Emerging from the conference on "The Future of Popular Culture Studies in the Twenty-First Century," held in June of 1992 at Bowling Green, Ohio to honor the academic career of Ray Browne (retired chair, Department of Popular Culture, Bowling Green State U.) and to chart Popular Culture Studies into the next century, this collection of essays includes five of Browne's signal articles and a Ray Browne bibliography. Paper edition (unseen), $18.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The history of the study of popular culture in American academia since its (re)introduction in 1967 is filled with misunderstanding and opposition. From the first, proponents of the study of this major portion of American culture made clear that they were interested in making popular culture a supplement to the usual courses in such fields as literature, sociology, history, philosophy, and the other humanities and social sciences; nobody proposed that study of popular culture replace the other disciplines, but many suggested that it was time to reexamine the accepted courses and see if they were still viable. Opposition to the status quo always causes anxiety and opposition, but when the issues are clarified, often opposition and anxiety melt away, as they now are doing. Anxiety and opposition were generated on another level when people in academic and curricular power felt that voices were being raised that questioned their credentials and control. They flailed out with every argument at their command, generally thinking only of their self interest and not that of the students and the future of academic education. Generally this wall of opposition has also been breached. The Popular Culture Association and its many friends and backers in academia, in the United States and abroad, has demonstrated that the study of our everyday and dominant culure should be taken seriously, understandingly and analytically, just as all other aspects of culture should be. Taken that way the study can be useful in developing better educated and responsible citizens from the cradle to the grave. The humanities and social sciences are too important for any portion--especially the majority portion--to be ignored or downplayed. The study of popular culture constitutes a significant and important element, one that can be ignored only at peril.
Popular Abstracts is a reference tool providing access to information appearing in past issues of three journals published by the Bowling Green Popular Press. Abstracts are included for each article appearing in the first ten volumes of The Journal of Popular Culture (1967-1977), the first five volumes of The Journal of Popular Film (1972-1977), and the first four volumes of Popular Music and Society (1971-1975).
The essays in this book trace many of the multitudinous forces at work on the Constitution and in the popular culture and show how the forces control and benefit each other. The subject is of profound importance and, beginning with these essays, needs to be studied at great length for the benefit of us all.
In Murder on the Reservation, Ray B. Browne surveys the work of several of the best-known writers of crime fiction involving Indian characters and references virtually every book that qualifies as an Indian-related mystery. Browne believes that within the genre of crime fiction all people are equal, and the increasing role of Indian characters in criminal fiction proves what an important role this genre plays as a powerful democratizing force in American society. He endeavors to both analyze and evaluate the individual work of the authors, and at the same time, provide a commentary on the various attitudes towards race relations in the United States that each author presents. Some Indian fiction is intended to right the wrongs the authors feel have been leveled against Indians. Other authors use Indian lore and Indian locales as exotic elements and locations for the entertaining and commercially successful stories they want to write. Browne’s analysis includes authors and works of all backgrounds, with mysteries of first-class murder both on and off the reservation.
Mystery fiction, although essentially the same in all its national varieties, nevertheless comes in several types and several wrappings. The present study of American, Australian, and Canadian detective fiction concerns literature which speaks in the ways of heroes and humanities about the human condition. All authors studied here, to one degree or another, demonstrate their concern with human society, some more strongly than others, but all with their eyes on the human situation and human existence. At times these studies lean toward the tragic in their outlook and development. In all instances they center on the humanistic.
Statistics indicate that more than half the population of America is illiterate or subliterate in the conventional sense, but very literate in other media such as television, sports, and leisure time activities. But statistics can lie or tell only half a fact. Since the languages of literacy are constantly expanding and developing, it is time that American educators, and the public in general, reexamine their definitions of literacy and the media in which we need to be literate. Therefore, educators must redefine literacy if they are to be realistic about its sources, uses, and values. The need is vital to a developing world.
An investigation of society's heroes during any time period will reveal the personnel deemed worthy of being emulated at that particular time by that particular society. There will be many old and time-tested figures, sometimes with new faces and new profiles; there will also be a mix of new faces. Thus the hero--like history itself--is constantly in transition, and both the hero and the transition are fundamental to the study of a culture. These essays turn the pantheon of heroes around before our eyes and reveal the many complicated aspects of hero worship.
