Cultural studies

Steve Tsang praises essential reading on China's troubled history with the Olympic Games

Tim Luckhurst is convinced that good journalism will continue to triumph over spin and blogging

Barbed wire, dispossession and fear: Laleh Khalili on liminal lives spent in an ever-shrinking ghetto

Sam Gosling pokes around people's homes, into their cupboards and under their beds. But it's not voyeuristic - such off-the-wall research is delivering crucial insights into personality, Matthew Reisz discovers

Robert Gillett on Erika and Klaus Mann's bittersweet relationships with family and country

If we are what we eat, then the UK is a mutable feast of cultural diversity, says Jeremy MacClancy

Academics say they and students will suffer under move at Leeds Met, writes Melanie Newman

Radhakrishnan Nayar on 'de-Westernisation'

Brian Black finds insightful commentary on Zen's opposing voices, but no road map to a middle way

Raquel A. G. Reyes explores the fascinating world of the human senses and their cultural diversity

... but our tastes are swayed by price, packaging and other social psychological factors in ways we're often unaware of. Matthew Kieran considers the fragility of aesthetic opinions in the latest in our fortnightly series allowing academics to step outside their field of expertise

Lynne Segal is not entirely seduced by arguments for the innate naughtiness of God's chosen people

Simon Barton is disappointed by a lopsided, broad-brush tale of Dark Ages Muslim-Christian clashes

Lancaster and Manchester move to give students more time with tutors, writes Rebecca Attwood

Edinburgh and Cambridge universities to set up Muslim research centres. Olga Wojtas reports

Ian Patterson wishes a study built around writers' day-to-day concerns wasn't quite so workaday

The Government's new 'whole community' initiatives will help fight extremism, says Kamlesh Patel. John Gill reports

Tara Brabazon on bold tales of a Web 2.0 revolution to which the poor and excluded need not apply

Half the profiles of female scientists make mention of appearance, writes Zoe Corbyn

Helen Wilcox is transfixed by the rolling and rollicking life of a saucy Grub Street manipulator

Kamilla Elliott devours many slices of a pie that has fascinated collectors and academics alike

Arts and sciences will join forces in a new heritage science research programme. Zoe Corbyn reports