Lexington Books
Pages: 222
Trim: 7 x 9½
978-0-7391-1165-9 • Hardback • June 2006 • $118.00 • (£91.00)
978-0-7391-1166-6 • Paperback • June 2006 • $48.99 • (£38.00)
978-0-7391-6202-6 • eBook • June 2006 • $46.50 • (£36.00)
Christopher J. Wright began writing about political and cultural implications of Survivor in 2001 for PopPolitics.com. He works in the political media in Washington, D.C.
Chapter 1 "Interrogating the Obvious": Survivor, Cultural Touchstore
Chapter 2 "You Cannot Talk to the Guys in the Boat": Survivor as the False Real
Chapter 3 "Apparently Reprehensible Material": The Political Unconscious and Popular Culture
Chapter 4 "If It Happens Again . . .": Repression and the Tagi Alliance
Chapter 5 "They're All Lying to Me": Repression among Contestants
Chapter 6 "A Really Passionate Affair": Repression through Editing
Chapter 7 "These Three Girls Have All Been Riding Coattails": Survivor's Gender Wars
Chapter 8 "Thrashing around Like I'm Thirty-Five": Paradoxes of Aging on Survivor
Chapter 9 "This Thing Runs Deeper Than a Game": Survivor's Trouble with Race
Chapter 10 "Always Historicize!": Symbolic Resolutions and Contemporary Politics
Chapter 11 Appendix A: Synopses of the First Eleven Survivor Seasons
Chapter 12 Appendix B: Contestant Profiles and Ratings
Chapter 13 Appendix C: Methodology
Tribal Warfare offers a fascinating political analysis of a television and cultural phenomenon. Wright reveals the meaning behind Survivor's alliances, challenges and torch-snuffings—demonstrating that the program's tribes have spoken in more ways than one.
— Dan Bollinger and Louise Wezzie Craven, Survivor Maps
Wright's fascinating in-depth analysis adds a cultural relevance to Survivor beyond its entertainment value. You do not need to have seen the show to appreciate his research into the political and racial undertones and sociological impact of reality television. Tribal Warfare legitimizes discussion of Survivor as a literary topic.
— Brian Corridan, Survivor: Guatemala
This is a delightful and thorough study of the politics and ideologyof the ‘‘reality'' TV show Survivor.
— The Journal of Popular Culture
The writing is dynamic and the ideas compelling.
— Communication Booknotes Quarterly, March 2009
This work takes reality television seriously and examines the underlying messages of the popular Survivor series deliberately, consequently shedding light over the social dynamics within the series and among the viewers. Everyone studying reality television should read this book.
— Matthew J. Smith, Wittenberg University