Doing Cultural Theory

David Walton has a degree in English Literature (University of Wales 1985) an M.Phil (University of Oxford 1987), a Certificate in Education (University of Greenwich, London 1988), and a TEFL qualification (University of Aston, Birmingham 1987). He was awarded his doctorate in 1992 by the University of Murcia. He began his teaching career in further education in Britain before being contracted as an associate lecturer in the English Department of the University of Murcia in 1989. He became Senior Lecturer in the area of Cultural Studies in 2001 and has promoted the area in Spain for more than ten years. He is one of the founder members of the Culture and Power group which has organized annual conferences in Spain and Portugal every year since 1995 and has contributed to most of the publications to come out of these conferences. He is a founder member and President of the Iberian Association of Cultural Studies (IBACS). He has co-organized conferences on English-speaking cultures and co-organized two International Conferences on cultural studies for IBACS, both held at the Universidad de Murcia. Apart from his undergraduate teaching, he has taught audiovisual translation at M.A. level and has given doctorate courses on the construction of national identity and given many conference papers. He currently teaches cultural studies at undergraduate level and postmodern theory and culture at M.A. level. He has published widely, his publications reflecting his research interests which include literary and cultural theory, cultural studies, popular culture, visual culture and postmodern theories of culture. His latest books are ′Introducing Cultural Studies: Learning Through Practice′ (SAGE, 2008) and ′Doing Cultural Theory′ (SAGE, 2012). He has a chapter on Chris Morris′ satire which will appear in ′No Known Cure: The Comedy of Chris Morris′ (edited by James Leggott & Jamie Sexton (Palgrave Macmilan, 2003), and has a number of other chapters which are in print on the interfaces between philosophy and cultural studies and graffiti and popular culture.

• Introducing Cultural Studies: A Brief Contextual HistoryStructuralism and the Linguistic Turn: Ferdinand de SaussureSemiotics: Umberto Eco, Roland Barthes and Stuart HallIdeology: Marxism and Louis AlthusserPost-Structuralism: Roland Barthes and Jacques DerridaDoing Deconstruction: Techniques for PracticePsychoanalysis: Jacques LacanApplying Lacan: Techniques for Feminist and other forms of Cultural AnalysisDiscourse and Power: Michel FoucaultGender and Sexuality: Judith ButlerThe Postmodern Condition: Daniel Bell, Jean-François Lyotard and J rgen HabermasIdentity and Consumption: Jean BaudrillardPostmodernism Unplugged: Fredric JamesonPractising Cultural Studies: Hegemony and Cognitive MappingWhere to Go from Here: Cognitive Mapping and the Critical Project of Cultural Studies

Doing Cultural Theory will be a very useful tool for any student trying to make sense of the vast expanses of contemporary cultural theory and criticism. Well-written and admirably self-reflective, it combines rigorous explications and applications of many of the most influential concepts and theoristsLawrence GrossbergThe University of North Carolina Accessible and insightful throughout; offering help to both experienced and inexperienced students of cultural theory. Highly recommendedJohn StoreyThe University of Sunderland