Cultural Studies

Reconstructing the American Dream
Life Inside the Tiny House Nation
Over the past decade Tiny Housing has become something of a viral sensation in the US. From Instagrammable enclaves for young professionals to vast municipality-supported schemes seeking to address homelessness tiny house sites are proliferating across the country.
This book takes a look at life inside the ‘Tiny House Nation’ shining an intimate light on a phenomenon widely celebrated in the mainstream media. The book presents textured narrative accounts from and striking images of Tiny Home residents their homes and communities while analysing the broader socio-economic structures shaping their lives. In so doing it paints a compelling and complex picture of a trend at the crossroads of several key social cultural and economic shifts at a pivotal moment for America’s housing future.
Fundamentally this is a book about paradoxes. The paradox of tiny housing offering freedom from the constraints of capitalism whilst at the same time remaining embedded within capitalist systems. The paradox of those who ‘go tiny’ both choosing an alternative lifestyle and those who are pushed into tiny housing as a consequence of limited choice. The paradox of Austin Texas as both a countercultural enclave and hyper-capitalist tech haven. And the paradox of tiny house ethoses in Austin as both centring community and shared assets and individualist libertarianism. These paradoxes do not necessarily sit in opposition to one another but are all bound up in the complexity of what tiny housing has to offer as an alternative way of living.
Despite its unattainability for all but the most privileged the American Dream - the home-owning society the suburban bliss the white picket fence - remains emblematic of the residential Good Life. But in the decades since the turn of the millennium the dream has been shrunk down expectations of a decent home literally reduced. Whilst for some this has led to forms of freedom and fulfilment it has also contributed to the normalisation of cities so outrageously expensive that all people can afford are miniature homes on the urban periphery. As this book shows both impacts of tiny housing are equally true and one does not cancel out the other. Tiny housing embodies an important societal crossroads. In some respects it offers an alternative to the prevailing housing status quo. In others it demonstrates what options have already been taken away from us.
from the Introduction
‘In the rest of this book we’ll lead you through our exploration of tiny housing in Texas. We’ll start in the next chapter by introducing some of the places and people we encountered on our travels to set the scene. Then the ‘pathways’ chapter examines the various conditions and journeys through which people end up living tiny. As you’ll see our attempt to produce a diagram of pathways to tiny living escalated into the production of a fully blown board game. We describe this diagrammatic board game to show the complex and nuanced personal and structural circumstances that lead people into tiny housing. From there we go into three empirical chapters focusing on economies of tiny living the materiality of tiny housing as domestic spaces and community culture. We then draw the book to a close and speculate about what tiny housing means for the future of domestic life especially in relation to the American Dream.
‘Throughout the book our descriptions are accompanied by photographs taken by Cian Oba-Smith who accompanied us on our first trip to Texas in 2022. The hype around tiny housing is undoubtedly driven in large part by the aesthetic cultures surrounding it. Tiny homes are the picturesque boutique upmarket cousin of mobile homes and trailers. They are distinguished from these other types of small housing as we’ll argue in this book specifically by their aesthetics. Anyone who ventures into the world of tiny housing for more than five minutes will see how thick this aesthetic culture is. From beautifully curated Instagram pages to countless coffee table books to Etsy shops dedicated to crafted tiny house merchandise a key part of living tiny is enjoying and embracing its aesthetics. By working with Cian we were able to focus (literally) on these aesthetic dimensions of tiny housing. However we were also able to capture some of what’s not presented in promotional tiny house materials; the constraints the challenges and the complexities that come along with the joy and the freedom. We’re positioning this book as something of a disrupted coffee table book. On an initial flick through it might not look too different to the photography books that valorise tiny living but you’ll already know if you’ve read this far that our approach is more nuanced. Our attempt has been to expose the ‘real’ Tiny House Nation. Not to attack it not to deny its beneficial impacts for a huge number of people but to inject some nuance into the debate so that we can take forward the positives of tiny living without normalising the negatives.’

