Agricultural tenancy reform: the end of law; or a new popular culture?

This paper applies a reading of the postmodernisation of law to the incremental reform of agricultural holdings legislation over the last century. In charting the shifting legal basis of agricultural tenancies, from ‘black letter’ positivism to the cultural contextuality of sumptuary law, the paper theorises that the underlying political imperative has been allied to the changing significance of property ownership and use. Rather than reflecting the long-term official desire to maintain the let sector in British agriculture, however, the paper argues that this process has had other aims. In particular, it has been about an annexation of law to legitimise the retention of landowner power while presenting a rhetorical ‘democratisation’ of farming, away from its plutocratic associations and towards a new narrative of ‘depersonalised’ business.

Reseña de Toner, J. (2012) Sesenta Millones de Romanos. La cultura del pueblo en la Antigua Roma. Barcelona: Crítica. Traducción de Luis Noriega, Título original, Popular Culture in Ancient Rome. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009, pp. 363

En este trabajo comento el contenido y el enfoque del libro de Jerry Toner, director de estudios clásicos en el Hughes Hall College de la Universidad de Cambridge, quien en "Sesenta millones de romanos..." estudia y caracteriza la cultura popular como un conjunto de estrategias empleadas por el pueblo romano para enfrentar los desafíos de la vida cotidiana

Reseña de Toner, J. (2012) Sesenta Millones de Romanos. La cultura del pueblo en la Antigua Roma. Barcelona: Crítica. Traducción de Luis Noriega, Título original, Popular Culture in Ancient Rome. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009, pp. 363

En este trabajo comento el contenido y el enfoque del libro de Jerry Toner, director de estudios clásicos en el Hughes Hall College de la Universidad de Cambridge, quien en "Sesenta millones de romanos..." estudia y caracteriza la cultura popular como un conjunto de estrategias empleadas por el pueblo romano para enfrentar los desafíos de la vida cotidiana

Reseña de Toner, J. (2012) Sesenta Millones de Romanos. La cultura del pueblo en la Antigua Roma. Barcelona: Crítica. Traducción de Luis Noriega, Título original, Popular Culture in Ancient Rome. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009, pp. 363

En este trabajo comento el contenido y el enfoque del libro de Jerry Toner, director de estudios clásicos en el Hughes Hall College de la Universidad de Cambridge, quien en "Sesenta millones de romanos..." estudia y caracteriza la cultura popular como un conjunto de estrategias empleadas por el pueblo romano para enfrentar los desafíos de la vida cotidiana

Moving American progress westward images of Denver and the Rockies in popular culture

"From the 1859 gold rush through the early 1900s, popular press images linked Denver’s civic development, capitalist values and culture to the Rocky Mountains. These prints of a wilderness city sending pioneers and prospectors into the Rockies appeared in national newspapers, magazines, settlement manifestos, railroad guidebooks and tourist pamphlets. Readers were saturated with illustrations associating Denver with prosperity and rejuvenated health"-

Soccer, South Africa and celebrity status:Mark Fish, popular culture and the post-apartheid state

The rise of celebrity culture is a theme that has attracted a significant amount of attention within both mainstream sociology and cultural studies in more recent times. Ensuing debate has identified contemporary sports figures as an important facet of the celebrity‐media nexus and as possible signifiers of cultural change. In this paper we take one particular sports celebrity, South African soccer star Mark Fish, and evaluate his image in relation to debates surrounding sport, politics and the post‐apartheid state. We argue that because Fish appears to enjoy all the benefits of celebrity status (within his home country at least), an analysis of his career and identity provide a useful means by which to think about the changing political and nationalistic values within South African society.

"I Forbid You To Like It:" The Smiths, David Cameron, and the Politics of (Mis)appropriating Popular Culture

The Smiths were a critically acclaimed 1980s “indie” band that achieved cult-status within the five years they were musically active. Several studies on fandom have focused on The Smiths, particularly its frontman Morrissey, whose “apostles” are among the most committed on the popular music circuit. Yet British Prime Minister David Cameron’s repeated claims to Smiths fandom have been rebuked by fans, and the band themselves, as being incompatible with his right-wing political program; former Smiths guitarist and songwriter Johnny Marr tweeted: “David Cameron, stop saying you like The Smiths, no you don’t. I forbid you to like it.”

This article proceeds from the possibility that David Cameron was not being cynical in professing his admiration for The Smiths and considers music’s role in the embodiment of a social identity. Drawing on recent examples in the UK and the US, the article explores politicians’ problematic relationship with popular culture, alongside the notion that when an artist’s music is appropriated, they themselves are appropriated.