Graduate Program
The Department of Film and Media Studies at UC Santa Barbara offers M.A./Ph.D. and Ph.D.-only degree programs. The program is designed to be:
Deeply rooted in the discipline of Film and Media Studies and critical thinking
Strongly interdisciplinary, drawing on the talents and training of faculty in those companion departments where interest in the study of the modern media arts and industry is emerging and flourishing
International in its range of focus, allowing for the comparative study of diverse national cinemas and media institutions and practices within a global framework
Innovative in its research methods and curriculum
Building on the strengths of the department and the campus, the graduate program emphasizes the study of film from a humanistic perspective, within the broader context of global media culture. For additional information about the program, please refer to the Graduate Program Handbook.
In addition to departmental requirements for graduate admission, applicants must fulfill University requirements found in the UCSB General Catalog (General Requirements for Graduate Degrees)
A student must show a strong aptitude for scholarly work and demonstrate intellectual maturity to be considered for admission to the M.A./Ph.D. and Ph.D.-only degree programs in Film and Media Studies. Students who are admitted will be required to attain a basic level of competence in the discipline in conjunction with their specific program of study. Many of the students admitted to the program will have achieved such a base level of competence by having completed an undergraduate major in film and media studies or taken film and media studies courses while majoring in a closely related humanities, arts, or social science discipline (such as literature, dramatic arts, philosophy, history, or women’s studies) with an emphasis on critical thinking and writing.
Applications to both the M.A./Ph D and Ph.D.-only programs are accepted during the fall only. The application deadline for all applicants is December 1, when the department will begin screening applications for a limited number of competitive openings and funding opportunities.
Admission to the M.A./Ph.D. and Ph.D.-Only programs are based on six application components (for detailed information on all components, see the Graduate Division website: How to Apply.
On-line Application: A non-refundable application fee must be paid by Visa or MasterCard, check, or money order before the application will be processed.
Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended must be uploaded to the online application. A 3.0 GPA for the bachelor’s degree is a campus-wide minimum requirement for UCSB graduate study.
A Statement of Purpose describing the applicant’s reasons for wishing to earn a Ph.D. in Film and Media Studies, a Statement of Personal Achievements/Contributions, and a resume or CV must be submitted electronically.
A writing sample that demonstrates a high level of ability to write theory, criticism, or historical narrative must be submitted online under “Supplemental Documents”. It should be 15-20 pages of a coherent, complete essay, and does not have to be about film or media.
Three letters of recommendation that must be sent electronically along with your application.
Either the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam scores or the IELTS (International English Language Testing System) scores must be submitted by international students whose native language is not English. A minimum TOEFL score of 600 paper / 100 internet is required prior to admission. The minimum IELTS score for consideration is an overall score of 7 or higher. Those who received an B.A. or an M.A. at English-speaking institutions can waive this requirement.
GRE scores are not required, please do not include.
UCSB does not admit students conditionally in order to learn English prior to beginning an academic program; an excellent command of written and spoken English is required prior to enrollment.
Detailed procedures about the ELPE (English Language Proficiency Exam), Minimum Proficiency Requirements in Spoken and Written English, and the TA Language Evaluation Exam are outlined under English for Multilingual Students (EMS) Requirement on the Graduate Division Admitted International Students page.
For further clarification and elaboration, please see the Graduate Division Admissions page.
Information and Questions: grad@filmandmedia.ucsb.edu
Director of Graduate Studies: Laila Shereen Sakr
For more information, contact our Graduate Program Advisor: Maddie O’Shea
Graduate application deadline: December 1, 2025, 11:59pm
Graduate Program
Department of Film and Media Studies
Social Sciences and Media Studies Building
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4010
grad@filmandmedia.ucsb.edu
fax: 805-893-8630
Those who received an B.A. or an M.A. at an English-speaking institution can waive this requirement.
Graduate Student Fees and Fee Remission
Graduate Student Fees and Fee Remission
Tuition, fees, and other charges are subject to change without notice by the Regents of the University of California. Click here for Quarterly Tuition and Fees, as well as other costs and fees information.
Graduate Program
Department of Film and Media Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4010
grad@filmandmedia.ucsb.edu
phone: 805-893-8535
152.40
The M.A./Ph.D. and Ph.D.-only curriculum consists of two parts: a set of six core courses together with eleven (or five for the Ph.D.-only) supplemental/elective courses designed to make the program focused on the field, as well as , interdisciplinary, and international. The graduate core courses focus on fundamental areas of competence in history, theory, analysis, and cultural studies. TA Practicum units are earned in addition to these core and elective courses. (Click for graduate courses.)