In the world of crime fiction, Arthur W. Upfield stands among the giants. His detective-inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, is one of the most memorable of all crime fighters. Upfield was an independent, fiercely self-assertive ex-Britisher, who loved Australia, especially the Outback. In many ways Upfield became Outback Australia—the “Spirit of Australia.”
This second collection of defective detective stories features some of the best of the period, including Russell Gray’s gimpy hero Ben Bryn, Edith and Ejler Jacobson’s hemophiliac gum-shoe Nat Perry, John Kobler’s glaucomatous troubleshooter Peter Quest, and Leon Byrne’s deaf detective Dan Holden.
Statistics indicate that more than half the population of America is illiterate or subliterate in the conventional sense, but very literate in other media such as television, sports, and leisure time activities. But statistics can lie or tell only half a fact. Since the languages of literacy are constantly expanding and developing, it is time that American educators, and the public in general, reexamine their definitions of literacy and the media in which we need to be literate. Therefore, educators must redefine literacy if they are to be realistic about its sources, uses, and values. The need is vital to a developing world.
The world of the defective detective was a strange one. Continuing the motif of the mythological hero, this unique detective type emerged in the 1930s in a very imperfect and threatened society. The stories reprinted in this volume reveal just how widely the genre ranged during the Depression.
In Murder on the Reservation, Ray B. Browne surveys the work of several of the best-known writers of crime fiction involving Indian characters and references virtually every book that qualifies as an Indian-related mystery. Browne believes that within the genre of crime fiction all people are equal, and the increasing role of Indian characters in criminal fiction proves what an important role this genre plays as a powerful democratizing force in American society. He endeavors to both analyze and evaluate the individual work of the authors, and at the same time, provide a commentary on the various attitudes towards race relations in the United States that each author presents. Some Indian fiction is intended to right the wrongs the authors feel have been leveled against Indians. Other authors use Indian lore and Indian locales as exotic elements and locations for the entertaining and commercially successful stories they want to write. Browne’s analysis includes authors and works of all backgrounds, with mysteries of first-class murder both on and off the reservation.
The history of the study of popular culture in American academia since its (re)introduction in 1967 is filled with misunderstanding and opposition. From the first, proponents of the study of this major portion of American culture made clear that they were interested in making popular culture a supplement to the usual courses in such fields as literature, sociology, history, philosophy, and the other humanities and social sciences; nobody proposed that study of popular culture replace the other disciplines, but many suggested that it was time to reexamine the accepted courses and see if they were still viable. Opposition to the status quo always causes anxiety and opposition, but when the issues are clarified, often opposition and anxiety melt away, as they now are doing. Anxiety and opposition were generated on another level when people in academic and curricular power felt that voices were being raised that questioned their credentials and control. They flailed out with every argument at their command, generally thinking only of their self interest and not that of the students and the future of academic education. Generally this wall of opposition has also been breached. The Popular Culture Association and its many friends and backers in academia, in the United States and abroad, has demonstrated that the study of our everyday and dominant culure should be taken seriously, understandingly and analytically, just as all other aspects of culture should be. Taken that way the study can be useful in developing better educated and responsible citizens from the cradle to the grave. The humanities and social sciences are too important for any portion--especially the majority portion--to be ignored or downplayed. The study of popular culture constitutes a significant and important element, one that can be ignored only at peril.
Popular Abstracts is a reference tool providing access to information appearing in past issues of three journals published by the Bowling Green Popular Press. Abstracts are included for each article appearing in the first ten volumes of The Journal of Popular Culture (1967-1977), the first five volumes of The Journal of Popular Film (1972-1977), and the first four volumes of Popular Music and Society (1971-1975).
The essays in this book trace many of the multitudinous forces at work on the Constitution and in the popular culture and show how the forces control and benefit each other. The subject is of profound importance and, beginning with these essays, needs to be studied at great length for the benefit of us all.
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