About Us
The Media and Cultural Studies (MCS) program emphasizes the study of media in their historical, economic, social, and political context. We examine the cultural forms created and disseminated by media industries and the ways in which they resonate in everyday life, on the individual, national, and global level. Focusing primarily on sound and screen media — television, new media, film, popular music, radio, video games — but reaching out across boundaries, MCS encourages interdisciplinary and transmedia research. MCS courses draw on a broad range of cultural theories spanning a spectrum of concerns all centrally relevant to the functioning of sound and screen media in a diverse and globalizing cultural environment. Through coursework in the Ph.D minor, graduates can also integrate study in such overlapping fields as history, ethnic studies, gender studies, sociology, and global studies.
The Program
The MCS Graduate Program is designed to train future media scholars and university faculty; students are admitted with the assumption that they will carry on to the Ph.D. Terminal MAs are rare and not encouraged. Though courses in film, video, and new media production are offered, this is not a production program. Financial support is provided primarily through teaching appointments, so students must have a level of English competency sufficient for the classroom.
For degree requirements and other detailed program information, please consult the graduate handbook.
Opportunities
A weekly graduate student/faculty colloquium gives students the opportunity to present their own work and to hear guest lecturers from a range of disciplinary perspectives, often in cooperation with other departmental areas. We also use this time to present information and facilitate discussions of publishing, conference presentations, and the job search process.
The Velvet Light Trap is a semi-annual journal publishing work on film, television, and other media. It is edited entirely by graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the University of Texas-Austin.
The study of media and culture is enhanced at Madison by the presence of significant resources that aid critical inquiry and research. In particular, the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, founded in 1960, is one of the leading US centers for archival documentation in film, television, radio, and theater history, containing over 300 collections and thousands of films, television programs, and audio recordings.
MCS FACULTY
Eric Hoyt: Archives, media industries, digital humanities. Film, radio, television. I save and share collections of media history in physical and digital form.
Derek Johnson: Media industries across the boundaries of TV, film, games, comics, and consumer products. I ask how long-term investment in shared media culture produces struggle over creativity and the future.
Diana Leon-Boys: My research examines how media both reflect and reinforce social inequalities, as well as how marginalized communities challenge these narratives, often through digital platforms.
Jason Kido Lopez: Sports and sports media. I focus on the novelties of sports as a transmedia genre, and what those mean for the athlete labor force and sports fans.
Lori Lopez: I research race and media, Asian Americans, minority representations and audiences, and activism.
Jeremy Morris: Digital media, music, podcasting, the Internet, and AI. I study how shifts in technology affect the people who make, sell, and experience music, podcasts, and other cultural goods.