Michel De Certeau: Analysing Culture

by Ben Highmore

Michel de Certeau is becoming increasingly recognised as a cultural theorist whose methodologies could rival those of Foucault. In this engaging book, Ben Highmore provides a stimulating account of Michel de Certeau's work and its relation to the field of cultural studies. The book explores those aspects of de Certeau's work that both challenge and re-imagine cultural studies, highlighting the potential this work has for supplying a critical epistemology and a practical ethics for the study of culture within the arts and humanities more generally. Michel de Analysing Culture provides an ideal introduction to the work of this extraordinary and important thinker.
Michel de Certeau is becoming increasingly recognised as a cultural theorist whose methodologies could rival those of Foucault. In this engaging book, Ben Highmore provides a stimulating account of Michel de Certeau's work and its relation to the field of cultural studies. The book explores those aspects of de Certeau's work that both challenge and re-imagine cultural studies, highlighting the potential this work has for supplying a critical epistemology and a practical ethics for the study of culture within the arts and humanities more generally. Michel de Analysing Culture provides an ideal introduction to the work of this extraordinary and important thinker.

202 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2006

Reviews

[Mon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should probably write a disclaimer before I start. I have literally no knowledge of sociology theories. I am able to say this because I avoid academic text on the particular subject, usually out of frustration but mostly just confusion - Hmm you lost me there at something about French existentialist....wait, are you talking about transcendental philosophy now? Oh we're on pop culture? That was quick. What's colossal modernity? Oops looks like it's prerequisite knowledge. Is there any statistics that can support wait you've concluded this chapter already?

See, that parody probably doesn't even make sense due to my minimal psychology/sociology knowledge. Anyway, I'm reading this because I feel the need to have 'smart' and 'grown up' conversations with my boyfriend and his friends who works in ACADEMIA. I have to caps lock ACADEMIA because that's how much it scares me, and it is exactly people such as Highmore who started it in the first place. This is exclusively a dialogue between Certeau and people-who-understands-him. Maybe I shouldn't be too harsh, nobody said this is an introductory text right? Oh well, I guess it just isn't 'lucid' and 'incredibly comprehensive' (Elspeth Probyn) enough for non-sociology students. You get a glimpse of Certeau's methodology, which is interesting itself for about half a second before Highmore muddles it with some fleeting contextual references that go unexplained. Excuse me, but I think I'm better off just reading Certau myself. After that, maybe I'll add an extra star to this book, maybe not, it depends on if I can finish Certau without severe brain hemorrhage.

[Jamie McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Social theory!