Responds to articles in the same issue of this journal. Suggests that other commentators continue to misrepresent political economy. Suggests that the conversation on this issue should continue across as wide a civic and civil discourse as possible. (RS)

Discusses popular music as a vehicle for cultural interchange between the United States and Great Britain between 1943 and 1967. Highlights include the early domination of U.S. record business interests and artistic styles established through the U.S. wartime and post-war military presence in England, and the later domination by British recording…

Culturally diverse as they are, Asian-American children and youth share quite a few features among themselves. Most of them are children of foreign-born parents who came to America during the post-1965 immigration waves. As they grow up in culturally isolated environment, they are often faced with identity crisis. The society's racial exclusion…

This article offers a critical perspective on the default mode of freshman composition instruction, that is, its traditionally middle-class and white racial orientation. Although middle-classness and whiteness have been topics of critical interest among compositionists in recent years, perhaps the most effective challenge to this hegemony in…

This paper strives to provide an insight into the multifaceted relationships that young people have, examining the social, cultural and institutional discourses, which shape their lives. We set out to discuss, from an empirical poststructuralist perspective, the way in which Irish adolescents write about the reality of their lives and privilege…

Digital storytelling provides an opportunity for children and adolescents to design multimodal narratives that represent and reflect upon their lives and interests. In the article we look at how two English language learners, Diego, a male Mexican-American kindergartener, and Allie Feng, a female Chinese-American junior in high school, drew upon…

A teacher's observations on the marked contrast between the development and behavior of elementary school children in Tennessee's Cumberland plateau and their counterparts in New York City's Greenwich Village vividly demonstrate the regional basis that still accounts for a variety of cultural variations. And yet, place of upbringing is just one of…

Background/Context: This study draws upon and contributes to sociocultural studies of literacy (a.k.a. New Literacy Studies), sociohistorical theories of identity formation, and practice theories of language interaction to argue that "becoming literate" requires critical inter- and intra-personal identity work accomplished through…

Trends in ecstasy use in America during the past decade were reflected in mainstream, American rap-music lyrics between 1996 and 2003. Drawing on communication and cultural studies theory, this article provides a content analysis of 69 rap songs mentioning the club drug ecstasy. The songs are coded according to whether they contain positive, mixed…

Although Willa Cather is known primarily for her short fiction and novels, she began her writing career as a literary and drama critic while still a student at the University of Nebraska. Her writing experience with the university literary periodical led her to become the drama critic for the "Nebraska State Journal," and later for the…

Links between rock music, moral values, and youth behavior are difficult to establish. This study shows that while young people are influenced by the content of songs, they sometimes disagree with and criticize lyrics. Thus the premise of adolescents as passive receptors of negative values portrayed in music is not warranted. (VM)

Compares Joyce Carol Oates's short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" to the song lyrics of Bob Dylan. Explores the influence Dylan's music had on Oates. Discusses different ways to approach teaching this work. (SG)

Identifies the movie, "Rambo," and "Soldier of Fortune" magazine as artifacts of "paramilitary culture." Contends that they are a social phenomenon which helps legitimate the United States government's rapid escalation of military forces. (MS)

Making traditions "accessible" and making the connections between traditions and transformation ?manifest? (this is Boys's definition of religious education), is a challenging endeavor in mass mediated popular culture contexts. Although definitions of "tradition" may differ from community to community, there is generally a sustained pattern …

Media programs like hip-hop music videos are powerful aesthetic agents that inspire teenagers. Thus, they have tremendous influence on young people's identity formation, lifestyle choices, and knowledge construction which are manifested in the ways teens dress, express themselves, behave, and interact with each other. However, because of the…