Henry Jenkins: Cultural Studies, New Media, and the Ends of the Modern University

Abstract

This chapter turns to the work of Henry Jenkins to first examine how academic thinkers are defining new media and how a contemporary model of cultural studies is using new media in order to challenge the foundations of academic discourse and the institutional structures of higher education. In fact, a central aspect of contemporary culture is the promotion of new modes of knowledge sharing, which often bypass the need for educational institutions. Moreover, the production of this automodern discourse around new media reveals some of the self-defeating actions of contemporary intellectuals who use critical theories in order to undermine critical analysis. Ultimately, Jenkins’ work traces the movement of cultural studies from its roots in postmodern social criticism to its current celebration of the autonomous user of automated culture.¹