Kardashians A Critical Anthology

List of Contributors

Foreword by mj corey

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Kuriously kritical: Kardashians as cyborg goddesses - momagers and matriarchies

Meredith Jones

Part I: Storytelling

Chapter 1: Family brands: The Kardashian-Jenners and the Nelsons

Cynthia B. Meyers

Chapter 2: The performance of authorship in published books by the Kardashians and Jenners

Donna Lee Brien

Chapter 3: Selfish: A happy archive?

Laura Henderson Child

Discussion points for Part I

Part II: Race

Chapter 4: There is no sexual relation: The Kardashians and Black masculinities

Manuel Harpin

Chapter 5: Kim Kardashian’s “Kimono”: The complexities of cultural appropriation

Jenny Hall

Chapter 6: White multiracial sentiment

Ren Ellis Neyra

Discussion points for Part II

Part III: Fashion

Chapter 7: SKIMSTM: Body positive or Kimspiration?

Katherine Appleford

Chapter 8: Glitter and the death drive: Kim Kardashian’s Met Gala costumes

Meredith Jones

Discussion points for Part III

Part IV: Embodiment

Chapter 9: The corporeality of reproduction and surrogate pregnancy in Keeping Up with the Kardashians

Siri Lindholm

Chapter 10: “It’s super disgusting”: An analysis of famous cis-men responses to the Kardashian’s deviant femininity

Oline Eaton

Chapter 11: Where has all the affect gone on Kardashian reality TV? Negotiating emotional labour and boundaries

Meera Govindasamy

Discussion points for Part IV

Part V: Celebrity

Chapter 12: Debunking celebrity activism: Kim Kardashian and prison advocacy

Lida Papakonstantinou

Chapter 13: The role of transgender celebrities: the power of representation

Cavyn Mitchell

Chapter 14: In the lab with the Kardashians: How Kardashian-linked research finds its audience

Michael Taylor and Carlos Areia

Discussion points for Part V

Part VI: Time

Chapter 15: The Kardashians will never die: On repetition and infinity

Phoebe Kaufman

Chapter 16: Use of Artificial Intelligence and holography: Robert Kardashian resurrected?

Lida Papakonstantinou

Chapter 17: Keeping up with the past, present and future: How the Kardashians sustain relevance by manipulating reality

Ruby Smith

Discussion points for Part VI

Index

Biography

Meredith Jones is Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies at Brunel University London, where she directs the Institute of Communities and Society. Apart from her work on the Kardashians, she is best known for her research into cosmetic surgery and is currently producing a second edition of her book Skintight: A Cultural Anatomy of Cosmetic Surgery. She also enjoys writing about genitals and fashion.

Kath Burton is development lead for humanities journals at Routledge, Taylor & Francis. She is co-convener of Publishing and Publicly Engaged Humanities, a group that supports the creation of dynamic publishing practices for the public humanities.

Donna Lee Brien is Emeritus Professor of Creative Industries at Central Queensland University, Australia, and teaches into graduate programs at the Australian Catholic University. Currently writing a history of Sydney's Bondi Beach, Donna’s most recent books are Paradox, Image and Identity: The Shadow Side of Nursing (co-authored with Margaret McAllister, 2020) and Speculative Biography: Opportunities, Experiments and Provocations(edited with Kiera Lindsey, 2022), both for Routledge.

Whatever you think about the Kardashians, you ignore them at your peril! 

This book brings together a host of excellent scholars from different countries and disciplines to explore the successes (and failures) of the Kardashian family as the global media icons of our time. Chapters are wide-ranging, innovative and adventurous and consider many prescient issues for our society through the lens of a popular culture deeply familiar to students. In times when the UK government disparages “Mickey Mouse” degree subjects this book throws down a magnificent gauntlet to demonstrate that scholarship – and scholars – of popular culture should never be underestimated!

Ruth Holliday, Professor of Gender and Culture, School of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds