Cultural studies

All choices about what to exhibit or not make statements about sexuality, finds Lesley Hall

Andrew Blake on a study facing up to the reality of working in the arts

Was it beauty, race or rebelliousness that created a global icon? Joanna Lewis surveys the evidence

David Rosenthal on a Renaissance man who recorded in detail his obsession with the functional aesthetics his clothing and dress

Book of the week: Brace yourself for unusual keepsakes in a study of our attachment to corpses, says Deborah Lutz

Ruth Richardson on the capital city’s great mists and smogs that have inspired, harmed and killed

Fred Inglis on the innumerable shows and figures from 50 years of popular culture

Sample list of questions says applicants were asked about bankers’ pay and invited to carry out an engineering experiment with a ruler

Annual event continues to open up unexpected places and debates

David Fowler on the influence of venues that at one stage were attracting 3 million visitors a night

Joanna Lewis on a portrait of British blubbering from medieval mystics to the death of Diana

A work of distinction offers fresh insights into the hedonism and hangovers, says Richard J. Williams

Stomach-churning detail reminds us of the blood, sweat and tears in clothes, says Shahidha Bari

Event at the University of Hertfordshire breaks new ground in examining the undead

The good, the bad and the offbeat: the academy through the lens of the national press

Kingston academic Will Brooker pioneers a new kind of immersive research

Happy Stripper scholar challenges view that all female objectification is necessarily negative

Report attributes decline to UK government trebling tuition fees 

Richard J. Williams on an entertaining study that takes in Las Vegas, Jerusalem and the online worlds of Second Life

Tom Palaima on an examination of the conflicts that have been raging since the 1960s

Ashley M. L. Brown discovers that imagination is often perceived as the greatest threat of all

Superheroes enliven a study of the history of red tape and how it shapes our lives, says Fred Inglis

Tara Brabazon on an ethnographical study of the internet users who ‘swarm’ in order to cause maximum pain

Les Gofton on a compelling study of a musical subculture

Robyn Arianrhod welcomes an unsentimental study of the first woman to win a Nobel prize

Laurence Coupe on an ambitious and challenging exploration of the ecology of the past

Peter J. Smith on the literary giants who have drawn inspiration from their nocturnal perambulations

Laurence Coupe relishes inspiring reflections on the natural world’s relationship with language

News of the death of the iconic disc has been greatly exaggerated, says Hillegonda C. Rietveld

There’s a piggy in the middle of this gripping tale of depilation, finds Emma Rees

Andrew Blake on a study of politics and the arts in the New Labour era

Jonathan Mirsky on a revealing study about the roots of changes in sexual habits

Fred Inglis on a collection of articles that touches on, but should have focused on, the corruption of universities by corporate forces

Katharine Reeve on the fundamental impact of paper on human life, work and culture

An examination of our bathroom habits is a little…constipated, finds Peter J. Smith

Fred Inglis salutes a big-hearted exploration of society’s obsession with youthfulness

Giulia Miller writes on the weird backstory to a female superhero, from women’s suffrage to lie detectors

Philip Clarke asks whether ecological issues can be solved by studying aboriginal knowledge

Tim Hall on a travelogue, covering 12 locations, with an abundance of ecological and cultural insights

Howard P. Segal on an examination of the accelerating pace of life whose scope extends beyond fast food and computers

Tallis enters a crowded arena when he asks what the arts mean nowadays, says Fred Inglis

Steve Redhead on a discussion of play as a means of interacting with the world around us

Andrew Blake appreciates a new view of the relationship between Empire and cultural hybridity

Sally R. Munt lauds an ethnographic study of men who are ‘out’ about their weight

Shahidha Bari savours a celebration of our relationship with food across genres and cultures

Joy Hendry hopes for insights that look beyond stereotypes in this study of a nation in flux

Leslie Gofton finds this fusion of memoir and essay blending academic learning, popular culture and politics fails to fully satisfy

An examination of viewing habits illuminates the lives of Arabic people who have made their home in Europe, finds Zahera Harb

Richard Wilk on a spicy mix of autobiography, food history and travel

Kristin Aune discovers the wide-ranging views and behaviour of ‘nones’ - the religiously unaffiliated

Caroline Osella on the causes behind the astonishingly high rate of suicide in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala

Laura Frost on the needs met by an erotic best-seller

Robert Reynolds on how US cultural critics in the 1970s ignored the upside of championing oneself

The Mephistopheles of the anglophone intelligentsia ponders a God-shaped hole, leaving Fred Inglis exhilarated and maddened

Steve Redhead finds a lack of sophistication in this analysis of the online gaming community

An autobiographical tale of country music fandom resonates with Susan Deacy

Christina Scharff on an exploration of the pleasure, curiosity and guilt that accompany this pastime

Claire Chambers on how the national imaginings of the English changed during the Romantic period separating out notions of class and race

Ulrike Zitzlsperger on how the ‘vertical railway’ has changed our society and our buildings

Julia Droeber praises an interrogation of the image of the Muslim man