The International Institute for Popular Culture is a multi-disciplinary research unit,
concerned not only with issues in contemporary popular culture but also in its history
and transformations. The Institute is committed to pursuing academic excellence
in the following areas: popular music, radio, film, and television, new media and
information technology, festivals and urban cultures, youth cultures and subcultures,
cultural industries, consumption and material culture, sports, stardom and fandom.
The Institute is open to methodologies and theoretical insights, but it places
special emphasis on the questions of popular culture as heritage and
the social role of popular culture.
IIPC presented its inaugural conference at the University of Turku, 9-11 November 2006,
under the title History of Stardom Reconsidered.
The conference celebrated the launching
of IIPC, having been developed over the last twelve months as a centre for studies in popular
culture, in international partnerships that include universities in Europe and the UK,
Australasia and the US. Apart from research activity on site, IIPC will facilitate
international scholarly exchange, collaboration publications and forums, in consultation
with a board of international advisors, and in engagements with private sector stakeholders
in the culture industries.
