editorial they said it would never happen

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This article was downloaded by: [University of Connecticut] On: 09 October 2014, At: 15:03 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Parallax Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tpar20 Editorial They said it would never happen... Paul Bowman Published online: 03 Dec 2010. To cite this article: Paul Bowman (1999) Editorial They said it would never happen..., Parallax, 5:1, 1-2, DOI: 10.1080/135346499249768 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/135346499249768 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content.

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Page 1: Editorial They said it would never happen

This article was downloaded by: [University of Connecticut]On: 09 October 2014, At: 15:03Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH,UK

ParallaxPublication details, including instructions for authorsand subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tpar20

Editorial They said it wouldnever happen...Paul BowmanPublished online: 03 Dec 2010.

To cite this article: Paul Bowman (1999) Editorial They said it would never happen...,Parallax, 5:1, 1-2, DOI: 10.1080/135346499249768

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/135346499249768

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all theinformation (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform.However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness,or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and viewsexpressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of theContent should not be relied upon and should be independently verified withprimary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for anylosses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages,and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly orindirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of theContent.

Page 2: Editorial They said it would never happen

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes.Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan,sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone isexpressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found athttp://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 3: Editorial They said it would never happen

parallax , 1999, vol. 5, no. 1, 1–2

[Editorial]

They said it would never happen...

It now appears inevitable that jokes and etymological indulgence would aboundimmediately upon the announcement of our theme. In that respect, there wascertainly no delay. But immediately, also, came the signs of interest, approval andencouragement. We were often told that our theme was intriguing, sometimes thatit was important, and occasionally even that it was nec ess ary . Which made us think.For, that a topic should be of interest or intriguing to a person – even to an academic,or interesting exclusively in an academic sense – is an occurrence easily accountedfor, and easily accounted for under the rubric of any self-respecting ‘positivist’ or‘Cartesian’ (sovereign-subject-centred) subjectivist, psychologistic, or scientisticexplanatory mode, at that. But that a theme be deemed nec ess ary ... Well, surely thatis something else. N ecess ary ? A cadem ica ll y ? P roc rastina tion? Of all things!

Either way, and leaving ‘necessity’ aside – for the moment – it is relatively easy tosee why our theme might hold some appeal for those academics situated, invested,in the � elds in and around cultural studies. For procrastination entails delay, deferral,putting o Ú , doing later, happening after, not yet, not here, not now. All of which,as if it need be reiterated here, are loaded notions round these parts: theirrepressibility of the connotations clustering round, infesting, exploding from, andcohabiting with the concept of procrastination, have come to dominate themethodological � eld of cultural studies to a large extent. So much so that one mightconvincingly plot this disciplinary terrain with recourse to only two quasi-coordinates,both shifting and indeterminate, whilst yet exerting a determining force on thecharacter of contemporary cultural studies. One coordinate: cultural studies’preference for the deconstructive; the other, its love a Ú air with psychoanalysis. Bothof these lie together, forming and informing the bed of cultural studies, coming,through time, to constitute ‘the preference, the reference itself ’.

But the resonances of procrastination come replete with certain jarring notes.Attendant is a vague feeling, often a suspicion, occasionally a research project, buta feeling nevertheless, that cultural studies is held in very low esteem in many areasof the Academy – that peculiarly threatening and unpleasant intitution that culturalstudies is seen by so many others to be a w as te o f t im e, a w as te o f s pac e. In a certainway, this threat is productive, consolidating our convictions: we know cultural studiesis valuable... we believe. But often, a nagging fear, a seed of doubt: w hat if they are r ight?

And it is not only from the outs ide that some aspects of cultural studies are deemedto be a waste of time, a deferral of or procrastination away from some notion of‘actual’, ‘real’, ‘practical’ cultural engagement – cultural s tudy . As is often bewailedby many voices and from many quarters, be they positivist, humanist, of thetraditional right or left, or even (ironically, presumably) from the postmoderns, there

parallax

ISSN 1353-4645 print/ ISSN 1460-700X online Ñ 1999 Taylor & Francis Ltdhttp://www.tandf.co.uk/JNLS/par.htm

http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/JNLS/par.htm

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Page 4: Editorial They said it would never happen

is no necessary reason w hy cultural studies should have come to be so dominated bydeconstructions and psychoanalyses. Why so theoretical? Why so apparentlyunconcerned with so many pressing cultural concerns?

As the argument runs, cultural studies’ object of study is culture: practices, histories,representations, technologies, politics, and so on. The argument proceeds: shouldn’tcultural studies get much more a Ý liated with sociologists, policy makers, socialworkers, grass-roots political activists? Wouldn’t it bene� t from ‘getting in there’ or‘keeping it real’, as the expressions go?

But if cultural studies was to do so, then what form might any consideration ofp rac tice s o f p ro c rast ina tion take? If it were ever decisively determined that culturalstudies’ a Ý liations would henceforth lie with cultural policy makers, social workers,grass-roots political activists, and rely on an accepted politics of left or right, thenhow might procrastination be posed or im po sed , � gured and organised, in suchcultural study? One suspects, pejoratively: as being a waste, unproductive orcounterproductive, ine Ý cient, deleterious, a not doing – an undoing: an a Ú ront toa set of unquestionable metaphysical values or messianic telos. (Or do you disagree?If so, just go and glance at any database of current humanities projects which takeprocrastination as the theme – or, rather more tellingly, as the p rob lem .)

In relation to narratives which pose procrastination negatively, then, this issue ofparallax does much that is typical of our trusty old, much scapegoated, self-indulgent cultural studies: it defers a declaration of practical cultural knowledge inorder to provide a space and time for an exploration of cultural practices and arethinking of the values which both limit and enable the range and kind of possiblecultural knowledge. This is, rather summarily, one sense, at least, in which we believethe theme to be nec ess ary .

However, despite our penchant for academic procrastination, there comes a pointat which some other narrative (whether the other narrative or an o ther narrative –the one we are procrastinating in the face of, the one putting pressure on our activityand de� ning it as procrastination as such) intervenes decisively and forces us to rejoinit. To procrastinate in other terms. At this point, some of us, sometimes, switchregisters, m odus operandi , values, and so on, and rejoin the world of legitimate,ostensibly immediate, immediately recognisable practices. Some of us.

So we would like to thank all those who were able to ‘snap out of it’ for at least longenough to compose and send in the many and varied articles, performances andruminations which comprise this collection. Your contributions are greatlyappreciated: intellectually, aesthetically and politically, as well as, often, emotionally.We would also like to thank Jo Morra and Marq Smith for their invaluable inspiration,guidance and help; for indefatigably explaining, urging, prompting and remindingus of the many other compelling registers, orders and narratives which weren’t goingto go away (however much we dithered) and to which we must attend – whichrequired, therefore, that we changed the nature of our procrastination, that weembraced the paradox, curtailed our procrastination and worked on procrastination.

Paul Bowman, Joanne Crawford and Alison Rowley

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