Welcome to [GotPop]!

Popular Culture is an infamously cross-sectional and broad field of research. It can be expressed through a wide variety of forms (Music, Literature, Comics, Fine Art, Drama, Sports, Advertising, etc.); critical theories on Popular Culture can focus on any number of themes (e.g. Identity, Race, Gender, Religion, Ethnicity); it is disseminated through many channels (TV, Cinema, Radio, the Internet, Print Journalism, etc.) and it can be analyzed from any number of (or combination of) theoretical angles (Postmodernism, Eco-criticism, Marxism, Critical Discourse Analysis, Linguistics, Cultural Studies, Stylistics, etc.).

This complex dynamic between forms, themes, channels and theories makes Popular Culture a particularly exciting area for academic research — its potential as a unifying field of academic study is now being explored by a number of scholars in different fields (most typically in Linguistics, Literature or Cultural Studies) at the Department of Languages and Literatures at the University of Gothenburg and this website is part of its public outreach. The site, created and maintained by Joe Trotta is thus intended as an interface between the [GotPop] research group and a wider audience as well as acting as a general repository of resources for those interested in Popular Culture scholarship. Here you will find, among other things, bibliographies, references, links, and more.

How to best navigate the site will depend partly on what device you are using when you view it – on a computer, it is easiest to use the menu to the left, on tablets and cell phones, you may find it easier to use the menu icon on the top right of the page. Please note that the site is intentionally perpetually beta. It is and probably will always will be under construction. Right now, we are reconstructing the website from an earlier version – please be patient and watch this space for new developments!

Recommended reading:

• Browne, Ray B. (ed.) (2005). Profiles of popular culture: a reader. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsin Press.
• Danesi, M. (2012). Popular culture?: introductory perspectives. Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
• Fiske, J. (2010). Understanding popular culture (2nd ed.). London?; New York: Routledge.
• Guins. R. and O.Z, Cruz (eds.) (2005). Popular culture: a reader. (2005). London?; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications.
• Johnson, S. (2006). Everything bad is good for you?: how today’s popular culture is actually making us smarter. New York: Riverhead Books.
• Storey, J. (2009). Cultural theory and popular culture: an introduction (5th ed.). Harlow, England?; New York: Pearson Longman.