Dillon, P. (2021). Craving to connect: Zines and the celebration of creativity and control. In S. Blody-Peshkin & C. Whitaker (Eds.), Curating Culture: How Twentieth-Century Magazines Influenced America, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Book Description
Print magazines were the original niche medium, creating communities long before the internet allowed audiences to find specialized content and interact with like-minded readers. Consumer magazines provided information, inspiration, empathy and advocacy for readers with specific goals and concerns. The targeted advertising business model of magazines was an early precursor of contemporary algorithms and metrics behind social media marketing.
The cultural niches 20th century consumer magazines created and covered were powerful social influences on a wide variety of readers, from farmers to feminists, and covered everything from big ideas to political ideologies. With missions to serve specific readers and editors who were champions of their interests, even the most practical magazines were cultural influences well beyond their pages.
This book is a curated collection of case studies that collectively shed light on the cultural niches that American consumer magazines of the 20th century covered and created. The chapters examine how cultural niches were cultivated, how they changed over time, and how they influenced broader cultural conversations. This sweeping view of 20th-century American magazines illuminates how this particular media form created, cultivated, and served specific communities, laying the groundwork for contemporary media forms to continue that role today.
Fauske, C. (2021). [Review of the book The Broken Staff: the Improbable Story of Uzal Ogden, 1744-1822. Anglican and Episcopal History, by M. Ierley]. 90(2), 219.
Fauske, C. (2021). [Review of the book, The Church of Ireland, 1869-1969 Anglican and Episcopal History, by R. B. Mcdowell]. 90(1), 92.
Fauske, C. (2021). [Review of the book The City-State of Boston: the Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630-1865. Anglican and Episcopal History, by M. Peterson]. 90(4), 407.
Hains, R.C., & Jennings, N.A. (2021). The marketing of Children's Toys: Critical Perspectives on Children's Consumer Culture. Palgrave Macmillan.
Abstract
This book offers rich critical perspectives on the marketing of a variety of toys, brands, and product categories. Topics include marketing undertaken by specific children’s toy brands such as American Girl, Barbie, Disney, GoldieBlox, Fisher-Price, and LEGO, and marketing trends characterizing broader toy categories such as on-trend grotesque toys; toy firearms; minimalist toys; toyetics; toys meant to offer diverse representation; STEM toys; and unboxing videos. Toy marketing warrants a sustained scholarly critique because of toys’ cultural significance and their roles in children’s lives, as well as the industry’s economic importance. Discourses surrounding toys―including who certain toys are meant for and what various toys and brands can signify about their owners’ identities―have implications for our understandings of adults’ expectations of children and of broader societal norms into which children are being socialized.
Hains, R.C. (2021). The politics of Barbie’s curvy new body: Marketing Mattel’s “Fashionista” line. In R.C. Hains & N. Jennings (Eds.), The Marketing of Children’s Toys: Critical Perspectives on Children’s Consumer Culture. Palgrave.
Hains, R.C. & Jennings, N. A. (2021). Critiquing children’s consumer culture: An introduction to the marketing of children’s toys. In R.C. Hains & N. Jennings (Eds.), The Marketing of Children’s Toys: Critical Perspectives on Children’s Consumer Culture. Palgrave.
Hunting, K., & Hains, R.C. (2021). “I’m just here to enjoy the ponies”: My Little Pony, bronies and the limits of feminist intent. Popular Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2021.1892691
Abstract
The unexpected adult, primarily male, audience of the children’s series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, known as Bronies, has been the subject of extensive commentary for their apparent violation of gender norms. Drawing from a qualitative survey of a 2915 Bronies we argue that the fandom is deceptively heterogenous. In particular, we explore the attitudes of members of the Brony Fandom to the feminist messages of the series, the feminism of series’ creator Lauren Faust, and whether these messages are perceived as impactful. Our paper argues that even within distinctive, close-knit fan communities interpretations interpretive and ideological responses to a media text and context vary significantly. Further, we argue that interpretations of fan objects appears primarily determined by preexisting attitudes. Ultimately, we find that fans utilize a number of rhetorical techniques to reframe media text’s messages, producer’s intent, and other audience member’s responses to fit their preexisting belief systems.
Vincent, C.S., Awkward, R.J., Lefker, J., Lynch, C., & Moore, S.B. (2021). Critically engaged civic learning: A comprehensive restructuring of service-learning approaches. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 27(2). https://doi.org/10.3998/mjcsloa.3239521.0027.205
Abstract
This article contributes to a long-standing conversation about the implementation of service-learning by proposing an updated revision for the 21st century: critically engaged civic learning (CECL). The term service-learning is problematic as it invokes inequitable power dynamics that inherently privilege one group over another, with more privileged groups providing “service” to marginalized groups (Bortolin, 2011). CECL shifts service-learning from a student-centered pedagogy to an equity-based framework that views all constituent stakeholders as invested partners in the co-design, implementation, and evaluation of CECL initiatives and is founded on redistributed power and authority to promote civic learning and social change. CECL is structured by six guiding principles: social justice, power dynamics, community, civic learning objectives, reflexivity, and sustainability. Consequently, we argue that CECL can be seen across four overarching outcomes—increased self-awareness, self-efficacy, and self-empowerment; increased awareness of civic agency; better understanding of community; and workforce preparation—which can be assessed through the CECL Inventory for Social Change (CECL-ISC) (Awkward et al., 2021).
Vincent, C., & Gismondi, A. (2021). Fake news, reality apathy and the erosion of trust and authenticity in American politics. In R. Lutrell, L. Xiao, & J. Glass (Eds.), Democracy in the Disinformation Age: Influence and Activism in American Politics. New York: Routledge.