Reconstructing the American Dream
Life Inside the Tiny House Nation
Over the past decade Tiny Housing has become something of a viral sensation in the US. From Instagrammable enclaves for young professionals to vast municipality-supported schemes seeking to address homelessness tiny house sites are proliferating across the country.
This book takes a look at life inside the ‘Tiny House Nation’ shining an intimate light on a phenomenon widely celebrated in the mainstream media. The book presents textured narrative accounts from and striking images of Tiny Home residents their homes and communities while analysing the broader socio-economic structures shaping their lives. In so doing it paints a compelling and complex picture of a trend at the crossroads of several key social cultural and economic shifts at a pivotal moment for America’s housing future.
Fundamentally this is a book about paradoxes. The paradox of tiny housing offering freedom from the constraints of capitalism whilst at the same time remaining embedded within capitalist systems. The paradox of those who ‘go tiny’ both choosing an alternative lifestyle and those who are pushed into tiny housing as a consequence of limited choice. The paradox of Austin Texas as both a countercultural enclave and hyper-capitalist tech haven. And the paradox of tiny house ethoses in Austin as both centring community and shared assets and individualist libertarianism. These paradoxes do not necessarily sit in opposition to one another but are all bound up in the complexity of what tiny housing has to offer as an alternative way of living.
Despite its unattainability for all but the most privileged the American Dream - the home-owning society the suburban bliss the white picket fence - remains emblematic of the residential Good Life. But in the decades since the turn of the millennium the dream has been shrunk down expectations of a decent home literally reduced. Whilst for some this has led to forms of freedom and fulfilment it has also contributed to the normalisation of cities so outrageously expensive that all people can afford are miniature homes on the urban periphery. As this book shows both impacts of tiny housing are equally true and one does not cancel out the other. Tiny housing embodies an important societal crossroads. In some respects it offers an alternative to the prevailing housing status quo. In others it demonstrates what options have already been taken away from us.
from the Introduction
‘In the rest of this book we’ll lead you through our exploration of tiny housing in Texas. We’ll start in the next chapter by introducing some of the places and people we encountered on our travels to set the scene. Then the ‘pathways’ chapter examines the various conditions and journeys through which people end up living tiny. As you’ll see our attempt to produce a diagram of pathways to tiny living escalated into the production of a fully blown board game. We describe this diagrammatic board game to show the complex and nuanced personal and structural circumstances that lead people into tiny housing. From there we go into three empirical chapters focusing on economies of tiny living the materiality of tiny housing as domestic spaces and community culture. We then draw the book to a close and speculate about what tiny housing means for the future of domestic life especially in relation to the American Dream.
‘Throughout the book our descriptions are accompanied by photographs taken by Cian Oba-Smith who accompanied us on our first trip to Texas in 2022. The hype around tiny housing is undoubtedly driven in large part by the aesthetic cultures surrounding it. Tiny homes are the picturesque boutique upmarket cousin of mobile homes and trailers. They are distinguished from these other types of small housing as we’ll argue in this book specifically by their aesthetics. Anyone who ventures into the world of tiny housing for more than five minutes will see how thick this aesthetic culture is. From beautifully curated Instagram pages to countless coffee table books to Etsy shops dedicated to crafted tiny house merchandise a key part of living tiny is enjoying and embracing its aesthetics. By working with Cian we were able to focus (literally) on these aesthetic dimensions of tiny housing. However we were also able to capture some of what’s not presented in promotional tiny house materials; the constraints the challenges and the complexities that come along with the joy and the freedom. We’re positioning this book as something of a disrupted coffee table book. On an initial flick through it might not look too different to the photography books that valorise tiny living but you’ll already know if you’ve read this far that our approach is more nuanced. Our attempt has been to expose the ‘real’ Tiny House Nation. Not to attack it not to deny its beneficial impacts for a huge number of people but to inject some nuance into the debate so that we can take forward the positives of tiny living without normalising the negatives.’

On the Communicative Turn in Philosophy
Exploring Intersubjectivity, Community and the Ethics of Dialogue
The book aims to give prominence to the way the concept of communication has been deployed within philosophical debates. It shows how philosophers have adopted this concept in their discussions on the issues of intersubjectivity community and the ethics of dialogue.
Although mainstream philosophers do not as yet consider the philosophy of communication as a branch in its own right instead subsuming it within the philosophy of language as pragmatics the concept of communication is broader than that of language. This book aims to develop the relationship between communication and philosophy further.
Mangion hopes to encourage others to conduct further research by aligning communication with questions that are of a philosophical nature.

