Popular culture is a fast-growing field made even more pertinent by the Iraq War and spectacular new technologies. "Popular culture is like electricity -- unseen, powerful, pervasive. Like it or not, it affects many aspects of our lives," says Marshall Fishwick, professor of humanities, popular culture, and American studies at Virginia Tech.
Haworth Press in New York and London has chosen Fishwick to edit a new series of books and monographs on popular culture. "The Haworth Press wants to wire its readers to that electricity," says Fishwick.
"In today's world, we don't have to approach popular culture," he says. "It reaches out and grabs us in words, jingles, sound bites, print, radio, television, film, discs; at home, at work, on vacation, online, off line. It's the monkey of the mind, and, like sin, it is always with us. Even when we speed along the highway trying to ignore the billboards and bumper stickers, it pops up in cryptic traffic mandates: 'To go left, turn right.'"
Fishwick says that, even though popular culture is a dye that penetrates the pores of our environments, "the hidden crevices of our minds," many people, including intellectuals and academics, refuse to take it seriously or try to understand how it has changed the world in which we live. Delivery of the Iraq war makes it harder to ignore, however.
In his new post, Fishwick will be responsible for soliciting, evaluating, and overseeing publications. Articles on American studies as well as popular culture will be considered.
This is a new venture for the Haworth Press, whose numerous imprints include the Haworth Information Press, the Hispanic/Latino Press, the International Business Press, the Haworth Medical Press, the Haworth Pastoral Press, and the Harrington Park Press.
Fishwick has taught popular-culture courses at Virginia Tech and many other universities at home and abroad throughout his academic career. He received the Lifetime Achievement in Popular Culture from the Popular Culture Association and is the author of numerous books on popular culture. The latest is Popular Culture in a New Age (Haworth Press, 2001).
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