At the cultural studies crossroads: after Tampere

'Crossroads' is an extremely appropriate motif around which to organize reflection on the state of cultural studies today and to consider the contributions of all those 'studies' which gather themselves under its rubric and elect to belong to it. This is especially the case in view of cultural studies' own concerns with its identity as a cross-disciplinary activity, both with respect to its intellectual genealogy and its institutional locations and practices. For these and no doubt many other reasons, 'Crossroads in Cultural Studies' is surely an instantly attractive and appropriate title for one of cultural studies' more recently established (so far biannual), international mega-conferences. In Tampere this summer all kinds of traffic converged from many directions at this 'Crossroads', and, throughout, its flow was well-organized and steered into multi-parallel themed sessions and plenaries, convened by its participants well in advance of their arrival. With as many as five lanes of sessions running at once, planning a route through the conference schedule was not easy and, despite planning, taking an unplanned turn easier still. Audience ebbs and flows seemed to be happening all the time as people attempted to catch individual papers in different sessions, and pulling off the route for coffee could often lead to an unexpected diversion back into the second half of a session not on your schedule.