House Signs and Collegiate Fun, by Chaise LaDousa

[Paul LaDousa]

Dear Friends,

Indiana University Press has recently released by book, _House Signs and
Collegiate Fun: Sex, Race, and Faith in a College Town_.  The book is meant
to introduce undergraduates to the study of language and culture by having
them consider aspects of textuality and practice involved in collegiate fun.
 The press has included a great number of black and white images, and I will
submit color images to the book's Facebook page soon.  I would love to hear
your reactions to the book, and please consider using it for courses.

The book's internet address is:
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/product_info.php?products_id=678570


Indiana University Press offers an examination copy for a small fee.
 Details can be found at:
http://www.iupress.indiana.edu/pages.php?pID=16&CDpath=10


Description and advance comments:

It’s no secret that fun is important to American college students, but it is
unusual for scholars to pay attention to how undergraduates represent and
reflect on their partying. Linguist and anthropologist Chaise LaDousa
explores the visual manifestations of collegiate fun in a Midwestern college
town where house signs on off-campus student residences are a focal point of
college culture. With names like Boot 'N Rally, The Plantation, and Crib of
the Rib, house signs reproduce consequential categories of gender,
sexuality, race, and faith in a medium students say is benign. Through his
analysis of house signs and what students say about them, LaDousa introduces
the reader to key concepts and approaches in cultural analysis.
"A very lively read, one of those rare books that brings a sophisticated
interpretive perspective together with ethnographic materials that are
engaging, thought-provoking, and, for many of us and especially for our
students, both experience-near and surprising. Good to read and think with,
and likely to become, quite deservedly, a classic for undergraduate
teaching." —Don Brenneis, University of California, Santa Cruz
"A fascinating, surprising, and intriguing look at pervasive house signs in
a Midwestern U.S. college town, this book will delight college students,
appeal to those who teach them, and engage those who study them across
several disciplines. It is a skillful analysis of contemporary material
culture, its playfulness, creativity, and ambiguities. It is also a vivid
example of the multiple ways in which people engage with signs (visual or
verbal)—from assuming that they have obvious meanings to privileging
particular interpretations ,and even to denying that signs have any meaning
at all." —Virginia Dominguez, University of Illinois
"LaDousa presents weighty matters with intelligence and nuance, and yet
always clearly, and with a wealth of data that generates a multitude of
'aha' moments." —James Collins, University at Albany, SUNY

Thank you,

Chaise LaDousa


Department of Anthropology
Hamilton College
198 College Hill Road
Clinton, NY 13323

315-859-4109