The six critical studies core courses are designed for in-depth study at the graduate level and are entirely separate from undergraduate course offerings. The core consists of six courses: 220 Critical Analysis; 230 The Philosophy of History; 231 Media Historiographies; 240 Film Theory; 241 Television and New Media Theory; and 250 Cultural Theory.
In lieu of a single research and methods course, the core curriculum distributes methodological training across a series of courses involved with concrete research topics in order to offer a working sense of how one approaches a media object of study from a variety of perspectives.
The curriculum has a unique design that encourages students to acquire professional experience in teaching, presenting research, as well as (through an innovative M.A. exam process and Ph.D. area exam process) developing a research plan for the dissertation.
The department offers a wide range of graduate electives. Under certain circumstances—if the topic is crucial to the student’s research or a course that will not be offered when needed—credit is also available for two courses in the department’s upper-division undergraduate program (using the undergraduate course number). Furthermore, there are numerous opportunities to take graduate courses in other departments. With the approval of the student’s mentor, the department’s Director of Graduate Studies, and the department’s Chair, up to five elective courses in the first three years of the M.A./Ph.D. may be taken in other departments; and up to three elective courses in the first two years of the Ph.D.-only. It is important to note that the departmental electives are integral for degree completion, and over-loading on outside electives instead of the minimum amount of departmental electives is cautioned against.
In addition to the core curriculum and elective courses, there is a foreign language proficiency requirement. Other types of requirements are described below (in I. and II.).
Policy on Independent Studies Courses. Department policy is that only a total of TWO 596 courses can be taken as part of the 11 electives for the M.A./Ph.D. or as part of the 5 electives for the Ph.D.-only. Beyond the elective courses, students may take whatever they choose, but they are advised to use their opportunities wisely, especially as part of their preparation for the qualifying exam.
I. M.A./Ph.D. REQUIREMENTS
A. Master of Arts – Film and Media Studies
The department does NOT offer a terminal M.A. program. All applicants are admitted to a single M.A./Ph.D. (or Ph.D.-only) program. The M.A. degree in Film and Media Studies is treated as a valuable stage on the path to the doctorate. Although it is understood that some students may choose not to continue beyond the M.A., and that others may not be permitted to do so, the aim of the program is to provide students with research training leading to the doctoral degree.
The expected time for the M.A. is two years. Students who lack a background in the discipline may be required to complete one or more additional upper-division undergraduate courses in Film and Media Studies prior to conferral of the M.A. degree.
In the first two years, the student must complete six graduate core curriculum courses and five graduate elective courses for a total of eleven courses (out of the seventeen required for the Ph.D. degree).
By the end of the second year, the student must pass an oral M.A. exam administered by the student’s M.A. Committee, based on two research papers written and revised by the student during the first two years of the program. M.A. committees are comprised of 3 members, of which 2 including the chair must be regular Senate faculty members of the Department of Film and Media Studies.
For more specific policies related to the M.A. exam, please see the Graduate Program Handbook.
B. Doctor of Philosophy – Film and Media Studies
The expected time to complete the Ph.D. is three years following the successful completion of the M.A. The student must, sometime between the end of his or her M.A. program and the first year of the Ph.D., investigate potential locations for off-campus research. In the first year of the Ph.D., the student must a) complete six graduate courses, some or all of which will contribute to the development of the student’s emerging research program. By the end of the first year of the Ph.D. (i.e., the third year of the M.A./Ph.D.), each student will have taken and passed a total of seventeen courses.
Foreign Language Requirement
By the time of the dissertation defense, each student will have established a reading knowledge in at least one foreign language. The faculty believes that establishing a reading knowledge in at least one foreign language is an integral part of graduate training in a field that is international in scope and in a department that seeks to come to terms with the global nature of film and media production, distribution, and dissemination.
All candidates for the Ph.D. degree must demonstrate reading proficiency in a second language before receiving their degree. The standard is reading knowledge, and the required level of proficiency will be determined by the dissertation chair, and approved by the departmental graduate committee. This is a general requirement for the Ph.D. degree; thus any language courses that a student takes must be in addition to the required seventeen Film and Media Studies core and elective courses for the MA/Ph.D. degree or the required eleven Film and Media Studies core and elective courses for the Ph.D.-only degree. (Units taken to fulfill this requirement do not count towards the degree). Students can complete this requirement in the following ways:
1) Completion of a language course at the intermediate level (4-6) with a minimum grade of B+; or,
2) Completion of an upper-division literature course conducted in the foreign language with a minimum grade of B+; or,
3) Completion of a foreign language reading course for graduate students with a minimum grade of B+; or,
4) Passing a Foreign Language Evaluation Exam at reading proficiency level as administered and determined by the respective language department (see below for relevant contacts); or,
5) Alternatives such as petitioning for fulfillment based on previous coursework and/or language proficiency; Fulbright study; successfully passing or completing a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS); online courses from an approved institution; or other options as determined by your faculty advisor by petition to Graduate Committee.
