Michael Butter: From Panem to Pandemic: An Introduction to Cultural Studies. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto, 2023.

• Mark Schmitt

In his survey of the relationship of literary and cultural studies in the curricula of English departments at German universities as well as on the academic book market, Rainer Emig polemically observes that “[w]hat is disturbing is that introductions to Cultural Studies, which ought to be designed to compensate for the lack of theory and methodology that students are likely to encounter in the teaching of Cultural Studies, are more often than not disorienting and indeed off-putting”. Emig’s sobering assessment speaks to the troubled history of Cultural Studies within the German academic system since the 1970s. Inspired by the work of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, founded in 1964, German scholars and teachers gradually introduced the diverse methods and theories of the emerging field into their teaching. Within the English departments of German universities, primarily geared towards teacher training, Cultural Studies initially sat awkwardly between literary studies and area studies (Landeskunde). In addition, Cultural Studies had to ascertain its own distinct identity with its own set of theories and methodology alongside the German inflections of Kulturwissenschaft. These days, however, it would be difficult to find a curriculum for British and American Studies in Germany that does not offer its own version of a course or lecture titled “Introduction to Cultural Studies.” The field has maintained its own plurality, drawing from the methods of literary studies and area studies as much as from media studies, sociology and history.