Page 21 - Cultural Studies Dictionary

DICTIONARY OF CULTURAL STUDIES

already argued that the meanings and uses of such terms are relational and located
within a network of other concepts. Consequently, at the end of the entry I provide a
list of ideas that are connected to the one that has been consulted. I have called these
xx ‘links’ in the manner of a hypertext to suggest that these concepts are multi-dimensional
and that one can go on pursuing their meanings in the manner implied by the notion
of différance (above). Although here, of course, there is an arbitrary limit to the internal
referentiality of a dictionary and thus to the trail of meaning.
In addition to the key concepts involved, I have also provided some short
descriptions of key writers who have in one way or another been associated with the
development of cultural studies. This list is in no way exhaustive and I am not wishing
to provide an ‘A-list’ of the good and the great in cultural studies. It is more of a taster
than a hearty meal. Further, some of the people involved are clearly connected with the
development of cultural studies (for example, Fiske, Gilroy, Hall, Willis etc.) while others
have provided important philosophical ideas to cultural studies though they have never
identified their work with cultural studies per se (for example, Derrida, Foucault,
Giddens, Rorty etc.).
In deciding whom to include and whom to omit I have tried to present a cross-
section of writers from different times, places and philosophical stances that have
influenced cultural studies, rather than a comprehensive list. I have also inevitably
indulged some of my own preferences and been restricted by the limitations of my
knowledge. My apologies to those who merit inclusion but were omitted. Still, I want
to maintain that the core of the work is to do with thinking about concepts rather than
people. I also want to suggest that the concepts in cultural studies do not belong to
anyone. Rather, they circulate amongst a community of thinkers who forge and amend
their meanings in the course of their work. Consequently, I have chosen not to reference
ideas in the normal academic fashion but to claim them all as collective property not
in need of attribution. 2
As such, this dictionary is a mélange or bricolage of ideas, examples, themes etc.
raided from the collective library of cultural studies – or rather, that which I have chosen
to designate as cultural studies. Thus, on the one hand a dictionary such as this
manifests a certain arbitrary character and yet on the other it is dependent on an
interpretive community. Similarly it seeks to pin down the meaning of words while all
along claiming that meaning is intertextual and resists closure. But then oscillating
between individuality and community and between fixity and fluidity are key themes
of cultural studies.

REFERENCES

Barker, C. (2000) Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice. London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Barker, C. (2002) Making Sense of Cultural Studies: Central Problems and Critical Debates. London: Sage.

2 Nevertheless, where a line of thought has been pursued by a writer who is included in the dictionary
I have maintained the practice of internal reference by highlighting their name by way of suggesting that
readers might like to explore their work further.