Blackwell Reference Online

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Cultural studies is a recent, innovative, and interdisciplinary project that has had a significant presence in the field of communication since the late 1970s, as well as in other humanities and social sciences (→  Communication and Media Studies, History since 1968 ). Cultural studies is concerned with describing and intervening in the ways in which texts, discourses, and other cultural practices are produced within, circulate through, and operate in the everyday life of human beings and the institutions of society. Unlike some other interdisciplinary fields, cultural studies is not defined by a single object (e.g., an identity, as in women's studies) or a geographical region (e.g., area studies). Moreover, there are several versions of cultural studies. Although some commentators locate its origins in Britain in the 1960–1970s (especially at the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies), it actually emerged independently, as an interdisciplinary and international project, in multiple geographical locations. While communication was perhaps its first and most sympathetic host, at least in the US, today it has a presence in many disciplines and fields. This diversity – theoretical, methodological, political, and empirical – can make it difficult to discern the project of cultural studies. The common project involves a particular way of doing intellectual work that is responsive ... log in or subscribe to read full text