Dear UKCOMICSCHOLARS Subscribers,
Announcing a new publication from McGill-Queen's University Press, which we think will be of interest.
Getting
a Life
The Social Worlds of Geek Culture
Benjamin Woo
http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/getting-a-life-content
"Long overlooked by those who study fandoms, subcultures and gendered identities, the Geek now gets the attention it deserves. Benjamin Woo’s
Getting a Life: The Social Worlds of Geek Culture is a witty, smart book marked most of all by its methodological agility. Woo moves
in to examine geek culture up close, then pulls back to illuminate its relationship to taste cultures, the boundary-work of social in-groups and the shifting relationship of capitalist media producers to their fans. Wit and humour run through this engaging
book, but so, too, does a commitment to taking Geek culture seriously and fashioning the analytical tools with which to understand it." – Will Straw, McGill University, and co-editor, with Alexandra
Boutros, of Circulation and the City: Essays on Urban Culture
Comic book superheroes, fantasy kingdoms, and futuristic starships have become inescapable features of today’s pop-culture landscape, and the people we used to deride as “nerds” or “geeks”
have ridden their popularity and visibility to mainstream recognition. It seems it’s finally hip to be square. Yet these conventionalized representations of geek culture typically ignore the real people who have invested time and resources to make it what
it is. Getting a Life recentres our understanding of geek culture on the everyday lives of its participants, drawing on fieldwork
in comic book shops, game stores, and conventions, including in-depth interviews with ordinary members of the overlapping communities of fans and enthusiasts. Benjamin Woo shows how geek culture is a set of interconnected social practices that are associated
with popular media. He argues that typical depictions of mass-mediated entertainment as something that isolates and pacifies its audiences are flawed because they do not account for the conversations, relationships, communities, and identities that are created
by engaging with the products of mass culture. Getting a Life combines engaging interview material with lucid interpretation and
a clear, interdisciplinary framework. The volume is both an accessible introduction to this contemporary subculture and an exploration of the ethical possibilities of a life lived with media.
Benjamin Woo is assistant professor of communication and media studies at Carleton University.
With all best wishes,
Combined Academic Publishers
McGill-Queen's University Press | February 2018 | 280pp | 9780773552845 | Hardback | £20.99*
*Price subject to change.