Cultural Citizenship and Popular Culture

Joke Hermes takes us on a fascinating intellectual journey, both sweeping in scope and attuned to intricate detail, to show that in the age of social media and rising polarisation, it is ever more important to listen seriously to the raw outpouring of emotion – hatred, rage, fear, but also fandom and appreciation – in audience talk about media and popular culture to understand their significance as contestations of identity, belonging and representation, that is, as the performance of ‘cultural citizenship’. – Ien Ang With one fell swoop, Joke Hermes has rocketed forward the state of discussion about cultural citizenship. Written with characteristic accessibility and depth, the superb book brims and sparkles with offerings about identity, power, audiences, affect, and the values of stories and of listening. – Jonathan Gray, University of Wisconsin-Madison When democracies are threatened by screaming polarization, when engagement is obfuscated by capitalistic longing, when dreams for better worlds are becoming wake-up calls, Hermes’ book offers a request as modest as it is ambitious: we must listen. Listening to audiences’ everyday discussions is Hermes’ attempt to recognize our affective lives, to trace our connections with strangers, to steer away from moralizing, ultimately to update understandings of popular culture and cultural citizenship – an elegant, eloquent, and essential response to our times. – Yiu Fai Chow, Professor, Hong Kong Baptist University This book offers an insightful and in-depth account of the complicated relationship between the powers of popular culture, democracy, media, and constructions of citizenship. – Francesca Sobande Joke Hermes has something powerful to say about cultural citizenship as world building in action – lean forward and listen in to her outstanding book. – Annette Hill