International Journal of Cultural Studies

The authors argue that generic visuals promote banal nationalism, localism and cosmopolitanism in the face of the crisis, doing so through the symbolic reiteration of a range of visual resources across news stories.

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Most cited articles in the last three years. “‘Generic visuals’ of Covid-19 in the news: Invoking banal belonging through symbolic reiteration”, authored by Giorgia Aiello (University of Leeds, UK), Helen Kennedy (University of Sheffield, UK), C. W. Anderson (University of Leeds, UK), and Camilla Mørk Røstvik (University of Aberdeen, UK). volume 25, issue 3-4, 2022.

We are presenting the most cited articles in the International Journal of Cultural Studies in the last three years. This week's article is “‘Generic visuals’ of Covid-19 in the news: Invoking banal belonging through symbolic reiteration”, authored by Aiello, Kennedy, Anderson, and Røstvik.

The article situates ‘carewashing’ in relation to longer-term strategies of corporate ‘social responsibility’ and cause-related marketing, showing how practices are being reinvented amidst profound neoliberal instability.

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Most cited articles in the last three years. An anatomy of carewashing: Corporate branding and the commodification of care during Covid-19, Andreas Chatzidakis and Jo Littler (University of London, UK). volume 25, issue 3-4, 2022

We are presenting the most cited articles in the International Journal of Cultural Studies in the last three years. This week's article is “An anatomy of carewashing: Corporate branding and the commodification of care during Covid-19”, authored by Andreas Chatzidakis and Jo Littler.

Pushing against the panic: Considering the positives of TikTok and Children. Aleesha Rodriguez (Queensland University of Technology, Australia), and Xinyu Zhao (Deakin University, Australia)

This paper calls for a shift in perspective, moving away from assumptions (re)produced by policymakers and media towards an approach grounded in children's experiences, considering the implications of TikTok in a positive manner.

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TikTok & Children: TikTok Cultures Research Network & TikTok Fireside Chat. Crystal Abidin (Curtin University, Australia), Claire Gartland (Trust & Safety Global Product Policy Department at TikTok), and Kathryn Grant (TikTok Trust & Safety)

At the TikTok & Children Symposium, the TikTok Cultures Research Network dialogued with TikTok personnel about provisions for young people, such as design changes, API access, age-gating and balancing universality and regionality.
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Reading latent values and priorities in TikTok’s community guidelines for children. Alex Turvy (Tulane University, USA)

This mixed-methods study analyzes TikTok's Community Guidelines to protect children, discussing strategies such as scaffolding rules by age and risk, segmenting content with tailored policies, and siloing features from children.

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Skinamarink and the algorithmic uncanny interface between children’s and horror film TikTok cultures. Jessica Balanzategui (RMT University, Australia)

Extending theorisations of the digital and algorithmic uncanny, the article outlines how the TikTok algorithm and young platform users collaborated to position a film as a participatory ‘challenge’.

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@jkbalanzategui.bsky.social

TikTok ‘dogshows’ and the amplification of online incivility among Gen Z influencers in the Philippines. Samuel I. Cabbuag (Hong Kong Baptist University, University of the Philippines Diliman), and Crystal Abidin (Curtin University, Australia)

Focusing on TikTok's affordances and cultures of online incivility, this paper studies how TikTok influencers and their audiences manoeuvre legal-but-harmful humour in the Filipino context.

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@samcabbuag.bsky.social

Where are all the Black girls on TikTok? Exploring in-group community and (in)visibility through #BlackGirlTikTok. Zari A. Taylor (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA), and Crystal Abidin (Curtin University, Australia).

This paper approaches the erasure of Black girls and teenagers by considering how they may continue to wrestle with visibility and suppression even within a more intimate in-group community of Black TikTokers.

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IJCS Parasocial parenting, adoption, and monetization of the “internet parent” with the Griswolds on TikTok Jacob Kenton Smith (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA), and Emily A. Mendelson (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA)

This study investigates parasocial relationships between adolescents and a genre of TikTok microcelebrities who construct themselves as “Internet Parents”, discussing how they monetize familial parasocial intimacy.

