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Borders breached, conventional claims questioned

Welcome to Volume 2 of Crime Media Culture: An International Journal. At a time when many of our geographical and cultural borders are ever more closely guarded, it seems apt to reflect on the intellectual and artistic borders breached and intersected across the pages of CMC. As the scholarship appearing in CMC suggests, these borders – most notably, but not exclusively, between criminology, media studies, and cultural studies – are often porous, and at times fully permeable. Indeed, this journal could scarcely exist otherwise. The diverse contributions to Volume 1 of CMC, we feel, clearly illustrated the high quality of academic research, intellectual debate, political commentary and artistic engagement that can result from a truly cross-disciplinary interrogation of crime, media and culture. We are pleased to report, then, that the eclectic, cross-cutting intellectual revolution we spoke of in our first editorial appears to be well under way. Despite this, though, we would suggest that meaningful and sustained analysis between and across disciplines remains an important and pressing challenge. Even the most cursory glance at publishing catalogues and university prospectuses reveals that mediaand culturally-oriented criminology is a rapidly expanding area. Yet how many criminologists possess the methodological and conceptual tools to adequately deconstruct a crime film? How many have the journalistic or literary training to untangle the complexities of popular crime writing? At the same time, while scholars working within the realms of media and cultural studies routinely speak of issues of crime, deviance and control, how many can claim the socio-political and historical understanding of crime and penality so central to the work of many criminologists? Answers to these questions suggest that while there is clearly a burgeoning body of work exploring the interrelations between crime, media, and culture, we have only begun the conversation; there is still much to be gained from a critical and reflexive dialogue between people working at this crucial nexus. Continuing to stimulate and nourish such a dialogue remains one of CMC’s key aims. Recently, one of us attended the launch of a book which collects contributions under the heading Participating in the Knowledge Society: Researchers Beyond the University