Disturbing Pleasures

In b /b b i Disturbing Pleasures /i /b Henry A. Giroux demonstrates how his well-known theories of education, critical pedagogy and popular culture can be put to use in the classroom and in other cultural settings. Adding an entirely new dimension to his thinking about the cultural sites at which pedagogical practice takes place, Giroux illustrates how professors, school teachers and other cultural workers can appropriate what he refers to as a "pedagogy of cultural studies." br br Using cultural texts rather than cultural theories as his point of departure, the first part of b /b b i Disturbing Pleasures /i /b showcases Giroux's unrivalled ability to identify a range of pedagogical activity occurring beyond the classroom--at the movies, in front of the television, even by glancing at provocative advertisements. His stinging analyses of cultural objects and subjects--the interracial Benetton ad campaign, the Disney empire, the New racism in films like i Grand Canyon, /i Whittle Communicationsand Julia Roberts' role in i Pretty Woman /i --extend the reach of his theory by illustrating how learning popular culture becomes intimately linked not only to issues of commercialism and consumerism but to forms of pleasure, possibility and struggle. br br The second part of the volume illustrates the multiple classroom applications of Giroux's theory. Choosing an accessible, even personal voice for this purpose, Giroux shares his own experiences as a teacher: how he conducts his classes, his struggles over the politics of his location as a teacher, writing exercises he organizes around popular culture and the texts he selects and interrogates. These personal reflections not only profile Giroux as a scholar equally committed to theory and practice, but more importantly, provide for educators and cultural workers valuable guidelines for thinking through the ways cultural texts can make a marked difference in the classrooms, educations and lives of students.