Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices (Culture, Media and Identities Series) (Paperback)

~ Professor Stuart Hall (Editor) "What does the word representation really mean, in this context?..." (more)
Key Phrases: humanist photographers, classe populaire, humanist photography, New York, Robert Doisneau, Mac Orlan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Representation - the production of meaning through language, discourse and image - occupies a central place in current studies on culture. This broad-ranging text offers a comprehensive outline of how visual images, language and discourse work as `systems of representation'.

Individual chapters explain a variety of approaches to representation, bringing to bear concepts from semiotic, discursive, psychoanalytic, anthropological, sociological, feminist, art-historical and Foucauldian models of representation. They explore representation as a signifying practice in a rich diversity of social contexts and institutional sites: the use of photography in the construction of national identity and culture; other cultures in ethnographic museums; fantasies of the racialized `Other' in popular media, film and image; the construction of masculine identities in discourses of consumer culture and advertising; and the gendering of narratives in television soap operas.

The book analyzes contested and critical questions of meaning, truth, knowledge and power in representation, and the relations between representation, pleasure and fantasy. Combining illustrative examples with activities and selected readings, accessible but not simplified, the book offers a unique resource for teachers and students in cultural studies and related fields as an introduction to this complex and central theme.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications & Open University; 1 edition (April 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761954325
• ISBN-13: 978-0761954323
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #219,533 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars learning about yourself and others, April 16, 2000

By A Customer

I read this text for an intro class to Cultural Studies, and I really enjoyed it. Hall discusses the issues of race, gender, and class in our society in many interpretations within this text. He shows how all these three are interconnected, and does so in a fascinating way. The question of how did we become the way we are in society is addressed in various ways through different representations: the media, culture, and ourselves. A lot of historical aspects is presented in this text to give the reader more of an answer to the previous question. This text is great for someone who is into cultural studies, or anyone who is interested in just learning more about themselves and making sense of the society around them.

0 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars good for beginners, November 26, 2007

By	Kevin Moore (NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Hall is tendentious, unscientific, and very, very "academic" in what that term had come to mean by the late 20th century.

Sort of dated. good like monach or cliff review notes;not much thinking involved; not much that is not terribly old, cliched.