The Neoliberal Self in Bollywood
Cinema, Popular Culture, and Identity
This book explores the consequences of unbridled expansion of neoliberal values within India through the lens of popular film and culture. The focus of the book is the neoliberal self which far from being a stable marker of urban liberal millennial Indian identity has a schizophrenic quality one that is replete with contradictions and oppositions unable to sustain the weight of its own need for self-promotion optimism and belief in a narrative of progress and prosperity that has marked mainstream cultural discourse in India. The unstable and schizophrenic neoliberal identity that is the concern of this book however belies this narrative and lays bare the sense of precarity and inherent inequality that neoliberal regimes confer upon their subjects.
The analysis is explicitly political and draws upon theories of feminist media studies popular culture analyses and film studies to critique mainstream Hindi cinema texts produced in the last two decades. Rele Sathe also examine a variety of other peripheral ‘texts’ in her analysis such as the film star the urban space web series YouTube videos and social media content.

Nuclear Gaia
Media Archives of Planetary Harm
Describes the transformations we have witnessed due to the development of nuclear science and technology accelerating policies interdependent on energy and military procedures that have led us to make a provocative claim that in many respects planet Earth is getting closer to the embodiment of the project we call Nuclear Gaia.
The book examines media archives and online platforms that recover data and memory and shape community knowledge of nuclear events from the distant and nearer past. These are the pieces of evidence that we are on the eve of creating new forms of social justice carried out by open-source investigations (OSINT) groups independent researchers artists media makers activists local communities and civic groups.
Thus analysing nuclear processes and their social and environmental consequences is no longer the exclusive domain of experts scientists politicians and the military. The authors hope that such communities’ practices and decolonial discourses combined with the critiques within our methodology as postnuclear media studies can also change the fate of nuclear industry victims by creating media space to discuss and regain justice as socially sanctioned and shared rules for understanding and using nuclear energy both in past and the future.

The Being of Relation
How does whiteness sediment worlds? How does it format individuality in the name of a neurotypicality that polices how one bodies and how one comes to know? And how does a poetics of relation shift the very logic of this sedimentation?
Edouard Glissant’s poetics of relation are bold in their call to “consent not to be a single being.” This transindividual consent born in the process of worlds crafting themselves in what he would call an “aesthetics of the earth” are felt in Fernand Deligny’s errant lines. These errant lines traced to move with the complex gestures of autistics over a period of several years in Monoblet France (1965-1970) offer an alternative to pathology and individual psychological assessment.
The Being of Relation brings these two projects into encounter exploring what else blackness can be at this non-pathological juncture where what is foregrounded is the very being of relation. On the way trails of whiteness are excavated and interrogated. The aim: to move toward parapedagogies of resistance in a logic of a poetics of relation a logic of neurodiversity minor sociality and the kind of difference without separability that refuses the binary that holds neurotypicality – as whiteness – in place.

Removing the Educational Silos
Models of Interdisciplinary and Multi-disciplinary Education
This collection was written by educators who are engaging in multi- and interdisciplinary education and are led by curiosities encompassing the collaborative nature of cognitive and kinesthetic engagement and awareness.
The chapters are designed as sources for inspiration replication and adaptation. They are a place to start or continue. Each chapter in varying modalities addresses interdisciplinary course development and implementation in institutions of higher education. The common themes that emerge in the collection include navigating administrative systems and solving the challenges encountered when crossing departments or colleges whether it be regarding listing of courses or the intricacies of course load on each professor.
Many chapters also provide detailed information on the nuts and bolts of the specific course or courses taught including syllabi lesson examples and both formal and informal assessments implemented. Multiple case studies are included in this collection with many chapters providing specific examples of students’ work.
Contributors candidly offer discussions of failures and successes of their interdisciplinary collaborations be it in course design lesson planning or complications brought in by unforeseen pandemics. Most chapters end with a section entitled ‘Lessons learned’ where experiences from the field provide opportunities for growth and continued exploration.
Readers can follow the book from cover to cover or dip in finding the chapters that serve a particular project or teaching endeavour. The varying writing styles and topics are in direct relationship with the exact nature of the inspiration for this text. The over-arching themes of collaboration (diverse backgrounds ideas and skill sets multidisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity) are the consistent touchstones that create a thematic self-guided journey of exploration through the book.
The chapters offer readers guidance and encouragement to implement some of the approaches described and inspiration to forge their own paths in the world of multi- and interdisciplinary teaching and research. The depth and breadth of collaborative possibilities are exciting and the editors’ goal is to spark further experimentation.
An excellent and practical resource for any educator hoping to teach his or her subject matter through an interdisciplinary approach and for all courses revolving around topics of pedagogy. The key audience will be graduate students and teachers in all stages of education from primary to higher education.

