[ecrea] New Book: Smart Living

>Please find details below of a new book that may be of interest to the list:
>
>Smart Living: Lifestyle Media and Popular Expertise
>by Tania Lewis
>Published by Peter Lang (New York)
>http://www.peterlang.com/Index.cfm?vID=68677&vHR=1&vUR=2&vUUR=1&vLang=E
>
>Synopsis
>What do the Fab Five from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the Supernanny and
>celebrity chef Jamie Oliver all have in common? Lifestyle gurus are
>increasingly intruding on everyday life, directing ordinary people to see
>themselves as projects that can be made over through embracing an ethos of
>relentless self-improvement. Smart Living argues that they represent a new
>form of popular expertise sweeping the world. Written in a lively and
>accessible manner, the book examines this cult of expertise across a range
>of media and cultural sites and offers the reader a range of critical tools
>for understanding the recent emergence of this popular international
>phenomenon. Smart Living is a must-read for anyone interested in the
>relationship between popular media culture and contemporary social life.
>
>Reviews
>Lifestyle formats work within the familiar, contrastive dynamics of modern
>popular culture. Enhanced 'personal development' and the chance to get
>closer to happiness go along with the further reach of commerce into who we
>are and what we do. Tania Lewis offers a thoughtful exploration of origins,
>communicative forms and impact, setting this within a broader appraisal of
>the future of public identity. (Professor John Corner, School of Politics
>and Communication Studies, University of Liverpool)
>
>Smart Living explores the increasing prevalence of lifestyle expertise in
>the mass media and in the process tells us something important about the
>forms of selfhood we have and aspire to today. Tania Lewis's lucid readings
>of the popular genres of advice on the management of the self offer serious
>insights both into the media and into the social underpinnings of malleable
>selfhood. Smart Living is an exemplary analysis of a shift in some of the
>fundamental categories of social life. (Professor John Frow, School of
>Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne)
>
>Table of contents
>Introducing the lifestyle expert: Zen and the art of spot removal
>1  From manners to makeovers: A history of modern lifestyle advice
>2  Eating expertise: From nutritionists to TV chefs
>3  He needs to face his fears with these five queers!: Queer Eye for the
>Straight Guy, makeover TV, and the lifestyle expert
>4  Honey Were Killing the Kids: Producing lifestyle TV in Australia
>5  DIY lifestyles? Health, lifestyle media, and the reflexive consumer
>6  Lifestyle Inc.: Celebrity, branding, and ordinary expertise
>References
>Index
>ISBN-10: 0820486779  ISBN-13: 978-0820486772  pp.169
>
>Dr Tania Lewis
>La Trobe University
>(t.lewis /at/ latrobe.edu.au)

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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Katholieke Universiteit Brussel - Catholic University of Brussels
Vrijheidslaan 17 - B-1081 Brussel - Belgium
&
Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis
Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 43  - B-1000 Brussel - Belgium
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Sponsored links ;)
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NEW BOOKS OUT
Understanding Alternative Media
by Olga Bailey, Bart Cammaerts, Nico Carpentier
(December 2007)
http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/0335222102.html
----------------------------
Participation and Media Production. Critical Reflections on Content Creation.
Edited by Nico Carpentier and Benjamin De Cleen
(January 2008)
<http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Participation-and-Media-Production--Critical-Reflections-on-Content-Creation1-84718-453-7.htm>http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Participation-and-Media-Production--Critical-Reflections-on-Content-Creation1-84718-453-7.htm 

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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
----------------------------
ECREA's Second European Communication Conference
Barcelona, 25-28 November 2008
http://www.ecrea2008barcelona.org/
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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