Cultural Analysis in the Wild, SCCS-ASCA Workshop 24th October 2025
by Ben Highmore
These are the notes for a spoken paper. The paper is concerned with the relationship between Cultural Studies and the milieux it has found itself in. It argues that these have had a determining impact on what Cultural Studies has been and what it could be. Cultural Studies as a discipline or a field within the University only tells us a partial story. I look at the university as just one, albeit important, site and contrast it with other realms (the ‘wild’ in my title) including non-university post-school education; the photography workshop movement; and independent publishing ventures (Writers and Readers publishing co-operative, Inter-Action Publishing, etc.). Not only will such a history be necessary for facing a future where the University is becoming a hostile environment for Cultural Studies, it suggests that the project is remade in relation to its environment, so that the possibilities of Cultural Studies are, so to say, endless.
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Lifestyle Revolution: How taste changed class in late 20th-century Britain, Manchester
University Press, 21 February 2023
by Ben Highmore
This paper gives an account of the ideas, moods, and archival material that influenced the author’s recent monograph on taste and class. Rather than approaching taste as the fixed expression of a pre-decided class category, Highmore approaches it as something productive of class experience. He explains how his approach to the work – reading the material culture of the 1960s and 70s alongside contemporary novels and sociological journalism – reveals a self-consciousness about consumerism, wealth, and class that emerged in that period and is still with us today.
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Japanese Folk Toys in (different) times of crisis. A cultural studies approach to Gangu
from Japan
by Silvina Silva Aras
This paper examines the histories of Japanese folk toys and their place in contemporary Japanese culture. The author details her personal interest in the toys, the scarcity of English- language materials about them – which led to her choice to learn Japanese – and the process of contacting artisanal designers to learn more about them during a trip to Japan. The piece outlines the symbolism of a number of Japanese toys, in particular Kokeshis and Darumas, and reviews the existing literature on their conceptual attributes and uses. Through conversation with artisanal designers, Silva Aras draws out a number of challenges facing craftmanship today and posits avenues for further research on the topic.
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