Research in areas as diverse as South Asian language comic books and architecture has been funded by fellowships awarded by The Center for the Study of Popular Television. The fellows named are faculty members, students and one staff member of Syracuse University. One is from another university.
"The study of popular culture is such an interdisciplinary field, the only way to understand it is to come at it from many different directions. One of the purposes of these fellowships was to do just that," says Robert J. Thompson, Trustee Professor of Media and Culture and director of the center. "The 14 fellows represent 13 different disciplines."
The maximum funding awarded per project is $5,000. The fellowships granted total $40,000. They include: Tej Bhatia, professor, language, literature & linguistics, "American Popular Culture through South Asian Language Comic Books"; Arthur Brooks, associate professor, public administration, "What Motivates Viewers Like You? A Study of the Determinants of Private Donations to Public Television"; and Rachel Brown, assistant professor, education, "The Intertextual Nature of TV Station Webpages: Can This Technology Reconfigure the Reading Process?".
Also, Kathleen Farrell, doctoral student, sociology, "Backstage Politics: A Marginalized Identity and Social Change on TV"; Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn, associate professor, history, "Visual Culture, Modern Consciousness, and the Formation of Moral Conscience"; Tirza Leader, graduate student, psychology, "Violence and Verbal Complexity in Buffy the Vampire Slayer"; Lily Ling, graduate student, international affairs, New School University, "White Power as White Absence in the West Wing: Normalizing Race, Gender, and Power for an American National Subjectivity"; and Yong Liu, assistant professor, marketing, "Toward Understanding Television Viewers: The Distribution of Viewer Taste and the Perception of TV Program Quality".
Also, David Marc, communications manager, Publications Office, "Antisemitism and Prejudice in the Contemporary Media"; Paige Muellerleile, doctoral student, social psychology, "The Effect of Television Coverage of the O.J. Simpson Trial on Reports of Intimate Partner Violence"; Anne Munly, associate professor, architecture, "Architecture and Identity in the Mediated Environment"; Catherine Smith, associate professor, writing, "A Cultural History of Congressional Hearings"; Katina Stapleton, assistant professor, political science, "Pop Music Television and Political Activism"; and John Townsend, professor, anthropology, "Gender Roles in Reality Shows-A Pilot Study".
