Media

Media

episodes

Interviews with scholars of media and communications about their new books.

Steve Jones, "The Metamodern Slasher Film" (Edinburgh UP, 2024)

September 10, 2024

The Metamodern Slasher Film

Steve Jones
Hosted by Jessica Walker

It is commonly proposed that since the mid-2000s, the slasher subgenre has been dominated by unoriginal remakes of "classics". Consequently, most orig…

Michael Gavin, "Literary Mathematics: Quantitative Theory for Textual Studies" (Stanford UP, 2022)

September 9, 2024

Literary Mathematics

Michael Gavin

Across the humanities and social sciences, scholars increasingly use quantitative methods to study textual data. Considered together, this research re…

Trevor Boffone, "TikTok Broadway: Musical Theatre Fandom in the Digital Age" (Oxford UP, 2024)

September 8, 2024

TikTok Broadway

Trevor Boffone
Hosted by Pete Kunze

Are you a musical theatre fan who loves TikTok? Or are you curious about how this social media app has changed musical theatre fandom - and even the c…

Cary Nelson, "Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: The Antisemitic Assault on Basic Principles" (Academic Studies Press, 2024)

September 4, 2024

Hate Speech and Academic Freedom

Cary Nelson
Hosted by Renee Garfinkel

Completed shortly before Hamas carried out its barbaric October massacre, Cary Nelson's Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: The Antisemitic Assault on B…

Jordan Magnuson, "Game Poems: Videogame Design as Lyric Practice" (Amherst College Press, 2023)

September 4, 2024

Game Poems

Jordan Magnuson

Scholars, critics, and creators describe certain videogames as being “poetic,” yet what that means or why it matters is rarely discussed. In Game Poem…

David H. Price, "The American Surveillance State: How the US Spies on Dissent" (Pluto Press, 2022)

September 4, 2024

The American Surveillance State

David H. Price
Hosted by Deniz Yonucu

When the possibility of wiretapping first became known to Americans they were outraged. Now, in our post-9/11 world, it's accepted that corporations a…

Sarah Malanowski and Nicholas R. Baima, "Why It's Ok to Be a Gamer" (Routledge, 2024)

September 3, 2024

Why It's Ok to Be a Gamer

Sarah Malanowski and Nicholas R. Baima

If you enjoy video games as a pastime, you are certainly not alone—billions of people worldwide now play video games. However, you may still find your…

Chris Richardson, "Batman and the Joker: Contested Sexuality in Popular Culture" (Routledge, 2020)

September 3, 2024

Batman and the Joker

Chris Richardson
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In Batman and The Joker: Contested Sexuality in Popular Culture (Routledge, 2020), Chris Richardson presents a cultural analysis of the ways gender, i…

Wendy Salkin, "Speaking for Others: The Ethics of Informal Political Representation" (Harvard UP, 2024)

September 1, 2024

Speaking for Others

Wendy Salkin
Hosted by Robert Talisse

We are familiar with the idea of a formal representative, and perhaps the idea of a formal political representative readily comes to mind. Roughly, t…

Beth Driscoll, "What Readers Do: Aesthetic and Moral Practices of a Post-Digital Age" (Bloomsbury, 2024)

August 31, 2024

What Readers Do

Beth Driscoll
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

What is reading? In What Readers Do: Aesthetic and Moral Practices of a Post-Digital Age (Bloomsbury, 2024) Beth Driscoll, an Associate Professor in P…

Mel Stanfill, "Fandom Is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture" (NYU Press, 2024)

August 31, 2024

Fandom Is Ugly

Mel Stanfill
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In their latest book, Fandom is Ugly: Networked Harassment in Participatory Culture (NYU Press, 2024), Mel Stafill highlights the importance of consid…

John V. Pavlik, "Journalism and the Metaverse" (Anthem Press, 2024)

August 30, 2024

Journalism and the Metaverse

John V. Pavlik
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Journalism has been in a state of disruption since the development of the Internet. The Metaverse, or what some describe as the future of the Internet…

Yerkebulan Sairambay, "New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023)

August 26, 2024

New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan

Yerkebulan Sairambay
Hosted by Cholpon Ramizova

Dr. Yerkebulan Sairambay’s New Media and Political Participation in Russia and Kazakhstan (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023) confronts the sociological p…

Bessie N. Rigakos and Wesley R. Bishop, "Liberating Fat Bodies: Social Media Censorship and Body Size Activism" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)

August 23, 2024

Liberating Fat Bodies

Bessie N. Rigakos and Wesley R. Bishop
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

Using a multidisciplinary and intersectional approach, Liberating Fat Bodies: Social Media Censorship and Body Size Activism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024…

Uluğ Kuzuoğlu, "Codes of Modernity: Chinese Scripts in the Global Information Age" (Columbia UP, 2023)

August 23, 2024

Codes of Modernity

Uluğ Kuzuoğlu
Hosted by Shu Wan

In the late nineteenth century, Chinese reformers and revolutionaries believed that there was something fundamentally wrong with the Chinese writing s…

Michele Santamaria and Nicole Pfannenstiel, "Information Literacy and Social Media: Empowered Student Engagement with the Acrl Framework" (ACRL, 2024)

August 20, 2024

Information Literacy and Social Media

Michele Santamaria and Nicole Pfannenstiel
Hosted by Michael LaMagna

Teaching our students how to become flexible and accurate evaluators of information requires teaching them adaptable processes and not static heuristi…

Karen Tongson, "Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes Us" (NYU Press, 2023)

August 18, 2024

Normporn

Karen Tongson
Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan

In Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes Us (NYU Press, 2023), Karen Tongson presents an irreverent look at the love-hate relationship betwe…

Stephen Pinfield, "Achieving Global Open Access: The Need for Scientific, Epistemic and Participatory Openness" (Routledge, 2024)

August 17, 2024

Achieving Global Open Access

Stephen Pinfield
Hosted by Xiaoli Chen

Often assumed to be a self-evident good, Open Access has been subject to growing criticism for perpetuating global inequities and epistemic injustices…

Javier Fernández-Galeano, "Queer Obscenity: Erotic Archives in Dictatorial Spain" (Stanford UP, 2024)

August 16, 2024

Queer Obscenity

Javier Fernández-Galeano

Queer Obscenity: Erotic Archives in Dictatorial Spain (Stanford University Press, 2024) takes us inside the archive to demonstrate how the incongruiti…

He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters: A Discussion with Schuyler Bailar

August 15, 2024

He/She/They

Schuyler Bailar

Schuyler Bailar didn’t set out to be an activist, but his very public transition to the Harvard men’s swim team put him in the spotlight. His choice t…