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IJCS Guest editors Jin Lee, Crystal Abidin, Tama Leaver Curtin University, Australia. Besides each guest editor’s name, there’s a headshot.

We would like to thank guest editors Jin Lee @jinlee.bsky.social, Crystal Abidin, and Tama Leaver @tamaleaver.bsky.social (Curtin University, Australia) for bringing together this special issue on TikTok and Children.

IJCS International Journal of Cultural Studies volume 28, issue 5, 2025 Special issue: TikTok and Children

Have you read our 28.5 issue yet?

Follow the thread to know more about the articles 🧶

📢😊Excited to share my new piece just out in International Journal of Cultural Studies @ijcs-journal.bsky.social

“Pawns in the power struggle” looks at how Chinese content creators navigate the messy pressures of MCNs, platforms, and state control.

Read here 👉
journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

The creator function, post-structuralism, and the perils of terminological dissonance - @producing2power.bsky.social, & @tanner-mirrlees.bsky.social (2025). Published in the @ijcs-journal.bsky.social. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Over a dark plum background, there’s the acronym IJCS in bright pink. Then it says “Online First”, the article’s title “Finishing the business: Disentangled narratives of gendered success, diasporic citizenship and the ongoing quest for balance”, and the author’s name, Radha Sarma Hegde, New York University, USA.

In our OnlineFirst section, you can access the very latest papers in the field. Check out the article “Finishing the business: Disentangled narratives of gendered success, diasporic citizenship and the ongoing quest for balance”, by Radha Sarma Hegde.

doi.org/10.1177/1367...

#IJCSOnlineFirst

There’s the acronym IJCS, the title Online First, and the article: “Transcultural fan studies with a ‘Queer Asia’ focus in the 2020s”, by Jamie J. Zhao, City University of Hong Kong.

In our OnlineFirst section, you can access the very latest papers in the field. Check out the article “Transcultural fan studies with a ‘Queer Asia’ focus in the 2020s”, by Jamie J. Zhao.

doi.org/10.1177/1367...

#IJCSOnlineFirst

Over a light gray background, there’s the acronym IJCS, followed by the title: Online First, the article’s name "'I don’t want my parents to know I do video clips': Managing familial relations to pursue creative work in Accra, Ghana", the author’s picture, name (Nii Kotei Nikoi) and institution (North Carolina University, USA)

In our OnlineFirst section, you can access the very latest papers in the field. Check out the article "'I don’t want my parents to know I do video clips': Managing familial relations to pursue creative work in Accra, Ghana", by Nii Kotei Nikoi.

doi.org/10.1177/1367...

#IJCSOnlineFirst

The article argues that polymedia is ultimately about a new relationship between the social and the technological, rather than merely a shift in the technology itself.

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Over a dark plum background, there’s the acronym IJCS in bright pink. Then it reads: Most read articles in the last 6 months. Polymedia: Towards a new theory of digital media in interpersonal communication. Mirca Madianou (University of Leicester, England), Daniel Miller (University College London, England). volume 16, issue 2, 2013 (online in 2012).

We are presenting the most read articles in the International Journal of Cultural Studies in the last 6 months. This week's article is “Polymedia: Towards a new theory of digital media in interpersonal communication”, authored by Mirca Madianou and Daniel Miller.

Situated in the intersection between cultural taste, audience reception, and fan studies, the article discusses how fans negotiate their appreciation of controversial issues in media.

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Over a grayish-pink background, there’s the acronym IJCS in gray and the following text: Most read articles in the last 6 months. ‘I cringe at the slave portions’: How fans of Gone With The Wind negotiate anti-racist criticism. Marcel van den Haak (University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands), Liedeke Plate (Radboud University, The Netherlands), Selina Bick (Radboud University, The Netherlands). volume 23, issue 6, 2020

We are presenting the most read articles in the International Journal of Cultural Studies in the last 6 months. This week's article is “‘I cringe at the slave portions’: How fans of Gone with the Wind negotiate anti-racist criticism”, authored by Marcel van den Haak, Liedeke Plate, and Selina Bick.

