Panel Discussion:

Audience Research Hot Off The Press: Lessons Learned from Three Book Projects

Andre Cavalcante, Associate professor at the University of Virginia with a dual appointment in the departments of Media Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality.

Talk Abstract: Qualitative audience research is an exciting, frustrating, time consuming, and profoundly necessary field in media studies. In this talk, I discuss lessons learned from three audience research projects I’ve conducted since my time as a graduate student at the University of Michigan. These projects include: Struggling for Ordinary: Media and Transgender Belonging in Everyday Life, Purple States: Young, Queer, and Connected in Uncertain Times, and COVID Connections: Media and Everyday Life During a Global Pandemic. For each project, I discuss two findings from my research and share thoughts on the practice of conducting qualitative media inquiry.

Smashing Trump's Star
Andrea McDonnell, Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies at Emmanuel College

Lecture Abstract: Tourist sites dedicated to celebrity life and history provide visitors with an opportunity to engage with and celebrate famous figures who intrigue and inspire. But what happens when visitors use star sites not to revere, but to resist? When shared on social media, can personal gestures of defiance be transformed into political dialogue? Recent activity at Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame suggests that engagement with tourist sites, however personal or ephemeral, can function as a mode of political resistance, one that demonstrates the fluidity of the celebrity sign and the public’s ability to exert agency over its meaning in our contemporary media landscape.