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Ardizzoni, Michela

Associate Faculty Director of the Master of Arts in Media and Public Engagement

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • Dr. Ardizzoni's research focuses on three main areas of Italian media studies: the construction of cultural identities in and through the media, the mediatization of media activism and social change, and the role of urban media in a Mediterranean context. Her first book examines the visual and discursive representation of identity promoted by public and private Italian national television networks at the turn of the 21st century. Her recent work has examined the status of activist media in Italy through Telestreet, a network of unlicensed neighborhood television stations aimed at expanding citizen access to information. Her current projects focus on screen cultures and social change in Italy and the Mediterranean. Through an analysis of emerging film practices and new media activism, she interrogates the centrality of innovative film production and distribution modes in generating a new lexicon and culture of political participation and engaged citizenship.

keywords

  • Italian media, television, cinema, alternative new media, Mediterranean studies, contemporary migration, feminism, gender, identity politics, Global media, connected media practices, media activism

Publications

selected publications

Teaching

courses taught

  • CMCI 6051 - Media Theories
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
    Studies theories and perspectives of mass and networked communication and explores the role of media in society.
  • FREN 1350 - Introduction to Social Change in the Arts
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2024
    This course serves as an introduction to the Certificate in Art and Social Change. It introduces students to theories, concepts, and ideas that shape artistic productions and activist conversations around social change in a variety of geo-cultural contexts. The course is divided into three main units: theater and performance, media, and visual arts. Through these different lenses, students will learn about artistic practices in the US and in regions where Italian and French are spoken (North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Mediterranean region). This course allows students to engage with some of the most urgent issues in our societies, as they relate to justice, equality, and diversity. Artists and activists play an increasingly important role in advancing justice and promoting social change at the local, national, and global levels. The interdisciplinary approach of this course enables students to examine the role of different forms of artistic productions as a catalyst for social change. This course emphasizes a pedagogical and scholarly approach rooted in critical thinking, anti-oppression practices, and community building. Same as ITAL 1350.
  • FREN 6940 - Master's Degree Candidate
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2021 / Spring 2022
    -
  • FYSM 1000 - First Year Seminar
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2020
    Provide first year students with an immersive experience in an interdisciplinary topic that addresses current issues including social, technical and global topics. Taught by faculty from across campus, the course provides students with an opportunity to interact in small classes, have project based learning experiences and gain valuable communication skills. Seminar style classes focused on discussion and projects.
  • ITAL 1350 - Introduction to Social Change in the Arts
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2024
    This course serves as an introduction to the Certificate in Art and Social Change. It introduces students to theories, concepts, and ideas that shape artistic productions and activist conversations around social change in a variety of geo-cultural contexts. The course is divided into three main units: theater and performance, media, and visual arts. Through these different lenses, students will learn about artistic practices in the US and in regions where Italian and French are spoken (North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Mediterranean region). This course allows students to engage with some of the most urgent issues in our societies, as they relate to justice, equality, and diversity. Artists and activists play an increasingly important role in advancing justice and promoting social change at the local, national, and global levels. The interdisciplinary approach of this course enables students to examine the role of different forms of artistic productions as a catalyst for social change. This course emphasizes a pedagogical and scholarly approach rooted in critical thinking, anti-oppression practices, and community building. Same as FREN 1350.
  • ITAL 3040 - Italian Conversation Through Cinema
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2020 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2023 / Spring 2024
    Taught in Italian, the course covers various topics of Italian Cinema from WWII to the present. Focus is on periods, genres, themes, and auteur/directors. Emphasis on review of language structures previously learned and acquisition of new vocabulary to enable students to discuss different aspects of Italian culture, in Italian.
  • ITAL 4030 - Contemporary Italian Culture, Politics, and the Media
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
    Serves as an introduction to the study of the effect that politics and the media have in shaping Italian culture. Makes use of the World Wide Web for instruction. Taught in Italian. Familiarity with Internet helpful.
  • ITAL 4290 - Italian Culture Through Cinema
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Summer 2019 / Summer 2020 / Summer 2021 / Fall 2021 / Summer 2022 / Fall 2022 / Summer 2023 / Fall 2023
    Examines the representations of Italian culture through its cinema. Focusing especially on post-World War II cinema, examines how Italian filmmakers have portrayed Italian history and specific aspects of its culture (i.e., Fascism, post-war reconstruction, the Mafia, patriarchy) in the past 50 years. Taught in English.
  • ITAL 4300 - Multiculturalism in Italy
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2019 / Spring 2021
    Focuses on multiculturalism and difference in contemporary Italian society. Readings assigned explore the experience and co-existence of ethnic and religious minorities in Italy. Students will study how specific minorities live in a major Western-European country and will investigate the connotations that the concept of 'multiculturalism' takes in the Italian context.
  • ITAL 4990 - Senior Seminar
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Fall 2018 / Fall 2023
    Preparation of a 15-page research paper in Italian presented to two members of the faculty and defended orally in class.
  • MDST 5851 - Graduate Professional Project
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2024
    -
  • MDST 5931 - Internship
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2019 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020
    -
  • MDST 6051 - Media Theories
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2020
    Studies theories and perspectives of mass and networked communication and explores the role of media in society.
  • MDST 6721 - Feminist Media Studies
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2023
    Explores the complex relation between feminism and global media consumption and production. Students will be introduced to key theoretical approaches to engage critically with film, print and broadcast media, digital media, and art. Students will engage with themes that frame feminist media studies today: intersectionality, gaze, (in)visibility, consumerism, resistance, bodies, representational narratives, queer identities, decolonial feminism as a theoretical tool of relationality, and explorations of decolonizing feminist practices originating in the global South.
  • MDST 6871 - Special Topics
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022
    Special topics. May be repeated up to 15 total credit hours hours
  • MDST 6951 - Master's Thesis
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2023

Background

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