Islamic and Islamicate Architecture in the Americas
Transregional Dialogues and Manifestations
Architectural expressions resonant with Islamic traditions appear in diverse modes across the Americas from Andalusian-inspired colonial patios in Peru to the modern and contemporary patronage of immigrant communities in the United States and Canada. This volume examines the multiple manifestations of Islamic architecture that permeate the region’s built environment to invite an expanded framing of this architectural legacy via a hemispheric consideration of aesthetics narrative and patronage.
Chapters consider a broad range of topics from the migration of aesthetic traditions and construction techniques tied to the architectural forms of the Islamic world in the colonial “New World” to the direct contributions of modern and contemporary migrants in shaping a collective identity and the built environment.
By placing in productive dialogue sites that represent Islamic and Islamicate architecture across North and South America – two areas outside of the traditional conceptions of the Islamic world– this volume bridges transregional and transcultural gaps in the current literature.

Entrepreneurial Arts and Cultural Leadership
Traits of Success in Nonprofit Theatre
Traits is timely and needed. It provides a pathway to cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset in nonprofit arts management students and in those in the nonprofit field. Traits is not another academic hypothetical imagining text. Rather Traits is a tactical centred on entrepreneurial leadership offering a concrete case example Imagination Stage.
2020 brought significant changes to the world’s business and social fabric. The nonprofit arts has been greatly impacted with the highest unemployment rate during the peak of the pandemic response to the slow and inconsistent return of patrons. Internally organizations had to address often long-over-due adaptations to the inclusive and accessible practices demanded by their communities including equitable pay scales diversity inclusion and access on stage staffs and boards.
Consequently many nonprofit arts organizations are now less viable; many have gone out of business; and most are struggling to adopt new post-pandemic practices that promote a new culture in their organization. The authors contend that those organizations that have survived are led by social entrepreneurs who were always ahead of the curve and able to adapt.
The authors’ underlying assumption is that while entrepreneurship may be innate in some in most it is not - even in those who lead organizations. But it can also be taught – just like any form of leadership. And this is what Traits does.

Hip-Hop Archives
The Politics and Poetics of Knowledge Production
This book focuses on the culture and politics involved in building hip-hop archives. It addresses practical aspects including methods of accumulation curation preservation and digitization and critically analyzes institutional power community engagement urban economics public access and the ideological implications associated with hip-hop culture’s enduring tensions with dominant social values.
The collection of essays are divided into four sections; Doing the Knowledge Challenging Archival Forms Beyond the Nation and Institutional Alignments: Interviews and Reflections. The book covers a range of official unofficial DIY and community archives and collections and features chapters by scholar practitioners educators and curators.
A wide swath of hip-hop culture is featured in the book including a focus on dance graffiti clothing and battle rap. The range of authors and their topics span countries in Asia Europe the Caribbean and North America.

