Where We At? New Directions for Research on Popular Culture and World Politics

Abstract

A decade ago, scholars of international relations articulated a research agenda for the study of popular culture and world politics (PCWP), and since then a burgeoning literature has grown in this area. This article critically reflects on the research agenda put forward by Grayson, Davies, and Philpott and explores how recent scholarship has furthered the study of PCWP. In doing so, this article identifies four limitations of current research and suggests that if PCWP scholarship is to remain committed to understanding how power, identities, ideologies, and actions are made commonsense and legitimate, while also problematizing global inequalities and injustices, then it needs to pay greater attention to the analysis of four areas. These are (1) race, colonialism, and intersectionality in PCWP; (2) the impact of digital technology on PCWP; (3) the audience interpretation of PCWP; and (4) practices of making and producing PCWP.

Insurmountable enemies or easy targets? Military-themed videogame ‘translations’ of weaponized artificial intelligence

“…Emerging public understandings over AI weapons can be approached through popular culture and world politics (PCWP) frameworks. These frameworks theorize that political discourses and battles can extend into everyday cultural imaginaries (Caso and Hamilton, 2015; Crilley, 2021; Grayson et al, 2009). At the heart of PCWP-oriented studies is the idea that pop-culture objects can shape ongoing real-world political discussions and actions while functioning as artifacts that capture a society’s evolving worldviews (Buzan, 2010; Daniel and Musgrave, 2017; Muller, 2008; Nexon and Neumann, 2006; Rowley and Weldes, 2012; Weldes, 1999).…”

Pedagogical Utility of Science Fiction & The Neither Impossible nor Possible Universe of The Expanse

“…In lieu of a sweeping overview of the coevolution of popular culture and IR-there are already many good primers out there (Crilley 2021; Daniel and Musgrave 2017)-I dedicate this section to two specific sub-strands that my own argument is directly coopting and contributing to: the pedagogical utility of popular culture and IR's engagement with sci-fi.…”

Theorizing technology and international relations: prevailing perspectives and new horizons

“…While a handful of noteworthy contributions have raised this within IR, particularly with regard to IR and science fiction and fantasy, most of the still rather few studies are focused on how fiction illustrates real-world politics and political discourse (e.g., Kiersey and Neumann, 2013). There are some noteworthy contributions, however, that deal more deeply with how politics and popular culture not only reflect but also shape each other, and that they are increasingly entangled, sometimes in a literal sense (Der Derian, 2001;Crilley, 2020). There is considerable room for more theory and research on these themes, however.…”