Fear needs dealing with. Fear demands to be abated, countered or turned into something else, contributing and curtailing how we ‘do’ being human beings. This special issue of the European Journal of Cultural Studies addresses fear within media and popular culture, adopting a cultural studies approach …

At this critical moment in time, April 2020, when we are living with the cataclysmic event of Covid-19, television – a medium declared almost dead at the beginning of this millennium – has become a vital resource for solace, daydreaming, social ritual, knowledge and storytelling. In conditions of lockdown, …

Over the past years, European cultural organizations have initiated several transnational literary projects to reflect on what binds Europeans together. As part of a research project that examines what role these literary projects play in the debate on European identity, this article explores expectations …

Introduction to special issue