****** UPDATE: New Deadline For Submissions (August 10, 2003) ********

EXTREME MAINSTREAM

Guest Editor, David Wittenberg

Mainstream popular culture is a source of both fascination and
frustration for cultural critics and theorists. Often the most visible,
most pervasive, most generic, or most politically centrist culture
remains relatively unexamined by critics and theorists, perhaps because
its very "easiness" makes it, ironically, a difficult sort of object to
confront. Does the most mainstream culture actually represent not a
center but an "extreme" for cultural theory? Are theorists themselves
destined to occupy only the extreme margins of the mainstream? For this
special issue we are interested in theoretically engaged work that
examines the meaning, value, and/or critical difficulty of the most
mainstream culture, in any category genre, period, or location. We also
invite submissions that directly interrogate the relationship between
the culture theorist and the mainstream. Possible topics include, but
are not limited to, big-budget film, popular music, tourism, sitcoms,
syndicated news, the internet, talk radio, fast food, Wal-Mart, Nike,
AOL, national elections, fairs and expositions, papal masses, cars,
crusades, cell phones, "empire," "grass roots," war, religion,
hairstyles, slang, marriage, monarchy, and pornography.

The Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies, a refereed academic journal
produced at the University of Iowa, is dedicated to publishing the best
work in cultural studies from both established scholars and emerging
critics. We hope to avoid rigid orthodoxies and publish the best of
both theoretical work and applied criticism on a range of issues. Our
goal is to present the best in contemporary criticism while fostering
conversations across disciplinary and ideological divides.

Please submit papers no later than August 10, 2003 to:

Iowa Journal of Cultural Studies
English Department
308 English-Philosophy Building
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242-1492

Two hard copies of the manuscript and a disk, preferably in Microsoft
Word (for Windows), should be provided. Manuscripts cannot be returned
unless a self-addressed envelope with US postage is provided.
Submissions should be no longer than 30 pages and should be prepared
following the MLA Style Manual.

For more information about contributing or subscribing to this journal,
please contact David Banash at david-banash_at_uiowa.edu.

Appearing in the Spring 2003 special issue on "Suburbia":
Robert A. Beuka's "Cue the Sun: Soundings from Millennial Suburbia"
Mikita Brottman's "Apocalypse in Suburbia"
Douglas Rushkoff's "Media Sprawl: Springfield, USA"

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Received on Thu May 22 2003 - 01:56:07 EDT