Page 3 - Cultural Studies Volume 11

EDITORIAL STATEMENT

In the ten years since this journal was founded, the field of cultural studies has
expanded and flourished. It has at once become broader and more focused,
facing as it does the challenges of global economic, cultural and political
reconfiguration on the one hand, and of new attacks on the university and
intellectual work on the other. As we look forward to the next decade, we expect
Cultural Studies to continue to contribute to both the expansion and the
integration of cultural studies.
With this expectation in mind, the journal seeks work that explores the relation
between everyday life, cultural practices, and material, economic, political,
geographical and historical contexts; that understands cultural studies as an
analytic of social change; that addresses a widening range of topic areas,
including post—and neo-colonial relations, the politics of popular culture, issues
in nationality, transnationality and globalization, the performance of gendered,
sexual and queer identities, and the organization of power around differences in
race, class, ethnicity, etc.; that reflects on the changing status of cultural studies;
and that pursues the theoretical implications and underpinnings of practical
inquiry and critique.
Cultural Studies welcomes work from a variety of theoretical, political and
disciplinary perspectives. It assumes that the knowledge formations that make up
cultural studies are as historically and geographically contingent as any other
cultural practice or configuration and that the work produced within or at its
permeable boundaries will therefore be diverse. We hope not only to represent this
diversity but to enhance it.
We want to encourage significant intellectual and political experimentation,
intervention and dialogue. Some issues will focus on special topics, often not
traditionally associated with cultural studies. Occasionally, we will make space
to present a body of work representing a specific national, ethnic or disciplinary
tradition. Whenever possible, we intend to represent the truly international nature
of contemporary work, without ignoring the significant differences that are the
result of speaking from and to specific contexts, but we also hope to avoid
defining any context as normative. We invite articles, reviews, critiques,
photographs and other forms of ‘artistic’ production, and suggestions for special
issues. And we invite readers to comment on the strengths and weaknesses, not