The global politics of celebrity: Introduction to a special issue of Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture

Abstract

The proliferation of celebrity studies across multiple fields and disciplines demonstrates an emerging scholarly consensus about the importance of celebrity for understanding the present conjuncture, contemporary capitalism, and its cultural politics. However, celebrity studies have largely neglected transnational and global theories and contexts, which, with the notable exception of studies in development and humanitarianism, tend to focus on Anglophone publics within the Global North. Studying celebrity from a critical transnational perspective allows us to deploy the insights of this literature while building its theoretical reach, scope, and utility. The goal is not only to expand representation but also to generate stronger theory. This special issue brings together research focusing on transnational issues of celebrity as a technology of soft power, counter-hegemonic organizing, and discourses of race and migration. It also explores self-presentation and self-branding in the globalized attention economy.