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Series:   Elements in Publishing and Book Culture

White Literary Taste Production in Contemporary Book Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 February 2023

Alexandra Dane
Alexandra Dane
Affiliation:
University of Melbourne

Summary

Despite initiatives to 'diversify' the publishing sector, there has been almost no transformation to the historic racial inequality that defines the field. This Element argues that contemporary book culture is structured by practice that operates according to a White taste logic. By applying the notion of this logic to an analysis of both traditional and new media tastemaking practices, White Literary Taste Production in Contemporary Book Culture examines the influence of Whiteness on the cultural practice, and how the long-standing racial inequities that characterize Anglophone book publishing are supported by systems, institutions and platforms. These themes will be explored through two distinct but interrelated case studies-women's literary prizes and anti-racist reading lists on Instagram-which demonstrate the dominance of Whiteness, and in particular White feminism, in the contemporary literary discourse.
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Keywords

book cultureliterary tastemakersraceWhitenessBourdieu
Type
Element
Information
Series: Elements in Publishing and Book Culture
Online ISBN: 9781009234276
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication: 23 February 2023

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