Students whose native language is not English will have the opportunity to satisfy the requirement with their native language, except in cases where additional language learning is necessary for the specific dissertation research, as determined by the dissertation committee chair and Graduate Committee.
If expertise in a specific foreign language is necessary or desirable for the purpose of conducting research for a Ph.D. dissertation, a student’s Ph.D. Committee may require competency in that foreign language. This foreign language may, but need not, be the same language that is offered to fulfill the general requirement.
Language Evaluation Exams
Students may take Language Evaluation Exams in the respective departments of their language choice. Below is the contact information for five languages on campus that offer placement exams:
Italian
Dr. Valentina Padula evaluates the language levels of anyone above level 3. Please contact Dr. Vallentina Padula at padula@frit.ucsb.edu to schedule an appointment for a placement interview.
French
Dr. Jean Marie Schultz evaluates the language levels of anyone above level 3. Please contact Dr. Jean Marie Schultz at jmschultz@french-ital.uscb.edu to schedule an appointment for a placement interview.
Spanish
Two types of exams are offered, the Spanish Placement Exam for second language learners and the Spanish Fluency Evaluation for native/heritage speakers. The placement exam is offered in the department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies M-F when classes are in session and the fluency evaluation is typically offered 2 days per week, dependent upon scheduling. Please contact Laura Marques-Pascual at lmarques@spanport.ucsb.edu.
Portuguese
The Portuguese placement exam is offered in the department of Spanish and Portuguese Studies by appointment. Please contact the language coordinator, Laura Marques-Pascual at lmarques@spanport.ucsb.edu to schedule an appointment.
German
The German language evaluation exam is in two parts, an untimed written exam administered in the advising office of the department of Germanic and Slavic Studies and an oral exam completed after the written exam and scheduled by appointment. Please contact Dr. Evelyn Reder at evelynreder@gss.ucsb.edu to schedule an appointment.
Formation of Ph.D. Committee and Prospectus.
A Ph.D. committee must have four or five members. At least three members must be regular Senate faculty in the Department of Film and Media Studies. At least one member must be from outside the Department. Affiliated faculty, for this purpose, are considered to be outside the home department. A fifth member is optional. The prospectus must consist of an original topic, contributing new knowledge to the field and offer a solid blueprint for the dissertation research. It should include an extensive rationale for the project, a discussion of methodology, a survey of relevant literature, a bibliography (including reference to relevant film and media works), a descriptive table of contents, and a firm, realistic timeline. The prospectus should be from 3750 – 5000 words in length (15 – 20 pages) not including the bibliography.
Timeline for Ph.D. Committee and Ph.D. Qualifying Exam.
The Ph.D. Qualifying Exam consists of written and oral portions. By the end of week four of Spring quarter of the third year of the M.A./Ph.D., a student must form a dissertation committee by the end of week ten of Spring quarter, the student must choose three areas of specialization, together with appropriate reading lists as well as film and media works, relating to the dissertation topic and prospectus developed in consultation with the committee; by the end of week three of the fall quarter of the fourth year, the student must pass a written examination administered by the doctoral committee covering the three areas of specialization, and by the end of week seven pass an oral defense of the of the written exams and prospectus. Upon successful completion of the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam, the student will file for Advancement to Candidacy.
Ph.D. Written Exam.
The exam will focus on broad questions and significant texts within the three chosen areas of specialization. It consists of a take-home exam, administered over the course of three consecutive days, beginning on a Monday or Tuesday. Prior to the exam, the student will arrange the time for pick up and drop off of the questions and responses with the student’s Dissertation Committee Chair and the Graduate Program Assistant. Six questions will be given out day one–two questions per research area. The student writes a response to one question from each research over a 24-hour period. The response will be twelve to twenty double-spaced pages in a 12-point font for each question. A choice of two questions for each area will be given, from which the student chooses one. Each student may choose the order of the student’s area exams.
Ph.D. Qualifying Oral Exam.
The oral portion of the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam takes place over a two-hour period and covers the student’s Written Exam and dissertation prospectus. The format of the exam—that is, the allocation of time to presentation by the student, questions from the Committee Chair and members, and group discussion—is determined by the Dissertation Committee Chair in consultation with committee members. The student may be asked about Written Exam questions (answered or unanswered) and any matters related to the three areas of study of the prospectus.
