Rethinking Popular Culture and Media Second Edition

Rethinking Popular Culture and Media begins from the premise that the popular is political. Whether it s Disney and Barbie, or Snapchat and Vine, youth navigate, shape, and repurpose popular culture. This updated collection of teaching articles and critical commentary is written by and for educators. The authors consider the role in students lives of films, music, and books, as well as popular culture artifacts like toys, and how these materials teach children. In each article, authors critique and rethink the connections among race, class, gender, sexuality, power, and schooling. The second edition includes revised articles, nine new articles, and an updated list of resources.

Chapters are organized into four major themes to make the text more streamlined:
Part 1: Commercialism, Corporations, and Youth
Part 2: Politics, Violence, and Sanitized History
Part 3: Texts, Toys, and Representation
Part 4: Teaching, Talking Back, and Taking Action

Rethinking Popular Culture and Media is full of compelling narratives and accounts of everyday life in classrooms. It offers numerous powerful, critical strategies for students and teachers to engage, in sophisticated ways, with key topics through the use of diverse popular culture and media texts. This is an important book that every teacher should have if they are serious about creating curriculum that contributes to a more socially just world. --VIVIAN MARIA VASQUEZ American University, Washington DC