Stories of Oprah
Subtitle: the Oprahfication of American culture
By: edited by Trystan T. Cotten and Kimberly Springer
Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Jackson
Language: eng
Number of pages: 188
ISBN-13: 9781604734072
Description: "Stories of Oprah explores Oprah Winfrey's broad reach as an industry and media brand. Contributors analyze a number of topics touching on the ways in which her cultural output shapes contemporary America. The volume examines how Oprah has fashioned a persona - which emphasizes her rural, poverty-stricken roots over other factors - that helps her popularize her unique blend of New Age spirituality, neoliberal politics, and African American preaching. Oprah's Book Club has reshaped literary publishing, bringing Toni Morrison, William Faulkner, and Cormac McCarthy to a broad number of readers. Her brand extends worldwide through the internet. In this volume writers analyze her positions on teen sexuality, gender, race, and politics, and the impact of Winfrey's confessional mode on mainstream television news. Throughout, Stories of Oprah challenges readers to reflect on how Oprah the Industry has reshaped Americas culture, history, and politics."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction : delineating the contours of the Oprah culture industry / Kimberly Springer; title: Oprah the woman, Oprah the empire. Beginnings with O / John Howard; title: "I'm everywoman" : Oprah Winfrey and feminist identification / Jennifer L. Rexroat; title: New age soul : the gendered translation of new age spirituality on The Oprah Winfrey show / Karlyn Crowley; title: Contesting the Oprah experts. Post(ed)structuralism? : Oprah's message boards, soul stories, and the everyday lives of women / Sherra Schick; title: Oprah para mujeres Chicanas : a survey of the impact of Oprah's message on Chicanas / Adriana Katzew and Lilia de Katzew; title: Confessions from at-risk teens : abstinence, the social construction of promiscuity, and The Oprah Winfrey show / Katherine Gregory; title: Oprah goes to Africa : philanthropic consumption and political (dis)engagement / Heather Laine Talley and Monica J. Casper; title: The Oprahfication of media. Oprah and the new news / Kathleen Dixon and Kacie Jossart; title: The Oprahfication of 9/11 : September 11, the war in Iraq, and The Oprah Winfrey show / Jaap Kooijman; title: From the Nobel to Oprah : Toni Morrison, body politics, and Oprah's book club / Edith Frampton; title: Lost in translation : irony and contradiction in Harpo's production of Zora Neale Hurston's Their eyes were watching God / Trystan T. Cotten.