The Social Object
Apprehending Materiality for Industrial Design Practice
The Social Object uses the methods of design history material culture studies and the social construction of technology to analyse the domestic spaces and objects in the homes of the middle class in India. The book describes how people make meaning of the objects they buy own and gift.
This is a book about the biography of projects and objects. The projects in the book serve as book ends to a detailed and affectionate account of the biographies of objects within the homes of the not so rich.
The aim of the author has been to silence the voice of the designer to allow the accounts of objects to emerge as periodic irruptions that reveal a hidden maelstrom of passion ideas and failed projects. The book opens with the biography of a project dealing with waste leading the reader to a very particular kind of object the bads. This object is illicit handled by criminals and in the writing by the author serves to invert the dominant discourse of objects as commodities. This book makes the case that the program of design is better seen as a democratic community where the householders the zietgiest technology and all manner of hidden agents collide to allow unforseen periodic objects to emerge.
Varadarajan argues against a simplistic universal account off the way we think about how objects are designed. As an enterprise the book was a journey to assemble the evidence - of places and objects - and observe the enactment of practices with the objects. It was also a project of speculation upon the possible ways in which objects come to be as local collaborations of action.

Decoding impermanent narratives: A study of transient migrants as digital influencers on YouTube
Students migrate from India annually for higher education in large numbers. Social media has become an essential network for disseminating information related to aspects of migration like student visas college applications residence and finances. YouTube engages vigorously in this dispersion of information. Many times the sources of these kinds of information are found to be transient migrants themselves. YouTubers and influencers like Tushar Bareja Nidhi Nagori Gursahib Singh Bani Singh and Saloni Verma among others have made a niche creating content and sharing information about the experience of being a transient migrant. Much like the status of being transient creating one’s brand on social media is both dynamic and fleeting which cannot be defined in a sense of permanence. The analysis of content created by YouTube influencers enables an insight into the definition of transient migrant identity. The topics that are covered in the content showcase the particular components of international student life that add to the concept of a transient migrant identity. The article attempts to ask the question of how the YouTube videos made by student migrants end up contributing to the transient migrant identity. It also attempts to decipher how the transient identity itself is packaged as a commodity to be monetized by these student migrant influencers on YouTube. Using theoretical frameworks of influencer culture social media and migration the article attempts to unravel the workings of YouTube in commodifying the transient migrant experience.

Cosmetics Marketing: Strategy and Innovation in the Beauty Industry, Lindsay Karchin and Delphine Horvath (2023)
Review of: Cosmetics Marketing: Strategy and Innovation in the Beauty Industry Lindsay Karchin and Delphine Horvath (2023)
London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts 253 pp.
ISBN 978-1-35029-943-6 p/bk $44.95

Tribal and the Cultural Legacy of Streetwear, G. James Daichendt (ed.) (2024)
Review of: Tribal and the Cultural Legacy of Streetwear G. James Daichendt (ed.) (2024)
Bristol: Intellect Books 240 pp.
ISBN 978-1-78938-808-4 p/bk EUR 29.99

Hang Ups: Reflections on the Causes and Consequences of Fashion’s ‘Western’-Centrism, Benjamin Linley Wild (2024)
Review of: Hang Ups: Reflections on the Causes and Consequences of Fashion’s ‘Western’-Centrism Benjamin Linley Wild (2024)
London New York New Delhi and Sydney: Bloomsbury Visual Arts 292 pp.
ISBN 978-1-35019-724-4 h/bk $103.50
ISBN 978-1-35019-723-7 p/bk $34.15
ISBN 978-1-35019-725-1 e-PDF $27.32
ISBN 978-1-35019-726-8 e-book $27.32

Butts: A Backstory, Heather Radke (2022)
Review of: Butts: A Backstory Heather Radke (2022)
New York: Avid Reader Press 310 pp.
ISBN 978-1-98213-548-5 h/bk $28.99
ISBN 978-1-98213-549-2 p/bk $18.99
ISBN 978-1-98213-552-2 e-book $14.99

Dress and Identity in America: The Baby Boom Years 1946–1964, Daniel Delis Hill (2024)
Review of: Dress and Identity in America: The Baby Boom Years 1946–1964 Daniel Delis Hill (2024)
London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts 242 pp.
ISBN 978-1-3503 h/bk $80.50

Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today: ¡Moda Hoy!, Tanya Meléndez-Escalante and Melissa Marra-Alvarez (2024)
Review of: Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today: ¡Moda Hoy! Tanya Meléndez-Escalante and Melissa Marra-Alvarez (2024)
New York: Bloomsbury 272 pp.
ISBN 978-1-35034-395-5 h/bk $42.40