The article discusses digital platforms and communications as significant targets, facilitators, and instruments of panic production.

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#IJCSMostRead

Over a light great background, there’s the acronym IJCS in bright pink. Beside it, the image says: Most read articles in the last 6 months. Social media and moral panics: Assessing the effects of technological change on societal reaction. James P. Walsh, University of Ontario, Canada. volume 23, issue 6, 2020.

In this series, we present the most read articles in the International Journal of Cultural Studies in the last 6 months. The first article is “Social media and moral panics: Assessing the effects of technological change on societal reaction”, authored by James P. Walsh.

Over a dark plum background, the names: Adrienne Shaw (Temple University, USA), Lukasz Szulc (University of Manchester, UK), Nancy Thumim (University of Leeds, England, UK), Tracy Tinga (University of Maryland, USA), Tommy Tse (University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Cecilia Uy-Tioco (California State University, USA), Daniel Vukovich (University of Hong Kong, China), Bilge Yesil (College of Staten Island, USA), Yiyi Yin (Beijing Normal University, China), Lin Zhang (University of New Hampshire, United States), Weiyu Zhang (National University of Singapore, Singapore)

Over a grayish pink background, the names: Susan Soomin Noh (Oglethorpe University, USA), David C. Oh (Syracuse University, USA), Luciana de Oliveira (Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil), Susanna Paasonen (University of Turku, Finland), Zizi Papacharissi (University of Illinois Chicago, USA), Anna Cristina Pertierra (University of Technology Sydney, Australia), Thao Phan (Monash University, Australia), Thomas Poell (University of Amsterdam, Netherlands), Devon Powers (University of Michigan, USA), Aswin Punathambekar (University of Pennsylvania, USA), Kane Race (University of Sydney, Australia), Cornel Sandvoss (University of Bristol, UK)

Over a light gray background, the names: Kate Lacey (University of Sussex, UK), Ramon Lobato (Swinburne University of Technology, Australia), Amanda Lotz (Queensland University of Technology, Australia), Susan Luckman (University of South Australia, Australia), Jess Maddox (University of Georgia, USA), Mirca Madianou (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK), Alice Marwick (Data and Society, USA), Andrea Medrado (University of Exeter, UK), Aimée Vega Montiel (Universidade Nacional Autónoma do México, Mexico), Yoshitaka Mori (Tokyo University of the Arts, Japan), Nii Kotei Nikoi (North Carolina State University, USA)

Over a dark plum background, the names: Paul Frosh (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel), Anthony Fung (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Myria Georgiou (London School of Economics and Political Science, United Kingdom), Gerard Goggin (Western Sydney University, Australia), Jonathan Gray (University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA), Larissa Hjorth (RMIT, Australia), Heather Horst (University of Sydney, Australia), Mehita Iqani (Stellenbosch University, South Africa), Henry Jenkins (University of Southern California, USA), Dal Yong Jin (Simon Fraser University, Canada), Derek Johnson (University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA), Sukhmani Khorana (University of New South Wales, Australia)

Over a grayish pink background, the names: Fernanda Carrera (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Tupur Chatterjee (Tulane University, USA), Bertha Chin (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Pei Sze Chow (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore), Nick Couldry (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK), David Craig (University of Southern California, USA), Camilo Díaz Pino (West Chester University, USA), Hatim El-Hibri (George Mason University, USA), Nicky Falkof (University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa), Pablo Moreno Fernandes (Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais, Brazil)

Over a light gray background, the names: Giorgia Aiello (University of Milan, Italy), Donya Alinejad (Utrecht University, The Netherlands), Melissa Aronczyk (Rutgers University, USA), Shakuntala Banaji (London School of Economics and Political Science, UK), Burcu Baykurt (University of Massachusetts at Amherst, USA), (TJ Billard Northwestern University, USA), Tanja Bosch (University of Cape Town, South Africa), Matt Bui (University of Michigan, USA), Jean Burgess (Queensland University of Technology, Australia), Earvin Charles Cabalquinto (Monash University, Australia), Bronwyn Carlson (Macquarie University, Australia)