How To Do Things With Cultural Theory (Hodder Arnold Publication)

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Instead of approaching cultural theory as a set of pronouncements to be learned, this book considers why lecturers, students and cultural producers and consumers outside the university system might all want to theorize what culture is and how it works. Taking its cue from J L Austin's infamous How to Do Things With Words, which argued that language doesn't just reflect the world but is used to achieve things in the world, this book approaches cultural theory as something to be used, performed, adapted, transformed and created in new contexts by its own consumer-producers. How To Do Things With Cultural Theory considers how key theories have been constructed and written, treating theory as a text to be analyzed. What narratives recur across different cultural theories? And what does it mean to construct one's cultural identity as a "theorist"? Addressing the cultural and subcultural identities that "theory" generates and sustains, this book asks what desires, fantasies, ideals and politics drive people to become "cultural theorists." As well as analyzing the production and circulation of theory, this book also tackles the thorny question of how best to read theory. Despite being what lecturers and students spend much of their time doing, the act of reading theory has typically been taken for granted or rendered invisible within cultural theory itself. Matt Hills is a senior lecturer in the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies and has contributed to a wide range of books. Instead of approaching cultural theory as a set of pronouncements to be learned, this book considers why lecturers, students and cultural producers and consumers outside the university system might all want to theorize what culture is and how it works. Taking its cue from J L Austin's infamous How to Do Things With Words, which argued that language doesn't just reflect the world but is used to achieve things in the world, this book approaches cultural theory as something to be used, performed, adapted, transformed and created in new contexts by its own consumer-producers. How To Do Things With Cultural Theory considers how key theories have been constructed and written, treating theory as a text to be analyzed. What narratives recur across different cultural theories? And what does it mean to construct one's cultural identity as a "theorist"? Addressing the cultural and subcultural identities that "theory" generates and sustains, this book asks what desires, fantasies, ideals and politics drive people to become "cultural theorists." As well as analyzing the production and circulation of theory, this book also tackles the thorny question of how best to read theory. Despite being what lecturers and students spend much of their time doing, the act of reading theory has typically been taken for granted or rendered invisible within cultural theory itself. Instead of approaching cultural theory as a set of pronouncements to be learned, this book considers why lecturers, students and cultural producers and consumers outside the university system might all want to theorize what culture is and how it works. This book alsoxA0;asks what desires, fantasies, ideals and politics drive people to become "cultural theorists."xA0;It analyzes the production and circulation of theory andxA0;tackles the thorny question of how best to read theory. "What is at stake in cultural theory? Rarely has this been addressed so openly as in Matt Hills' new book. By applying the interpretative vigilance of his work in Fan Studies back onto Cultural Theory's implicit practices of adulation, Hills opens up original territory: the work that Cultural Theory does on itself to differentiate itself in an increasingly crowded cultural space. This is a courageous and important book."x2014;Nick Couldry, Reader in Media, Communications and Culture, London School of Economics and Political Science xA0;"Excellent introduction to cultural theory."x2014;Lecturer John Armitage, University of Northumbria

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Matt Hills is a senior lecturer in the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies and has contributed to a wide range of books.