The domain of cultural studies and cultural analysis encompasses the broad field of contemporary culture, which is studied from a broad humanities perspective. Cultural studies/analysis is highly interdisciplinary, combining various disciplinary approaches such as literary, (cultural) historical, anthropological, philosophical, religious scientific and social scientific perspectives. There are also emphatic links with other interdisciplinary fields such as media studies, gender studies, environmental humanities, and urban studies. The links with these fields are actively maintained, with the result that the research culture of cultural studies/ analysis also shows strong similarities with these other fields. Cultural studies/ analysis is characterised by diversity in theoretical approaches and research traditions, and its affinity with artistic research. As a network, research school NICA is responsible for promotion training and communication in the research domain.
Target groups
Cultural studies/ analysis is international in orientation; both its publications and its close international alliances make that clear. Interest in research in this domain is not exclusively academic in nature, as evidenced by, among other things, interest in outcomes of research from both academic researchers and a wider interested general public. Public outreach also reflects this, through the publication of books, contributions to journals and collections, para-academic contributions (such as websites, blogs, podcasts, and the like) and participation in public debates and discussions.
Products and communication
- Academic publications mostly appear in the form of (peer-reviewed) articles in both international and national (high-profile/ ranked) journals. In addition, books (both monographs and compiled volumes) appear with international academic publishers; contributions in anthologies; video essays; and contributions in the public domain (interviews, podcasts, blogs, websites). Artistic research is hybrid and takes the form of artworks, artistic actions, exhibitions, and (accompanying) publications, among others. Many of these products have a hybrid character, and are aimed at both academic and broadly interested general audiences.
- Dutch-language publications are an important part of the research, because for this domain the connection with contemporary (local) culture is important. In international publications, English is the most common language. Other common languages are German, French, Spanish and Italian. Publication in other languages is prevalent in various specialisations.
- International symposia, congresses, and summer schools organised around specific themes are an important part of professional-internal communication and often result in innovative publications highlighting new topics or theories, or charting the state of a particular issue.
- Review processes are common in national and international publications, often in the form of editorial review but also through peer review. This applies to articles in journals, to contributions to collections and to books.
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Processes and strategies
- For now, the most common publication form for authors is the "single authored publication", although this is gradually beginning to change in this domain as well. This applies both to articles and also, in particular, to books (monographs) that require a larger production time.
- Communication with professionals and a broadly interested public is very important to ensure connection with contemporary culture. This communication takes place in the form of network-related activities, hybrid (book) publications, participation in public debates, contributions in public periodicals such as weeklies and literary media and blogs.
Domain-specific aspects of quality and relevance
Alongside academic publications in peer-reviewed (ranked) journals, monographs published by international academic publishers, and essays in edited volumes, media researchers publish hybrid books, participate in public debates, write blogs, publish articles in popular weeklies and media, and create video essays, podcasts, and virtual exhibitions.
Relevance of quantitative indicators for use and marks of recognition
- For now, bibliometric indicators such as citation analyses are not useful, even if based on Google Scholar. That is because many of the publication channels and publications in most languages other than English are not systematically indexed, if at all, and because reference practices are too diverse.