Shirts, Shifts and Sheets of Fine Linen: British Seamstresses from the 17th to the 19th Century, Pam Inder (2024)
Review of: Shirts Shifts and Sheets of Fine Linen: British Seamstresses from the 17th to the 19th Century Pam Inder (2024)
London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts 311 pp.
ISBN 978-1-35025-296-7 h/bk $115.00
ISBN 978-1-35025-297-4 e-PDF $103.50
ISBN 978-1-35025-298-1 e-book $103.50

Textiles on Film, Becky Peterson (2024)
Review of: Textiles on Film Becky Peterson (2024)
London: Bloomsbury 184 pp.
ISBN 978-1-35002-655-1 h/bk $70.00

New Approaches to Decolonizing Fashion History and Period Styles: Refashioning Pedagogies, Ashley Bellet (ed.) (2024)
Review of: New Approaches to Decolonizing Fashion History and Period Styles: Refashioning Pedagogies Ashley Bellet (ed.) (2024)
New York: Routledge 228 pp.
ISBN 978-1-03223-542-4 p/bk $42.95

Fashion Projects: 15 Years of Fashion in Dialogue, Francesca Granata (ed.) (2024)
Review of: Fashion Projects: 15 Years of Fashion in Dialogue Francesca Granata (ed.) (2024)
Bristol: Intellect 225 pp.
ISBN 978-1-78938-893-0 h/bk $134.95
ISBN 978-1-78938-894-7 e-book $103.95
ISBN 978-1-78938-895-4 e-PDF $103.95

Luxury Fashion and Media Communication: Between the Material and Immaterial, Paula von Wachenfeldt and Magdalena Petersson McIntyre (eds) (2024)
Review of: Luxury Fashion and Media Communication: Between the Material and Immaterial Paula von Wachenfeldt and Magdalena Petersson McIntyre (eds) (2024)
New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts 214 pp.
ISBN 978-1-35029-106-5 h/bk £85.00

Understanding Fashion Scandals: Social Media, Identity, and Globalization, Annamari Vänskä and Olga Gurova (2024)
Review of: Understanding Fashion Scandals: Social Media Identity and Globalization Annamari Vänskä and Olga Gurova (2024)
London: Bloomsbury Publishing 235 pp.
ISBN 978-1-35024-896-0 h/bk £15.11

Fragmentation, taboos and advocacy: An examination of the Indian-Australian ethnic media
This article examines the advocacy role of Indian-Australian ethnic media and their efforts to address sociocultural issues within the Indian diaspora in Australia. Based on interviews with twelve media producers the study explores how these outlets raise awareness of challenges such as casteism dowry practices and sociopolitical divides. Ethnic media play a vital role in multicultural societies expressing cultural identity while managing relationships between minority and majority groups. However the findings show that financial and structural constraints often lead to editorial caution especially regarding contentious topics. This restraint is largely driven by reliance on advertising revenue from community businesses and government sources which affects editorial decisions. The study also reveals that these outlets often prioritize a broader national identity over engaging with internal divisions within the Indian diaspora such as those related to religion caste and class. The concept of multi-ethnic public sphere further supports the idea that ethnic media can promote inter-cultural dialogue though their potential is limited by ongoing financial challenges. This article highlights the need for greater institutional and financial backing to strengthen ethnic media’s ability to serve their communities. Supporting these outlets would allow for more active engagement with marginalized groups and internal dynamics positioning Indian-Australian ethnic media as key advocates for community interests within Australia’s multicultural framework and contributing to social change.

Experiences of self-gifting luxury fashion during the COVID-19 pandemic
Consumer behaviour is known to change during trying times as consumption has implications for the self. In fact the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic saw a rise in self-gifting. Adopting a psychological lens this novel study explored females’ experiences of self-gifting luxury fashion during the pandemic. Given the under-researched area an exploratory qualitative approach was adopted and interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to understand participants’ experiences. A homogenous sample of four females were interviewed using semi-structured interviews to elicit rich data. Findings demonstrated that self-gifting of luxury fashion during the pandemic was a complex phenomenon that seemed to contribute to participants’ psychological well-being. The discussion links and extends the literature on self-gifting luxury consumer behaviour and consumption during trying times. It highlights implications for academic research individuals brands and retailers.

