Stuart Hall Lives: Cultural Studies in an Age of Digital Media

The work of cultural and political theorist Stuart Hall, a pioneer of Cultural Studies who passed away in 2014, remains more relevant than ever. In Stuart Hall Lives, scholars engage with Hall’s most enduring essays, including "Encoding/Decoding" and "Notes on Deconstructing the Popular," bringing them into the context of the 21st century. Different chapters consider resistant media consumers, online journalism, debates around the American Confederate flag and rainbow flags, the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, and contemporary moral panics. The book also includes Hall’s important essay on French theorist Louis Althusser, which is introduced here by Lawrence Grossberg and Jennifer Slack. Finally, two reminiscences by one of Hall’s former colleagues and one of his former students offer wide-ranging reflections on his years as director of Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK, and as head of the Department of Sociology at The Open University. Together, the contributions paint a picture of a brilliant theorist whose work and legacy is as vital as ever.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Critical Studies in Media Communication.

Peter Decherney is Professor of Cinema and Media Studies and English at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. His books include Hollywood’s Copyright Wars: From Edison to the Internet (2012) and Hollywood: A Very Short Introduction (2015).

Katherine Sender is Professor of Media and Sexuality in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan, USA. She writes and produces documentaries in the areas of GLBTQ media studies, television studies, and consumer culture.