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[1]Introduction

both US and UK?Let’s begin this introduction with a few words about the title of our book. I use Anglo-American as an adjective to refer to both the United KingdomUnited Kingdom and the United States. Why cover both the UK and the US? Especially since you can often just skim the surface in a book of this size? It’s always a question of what’s better: being able to cover a lot more by skimming the surface like a surfer or diving into the waves like a deep sea diver but at the cost of not seeing enough of the whole. I hope you’ll find it satisfying to see more of the surface and then use this UTB Basics book as a springboard to take your deep sea dives in places that you hadn’t thought of before.

Through comparison I think we can gain more interesting insights than just by covering one country. Covering American StudiesAmerican Studies alone would leave out the interesting comparisons with Britain, which is closer to GermanyGermany and part of the European UnionEuropean Union. Covering British StudiesBritish Studies alone would leave out AmericaAmerica, which, for better or worse, is a force to be reckoned with. American cultureculture in the broadest possible sense can be seen as a symbol of freedom, as a monstrous threat, or as a glorious promise, but you would probably need less energy to try to understand America than to try to ignore it. And there are unfortunately no introductory books currently in print on American issues written in English especially for GermanGerman university students.

intended audiencesI’ve written this book for different audiences. If you’re pursuing a degree in English and are taking courses where information about the United KingdomUnited Kingdom and the United States is either taught or is presupposed, you can read any of the chapters in Part I for an overview, which you’ll hopefully find entertaining and will help you prepare for examinations on topics about American and British life.

I’m also writing for interested people with a GermanGerman background who want to understand aspects of American and British [2]life that they find puzzling. I assume that you’re not interested in reading a tourist guide that only emphasizes positive things about both countries. While I hope that my enthusiasm is contagious, I’ll also try to encourage you to develop a critical perspective with the goal of a deeper understanding of things American and things British.

cultural studiescultural studiesAnd what about the Cultural Studies part of the title? The subject called “cultural studiescultural studies” has become very popular in publishing, teaching, and in research at universities in Britain and in the US since the 1960s and now too in other parts of the world. In Part II we’ll be looking at some of the same information covered in Part I from a different perspective, giving you the chance not only to review the “facts” but also to see how newer ways of looking at cultureculture have changed our attitude towards these “facts.” In Part II we’ll be seeing how key words like “identityidentity” and “powerpower” and “gendergender” can lend a new light to things British and American. I hope that students doing degrees in English or sociologysociology at GermanGerman universities will find Part II of our book useful as a springboard to dive into the depths of cultural studies.

AmericaAmerica?A few words about terminology. You’ll notice that I often refer to the United States either informally as the US (without the periods) or as AmericaAmerica. When I use the term America to refer to the United States, I’m of course aware that the United States makes up only about a third of the area of the continent of North America. Even noting that almost 75 % of the population of the entire continent lives in the United States wouldn’t justify ignoring CanadaCanada and Mexico. Perhaps another English noun will gradually come to be used as a substitute for America in the meaning of the United States. Or perhaps if SpanishSpanish continues to gain in importance, a new term will come into existence that will clearly indicate the US without perhaps offending Latin Americans.

Britain?The terminology connected with Britain is so complicated that it deserves its own chapter as you’ll see in just a few pages. But for now I’ll just say that I use Britain to refer to the United KingdomUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

meYou’ll perhaps be surprised about the style of writing, which, while perhaps startlingly informal in comparison to academic books in GermanyGermany, is actually not so uncommon at all in the Anglo-American academic world. Perhaps you’re used to reading academic books in GermanGerman in which the author is invisible [3]and the reader is not addressed. Academic writing in the US and in Britain often involves the first person. The author chooses the material he or she thinks is relevant and important. This choice is always partly subjective. Not using “I” wouldn’t make the choice any more objective. And since subjectivity and identityidentity play a very important role in cultural studiescultural studies, I’ve taken the liberty of making my identity more explicit than you may have expected for reasons that I hope to make clearer in the second part of the book.

youYou’ll have also noticed that I address you the reader in the 2^nd person. By addressing you directly I hope to encourage a dialogue that on the pages of this book must remain one-sided. You’ll have noticed that I’ve also used contractions throughout in order to set an informal tone. Those who are aware of some of the differences between American and British English will also notice that I’ve almost always chosen the American equivalent. You’ll no doubt notice some other differences between this book and other academic books intended for a GermanGerman audience. You might find it useful to make a note of the differences – I’ll be mentioning some of them in Part II.

sources?You may ask yourself about which sources I’ve used for the information in the chapters. First of all: Almost nothing in this book is original except the way it’s written and my combination of LandeskundeLandeskunde facts in Part I with cultural studiescultural studies approaches in Part II in one volume. And even the way it’s written isn’t original in the Anglo-American academic world. Since the books in UTB Basics are intended as an introduction for students, almost all of what you read in this book is based on commonly accepted facts and insights. You can find more detailed information about sources on the companion website, which I’ll be updating far more frequently than is possible for this book. I assume that neither digital immigrantsdigital immigrants like myself nor digital nativedigital natives like some of you still rely on printed bibliographies alone to provide you with up-to-date tips on what to read. But I have included recommendations of books that I find useful for further in-depth reading so that you can start your deep sea diving without having to log on to the companion website.

Although you can find an index at the end, this book isn’t meant to be a substitute for a cultural dictionary or an online encyclopedia, which you would turn to for quick factual answers. My goal isn’t to provide you with an overload of quick facts but [4]to present fairly common basic knowledge about a wide range of specific topics about life in Britain and AmericaAmerica in addition to an introduction to the exciting world of cultural studiescultural studies.

it rings a bell You can find many cross references marked with a bell. If you could click on the bell, you’d be whisked away to another page. But while you don’t have to read this book chapter by chapter, I’d hope that you find the book interesting enough to read chapter-wise and ideally from start to finish since I’ve incorporated a narrative with elements of surprise and a few intentional traps that work best if you follow a first-chapter-first order. You’ll note that many – but not all – of the chapters follow the same pattern. The first three chapters are appetizers. The many individual items about American and British geography, history, and special issues are all fairly small as good hors d’œuvres are supposed to be. I hope you’re hungry enough to proceed to chapters 4 through 11, which mostly deal with classic LandeskundeLandeskunde topics. After we’ve digested these topics, we’ll then be ready for an after-dinner discussion of cultural studiescultural studies in Part II.

goals for you and meIf you find this book to be interesting and thought-provoking enough to continue your own exploration of things American and British, then I will have achieved my goal. If you also discover new subversive ways of approaching Anglo-American cultural studiescultural studies, then you’ll make me blissful. “Subversive?” you may ask in surprise. But let’s take things one step at a time and begin by using the song “Starting Here, Starting Now,” which my favorite singer, actor, and director Barbra StreisandStreisand, Barbra sang on her tour of Europe in 2007 (music by Daniel Shire, lyrics by Richard MaltbyMaltby Jr):

Now take my hand

For the greatest journey

Heaven can allow

Starting love

Starting here

Starting now