Contemporary queer fashion media as personal liberations: Qwear, digital media and twenty-first-century queer fashion shows
In the twenty-first century the emergence of numerous fashion brands catering to queer and trans communities has been accompanied by the establishment of notable queer-focused fashion media platforms. Noteworthy among these are DapperQ and Qwear which specialize in exploring the intersections of fashion style and the experiences of queer and trans individuals. This study delves into the history and intricacies of Qwear one of these contemporary groundbreaking queer media outlets. By examining this outlet we aim to unravel the multifaceted layers that distinguish them as influential conveyors of queer and trans sensibilities. To achieve our purpose we employed a historical research method incorporating the analysis of primary sources and oral history. Overall Qwear has become more than just outlets for style that is they stand as pillars of empowerment offering safer havens for individuals to explore celebrate and redefine their relationship with fashion. Sonny Oram’s founding journey of Qwear rooted in personal healing through clothing underscores the transformative power of fashion as a tool for self-discovery activism and solidarity within the queer and trans communities.

Analysis and optimization strategies for key factors in children’s clothing design
This study delves into the critical factors influencing children’s clothing design through a multifaceted approach. The investigation elucidates the most significant design elements by employing qualitative research methods the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP). Initially semi-structured interviews were conducted with experienced professionals encompassing children’s clothing designers and related specialists with a minimum of fifteen years of expertise. These interviews served to gather valuable insights and experiences. Subsequently the FDM was utilized to assess the relative importance of identified design elements. Finally the FAHP was implemented to determine the weights assigned to each factor establishing a hierarchy of importance. The findings reveal that safety reigns supreme as the most critical design consideration. Following safety are comfort style elements and practicality. Safety prioritizes the utilization of non-toxic materials and secure fastenings. Comfort emphasizes breathable fabrics and textures that are gentle against the skin. Style elements encompass colour palettes patterns and the incorporation of creative design aspects. Practical considerations delve into age-appropriateness freedom of movement garments with multifunctional purposes and enduring durability. This comprehensive study offers invaluable guidance for the field of children’s clothing design. It empowers designers to effectively address the needs of children while aligning with parental expectations. Ultimately this approach propels market development and fosters children’s enhanced quality of life.

Turning puzzle games into fashion: Exploring personal outfits through symbol-based clothing assembly
The intersection of gaming and fashion opens a novel avenue for personal expression through symbol-based clothing assembly akin to puzzle games. This study delves into the transformative potential of integrating the mechanics of puzzles into creating personal outfits fostering a platform for individuals to manifest their distinctive style and creativity. The research scrutinizes the design process highlighting the symbiotic relationship between self-expression and individuality and the cognitive stimulation provided by the puzzle-solving aspect that enhances the wearer’s brainstorming capabilities. Implementing this concept poses a unique set of challenges and opportunities aiming to redefine the paradigms of fashion design. Ultimately this innovative approach seeks to revolutionize personal style creating a dynamic and interactive experience that resonates with the wearer’s identity and ingenuity.

Fashion influences of women university administrators
Women administrators are responsible for a broad array of difficult management tasks that affect their higher education institutions. There exist great societal expectations regarding women’s dress and appearance management practices. In this study we identify the clothing-related influences women leaders used to develop their roles as university administrators. We interviewed 36 women in high-level administrative leadership roles at a Midwestern doctoral-granting land grant university. Qualitative thematic analysis revealed four major influences: (1) the importance of complying with the (unofficial) university dress code or ‘uniform’ (2) the comparison negotiation and influence of others (3) dressing for their roles and (4) fitting into social and cultural norms. Through the lens of social identity theory findings revealed that administrators’ practices were negotiated through a process of observation contemplation of their own individuality and responsibilities and close identification of themselves as leaders within their specific university setting. Implications for retailers and aspiring leaders are included.

