blood Genre Communities," in Horror Zone: The Culturaql Experience of Contemporary Horror Cinema, ed. Ian Conrich, pp. 87-101 (I.B. Tauris, 2009).  Ebrary

Louisa Ellen Stein, “`Word of mouth on steroids’: Hailing the Millennial media fan,” in Flow TV: Television in the Age of Media Convegence, eds. Michael Klackman, Michael Binfield, Marnie Payne, and Matthew Thomas, pp. 128-143 (Routledge, 2010).  EBrary

Last updated September 22, 2014