Planet Digital
A Global Media Cultures Reader
Will be published approx. on 14. July 2026
Book
Hardback
464 pages
978-1-4798-3516-4 (ISBN)
Description
Explores how digitalization has transformed global media entertainment and the making of popular cultures
In the three decades since the rise of the global internet, digitalization has transformed how media are made, circulated, and consumed, reshaping culture on a planetary scale. Yet the story of global media is not one of seamless connection or cultural homogenization. Planet Digital challenges the myth of a "global village," revealing instead how regional histories, infrastructures, economies, and power relations shape the uneven terrains of our digital world.
Edited by the series editors of Critical Cultural Communication, this field-defining anthology gathers leading scholars to examine the texts, genres, platforms, and industries that define today's global entertainment landscape. From TikTok to Squid Game, K-Pop to Marvel, Bluey to Nollywood, each chapter offers a focused case study that illuminates how digital media both reflect and remake global cultural life.
Spanning influencer culture, streaming platforms, esports, and beyond, Planet Digital shows how digital technologies and global media flows continually reshape one another, producing hybrid forms of creativity, circulation, and control. Together, these essays provide a vital framework for understanding how the world's screens, sounds, and networks are rewriting the relationship between culture and power in the twenty-first century.
In the three decades since the rise of the global internet, digitalization has transformed how media are made, circulated, and consumed, reshaping culture on a planetary scale. Yet the story of global media is not one of seamless connection or cultural homogenization. Planet Digital challenges the myth of a "global village," revealing instead how regional histories, infrastructures, economies, and power relations shape the uneven terrains of our digital world.
Edited by the series editors of Critical Cultural Communication, this field-defining anthology gathers leading scholars to examine the texts, genres, platforms, and industries that define today's global entertainment landscape. From TikTok to Squid Game, K-Pop to Marvel, Bluey to Nollywood, each chapter offers a focused case study that illuminates how digital media both reflect and remake global cultural life.
Spanning influencer culture, streaming platforms, esports, and beyond, Planet Digital shows how digital technologies and global media flows continually reshape one another, producing hybrid forms of creativity, circulation, and control. Together, these essays provide a vital framework for understanding how the world's screens, sounds, and networks are rewriting the relationship between culture and power in the twenty-first century.
Reviews / Votes
"Planet Digital is a much-needed and wide-ranging collection of accessible writing, which anchors global phenomena such as podcasting, games, social media and streaming in local content analysis. It is an essential resource to those who research and teach about digital media transformations." - Aniko Imre, University of Southern California"This skilfully curated collection of essays provides a wonderful overview of global digital culture. Planet Digital is a terrific resource for teachers and students, and a pleasurable read for anyone interested in popular culture across the world." - David Hesmondhalgh, University of Leeds
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Trade binding
Illustrations
16 b/w images
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-1-4798-3516-4 (9781479835164)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Aswin Punathambekar (Editor)
Aswin Punathambekar is a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication and Director of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC). He has written and co-edited books including From Bombay to Bollywood: The Making of a Global Media Industry, Global Bollywood, Global Digital Cultures: Perspectives from South Asia, Television at Large in South Asia, and Media Industry Studies (with Amanda Lotz and Daniel Herbert).
Adrienne Shaw (Editor)
Adrienne Shaw is Associate Professor at Temple University in the Klein College of Media and Communication, and author of Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture (2014) and Rainbow Arcade: Over 30 Years of Queer Video Game History (2019). She serves as editor for the NYU Press series Critical Cultural Communication.
Jonathan Gray (Editor)
Jonathan Gray is Hamel Family Distinguished Chair in Communication Arts, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author and editor of numerous books, including Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts (2010), Fandom, Second Edition (2017), Keywords for Media Studies (2017), and Satire TV (2009), as well as Television Studies (with Amanda D. Lotz), and A Companion to Media Authorship (with Derek Johnson).
Aswin Punathambekar is a Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication and Director of the Center for Advanced Research in Global Communication (CARGC). He has written and co-edited books including From Bombay to Bollywood: The Making of a Global Media Industry, Global Bollywood, Global Digital Cultures: Perspectives from South Asia, Television at Large in South Asia, and Media Industry Studies (with Amanda Lotz and Daniel Herbert).
Adrienne Shaw (Editor)
Adrienne Shaw is Associate Professor at Temple University in the Klein College of Media and Communication, and author of Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture (2014) and Rainbow Arcade: Over 30 Years of Queer Video Game History (2019). She serves as editor for the NYU Press series Critical Cultural Communication.
Jonathan Gray (Editor)
Jonathan Gray is Hamel Family Distinguished Chair in Communication Arts, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and author and editor of numerous books, including Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts (2010), Fandom, Second Edition (2017), Keywords for Media Studies (2017), and Satire TV (2009), as well as Television Studies (with Amanda D. Lotz), and A Companion to Media Authorship (with Derek Johnson).