Visual merchandising in fashion retail: The diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) perspective
Diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) has been at the forefront of many disciplines in recent years. Utilizing three different aspects of visual merchandising in the context of fashion retail this study investigates the effects of (1) colours of mannequins (2) sizes of mannequins and (3) the presence of a rainbow flag as signage in a physical store on consumers’ feelings towards the store and related clothing styles in addition to their perceptions of the store’s commitment to DEI. Using an online survey data were collected from a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial experimental design with 382 responses. Findings suggest that mannequin sizes influenced the participants’ overall feelings towards a store in addition to mixed interaction effects among mannequin sizes colours and/or use of a rainbow flag. Discussion and implications are provided.

New Queer Television
From Marginalization to Mainstreamification
Though queer critics and queer theory tend to frame queer identities as marginal this edited volume draws attention to a dynamic field in which a wide variety of queer identities can be put on display and consumed by audiences. Cementing a foundational understanding of queerness that is at odds with current shifts in media production contributors present a broad variety of queer identities from across a range of televisual shows and genres to reconsider the marginalization of queerness in the twenty-first century. Doing so challenges preexisting notions that such “mainstreamification” necessitates being subsumed by the cisheteropatriarchy. This project argues the opposite showing that heteronormative assumptions are outdated and that new queer representations lay the groundwork for filling gaps that queer criticism has left open.
Thomas Brassington is a researcher whose work explores intersections of queerness and the Gothic in contemporary popular culture. Debra Ferreday is a feminist cultural theorist whose research concerns gender feminist theory sexuality critical race theory queer theory and embodiment. Dany Girard is a queer researcher whose work primarily explores representations of gender asexualities and queer theory in television and film.

Product Design, Technology, and Social Change
A Short Cultural History
This cultural history critically examines product design and its development from pre-industrial times to the present day considering major milestones in the mass production of goods and services aiming to incorporate a more inclusive worldview than traditional surveys of the topic.
The breadth and versatility of product design through history has been profound. Products have long supported the integration and interpretation of emerging technologies into our lives. These objects include everything from tools accessories furniture and clothing to types of transportation websites and mobile apps. Products provide singular or multiple functions are tangible and intangible and in many instances have impacted the quality of our lives by saving time or money or by increasing feelings of personal satisfaction. At the same time many products have negatively impacted people and the environment. For nearly every product that makes it into the hands of a consumer there is also a designer who created it and someone who laboured to make it.
Examines the relationship between products consumption sustainability politics and social movements. This "pocket history" surveys product design from the agricultural revolution and the birth of cities through industrialisation and a digital design revolution.

Product Design, Technology, and Social Change
A Short Cultural History
This cultural history critically examines product design and its development from pre-industrial times to the present day considering major milestones in the mass production of goods and services aiming to incorporate a more inclusive worldview than traditional surveys of the topic.
The breadth and versatility of product design through history has been profound. Products have long supported the integration and interpretation of emerging technologies into our lives. These objects include everything from tools accessories furniture and clothing to types of transportation websites and mobile apps. Products provide singular or multiple functions are tangible and intangible and in many instances have impacted the quality of our lives by saving time or money or by increasing feelings of personal satisfaction. At the same time many products have negatively impacted people and the environment. For nearly every product that makes it into the hands of a consumer there is also a designer who created it and someone who laboured to make it.
Examines the relationship between products consumption sustainability politics and social movements. This "pocket history" surveys product design from the agricultural revolution and the birth of cities through industrialisation and a digital design revolution.

Engaging youth students in community issues: The efficacy of a citizenship education programme in Kenya
This article explores the implementation and impact of a local democracy programme as a citizenship education framework in Kenya. Focusing on the pedagogical approach of ‘Transmission Transaction and Reflection’ in Kenya it examines how secondary students engage with local democratic governance and societal issues by creating and distributing reports in their newsletters. The study reveals the benefits and challenges of integrating citizenship education into the curriculum highlighting the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application and demonstrates that experiential learning activities such as student-led reporting can significantly enhance students’ understanding of democratic values and active citizenship. It underscores the necessity of bridging the theoretical–practical divide to effectively prepare students for their roles as engaged empowered and ethical citizens. These valuable insights into pedagogical strategies can foster more inclusive and participatory citizenship education in Kenya and similar African contexts.