Following the end of the Oral Exam, the designation of Pass, Pass with Conditions, or Fail will be given to each of the three Written Exam questions and the prospectus.
Nota Bene:
Since faculty are employed for a nine-month year, they are normally unavailable for teaching, mentoring, or consultation responsibilities during the summer.
Ph.D. Dissertation Defense.
Upon completion of the writing of the dissertation based on original research, the student will defend the work orally before the dissertation committee at a forum open to the public. Submission of the completed dissertation to the entire dissertation committee must be made at least one month in advance of the defense date. See the Graduate Handbook for more details on the Dissertation and Defense.
II. PH.D.-ONLY REQUIREMENTS
The Ph.D.-only degree is for those students who hold an M.A. or M.F.A. degree in Film and Media Studies or a closely-related discipline. Forty-four (44) units of coursework are required (eleven 4-unit courses), including the six graduate core courses. In addition, there is a foreign language proficiency requirement that must be satisfied before advancement to candidacy (see above for details on both requirements). Expected time for advancement to Ph.D. candidacy is seven quarters (two years plus one quarter).
The procedures governing the Ph.D Committee, Prospectus, Written Exam, Oral Exam, and Oral Dissertation Defense are indicated above (but occur one year sooner than in the M.A./Ph.D.).
Exam Policy Guidelines
The guidelines for the M.A. exam:
Each candidate for the M.A. degree will nominate a M.A. Exam Committee Chair and select the members of the Committee.
Committees are comprised of three faculty members, two of whom, including the chair of the committee, must be Department of Film and Media Studies graduate faculty and Academic Senate members. Affiliated faculty and non-affiliated faculty from other departments may serve on the committee with prior approval from the Department Chair and Graduate Studies Director.
Committees must be determined, and Master’s Form I submitted to the Department’s Graduate Program Advisor, by Friday of the fourth week of Winter quarter of the second year. Form I can be found under “Forms and Petitions” on the Graduate Division website www.graddiv.ucsb.edu. [Do not submit form to Graduate Division.]
Candidates for the M.A. will work with the exam committee to select two papers by the student that will provide the subject of the exam. It is expected that both papers will be substantially revised and polished to approximate “publishable standard” prior to the exam in consultation with their chair and committee.
It is the responsibility of the student to communicate with committee members, whether individually or as a group, prior to the exam to determine the date of the oral exam and the focus and direction of revisions.
Candidates must provide the committee members with the revised papers that will be the subject of evaluation for the Master’s exam no later than two weeks prior to the exam date.
The duration of the exam will be no longer than two hours. The exam has two parts: an initial formal presentation by the student of approximately 20-30 minutes to be followed by questions from the committee and responses by the student.
Candidates will be expected to discuss the subject matter of each paper and its context within the field. The student will not read aloud his or her papers as part of the exam, nor simply repeat ideas in the papers, since it is assumed that the essays will have been read in advance by committee members. The student’s presentation should reflect on the larger issues raised by the two papers, discuss them in the context of research in the field, and address the possibilities for further research.
All of the candidates must have completed their exams by the end of the fourth week of Spring quarter of their second year.
The student will be informed of the results of his or her exam at the end of the exam. There are three outcomes: Pass, Fail, and Revisions Required. A student who does not pass the exam or who is required to further revise essays, must resubmit papers to the committee within six weeks of the date of the exam.
Students who complete the M.A. work and pass the oral exam with sufficient distinction will be invited to continue working toward the Ph.D.
The guidelines for the Ph.D. exam are as follows:
Written Qualifying Examination
The written qualifying examination will be administered by the student’s doctoral committee. Ph.D. written exams will conform to the following standards:
The exam should be structured to test the student’s knowledge, research skills, problem solving skills and their ability to do academic work. The content of the questions is designed to combine general Film and Media Studies disciplinary foundations and emphases, and the student’s systematic area of study. The questions will be coordinated and reviewed by the chair of the committee before being given to the student.
3 days, 3 exams, answer 1 of 2 questions per day. Students should be given 24 hours to answer each day’s questions.
Students may refer to all resources that will assist with their work during the allotted time period for each question, and the department will provide special assistance, as needed, for disabled students.
Questions will be given in advance.
The typewritten response will be twelve to twenty double-spaced pages in a 12-point font for each question. To aid in preparation for the examination, the student in consultation with the dissertation committee will develop reading lists for each of the three areas. The reading lists are primarily a guide for study, and should not be interpreted as a catalogue of required knowledge. Consult with the chair of your committee for additional suggested reading.
