1st Edition
Generation X Goes Global Mapping a Youth Culture in Motion
This edited volume is the first book of its kind to engage critics’ understanding of Generation X as a global phenomenon. Citing case studies from around the world, the research collected here broadens the picture of Generation X as a demographic and a worldview. The book traces the global and local flows that determine the identity of each country’s youth from the 1970s to today. Bringing together twenty scholars working on fifteen different countries and residing in eight different nations, this book present a community of diverse disciplinary voices. Contributors explore the converging properties of "Generation X" through the fields of literature, media studies, youth culture, popular culture, sociology, philosophy, feminism, and political science. Their ideas also enter into conversation with fourteen other "textbox" contributors who address the question of "Who is Generation X" in other countries. Taken together, they present a highly interactive and open book format whose conversations extend to the reading public on the website www.generationxgoesglobal.com.
Introduction: Generation X Goes Global: Tales of Accelerated Cultures Christine Henseler Part 1: What Generation X? Moving Beyond the White Middle Class Slacker 1. A Tale of Three Worlds or More: Young People, Media and Class in India Shakuntala Banaji 2. Locating Generation X: Taste and Identity in Transitional South Africa Jan Schenk and Jeremy Seekings 3. Generation X Meets the Uhuru Generation in East Africa Mwenda Ntarangwi Part 2: Generation X Rocks to Scenes, Screens and Comic Strips 4. Young, Sexy, and Transnational in Mexico and Brazil: Commodifying Generation X in Antonio Serrano’s Sexo, pudor y lágrimas and Its Film Versions William García 5. A Century-end Rock Scene and China’s Generation X on Screen Harry H. Kuoshu 6. Generation X in Greek Comics Evi Sampanikou Part 3: Riding on Airwaves, Playing for Real, and Reading without a Net 7. An Irish Feminist GenX Aesthetic: Televisual Memories in Anne Enright’s The Wig My Father Wore Claire Bracken 8. Defending Narcissus: Frédéric Beigbeder and the French Pop Novel Alain-Philippe Durand 9. Playing for Real: Simulated Games of Identity in Spain’s Gen X Narrative Virginia Rademacher 10. Opio en las Nubes’s Liquid World: Colombia’s Generation X Reads without a Net Juan Manuel Espinosa Part 4: Tracing Generation X: Going, Going…Still Not Gone? 11. Tutti pazzi per amore: Gen X, Italian Style Giancarlo Lombardi 12. Russian Youth from the 1990s until 2010: Generational Changes Elena Omelchenko 13. From Generation X to Generation @: Transitional Traces and Youth Identities in Latin America Carles Feixa, Maritza Urteaga, Maricela Portillo, Yanko González, Oscar Aguilera Part 5: Conclusion 14. Generation G Comes of Age: Youth and Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa Mark LeVine
Biography
Christine Henseler is Associate Professor of Spanish and Hispanic Studies at Union College.
'This exciting collection of essays explores Generation X as a global phenomenon in an approach that combines literary, political, and cultural analysis. The result is a cutting-edge volume that offers a broad, international, and rich study of Generation X, making the book essential reading for anyone interested in new insights into Generation X and global views on youth culture.' – Sonia Baelo-Allué, University of Zaragoza
'Recommended. Contributors successfully demonstrate that Generation X is the first "global generation," influenced by both domestic and international events at an unprecedented rate. It is noteworthy that as the book was compiled, each contributor had a chance to read what others wrote for the project and discuss their essays through the project's wiki site. As a result, each chapter is in conversation with the others, helping create a holistic perspective on the generation…[T]he book is an informative source for students and researchers of global youth culture.' –CHOICE, Y. Kiuchi, Michigan State University