The written qualifying examination will normally be administered by Week 3 in the fall quarter of the 3rd year for Ph.D.-only students, or Week 3 of fall quarter of the 4th year for MA/Ph.D. students. Following administration of the examination, the faculty will evaluate the student’s performance in each section. An unsatisfactory section of the examination may be repeated once, in the same quarter, or the quarter immediately following the receipt of the written evaluation.
Oral Qualifying Examination
Having successfully completed the diagnostic interview, written comprehensive examination and dissertation prospectus, the student’s doctoral committee will conduct an oral qualifying examination. Graduate Division regulations require that three consecutive quarters of residence must be completed prior to taking the oral qualifying exam. Thus, the oral exam will normally be taken in the 4th, 5th, 6th quarters of residence. The general objective of this examination is to ensure that the student possesses the full knowledge and competence required to carry out his or her dissertation research. Thus, the examination will emphasize (but not necessarily be limited to) the systematic and technical areas relevant to the student’s proposed dissertation research. Following the examination, the committee members shall vote “Pass”, “Pass with Conditions” or “Fail” on the student’s level of preparation. A majority of passing votes will be required for advancement to candidacy. This examination is usually open only to voting committee members.
FAMST 231- Media Production
Graduate-level instruction in film or video pre-production, production, and post-production.
FAMST 213- Autobiographical Screenwriting
Explores the creative process in autobiographical screenplay construction through writing exercises as well as film viewing.
FAMST 202- Critical Analysis and Method
Seminar examining a range of methodologies and critical approaches to the study of film and media, with the specific topics chosen by the instructor.
FAMST 222- Special Topics in Film Analysis
Close examination of an element of film style – such as sound, color, or camera movement – and its impact on interpretation.
FAMST 223- Black Film Criticism
Explores the social, cultural, aesthetic, and economic contexts of black critical writing on film over the past century. Studies the black critique of racial representation in Hollywood and other cinemas, the black independent cinemas, and issues of black spectatorship.
FAMST 224- Genre Analysis
Genre criticism illuminates the artistic and popular appeal of film and explores the relation of aesthetics to ideology. Course analyzes genre criticism through the lens of genre theory, reexamining conventional approaches to the nature and history of formulaic films.
FAMST 252- Film and Media Authorship
Examines theories of authorship in film and television and how these ideas are redefined and questioned in a poststructuralist and postmodernist paradigm as well as with the evolution of interactive technologies.
FAMST 226- National Cinemas
Close analysis of theories of nation, nationalism, and national cinema, with a focus on the contentious relations between culture, history, media capital and the state. Topics include evolving genres, styles, movements and institutions; local lifeworlds and more.
FAMST 230- Philosophy of Film History
Studies works and concepts in the philosophy of history that have informed the researching and writing of film and media history. Will also consider the ways in which film and media texts have extended debates and concepts of historiographic practice.
FAMST 231- Media Historiographies
Comparative analysis of various historical accounts of cinema, television, and digital media that have shaped the field of film and media studies. Emphasis on issues and debates that have dominated efforts to write rigorous, methodologically explicit histories of different media.
FAMST 232- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMST 232GE- Special Topics in Film and Media History: Global Film Exhibition
Examines the industrial, social, cultural, and racial practices employed in theatrical and non-theatrical exhibition venues around the world and the local, national, and transnational film cultures developed around moviegoing and other consumption activities related to cinema.
FAMST 232GM- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMAT 232JC- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMST 232PC- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMST 232PN- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMST 232RW- Special Topics in Film and Media History: Revisiting Weimar Culture
This course explores the art, politics and culture of the Weimar Republic, the period between the defeat of Germany in World War I and Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. It focuses on film and visual culture, with attention to questions of gender, sexuality, and class. It examines questions of history and historiography as well as the work of theorists who proposed new ways of thinking about art, popular culture, and technological innovation that remain resonant today.
FAMST 233 Histories of Film Style
Examines different explanatory models for patterns of historical continuity, influence, and change in film style. Also includes comparative study of influential models for the history of style in other art forms, such as painting, photography and architecture.
FAMST 234- History, Memory, and Media
Explores how visual and acoustic media have influenced the writing of public histories and the formation of collective memories, and the possibilities and limitations of representing historical events in both fiction and non-fiction audio-visual form.
FAMST 235- (Auto)biographical Documentary
Studies modes of documentary filmmaking in the context of literary and cinematic self-representation including the relationships among personal and collective history and identity construction.
FAMST 236- Historicizing New Media
Looks at issues of media production and consumption along an historical continuum including changing patterns of media literacy, types of apparatuses, ideologies, ethics, and aesthetics.
FAMST 240- Film Theory
Examines the history and rhetoric of thinking about the ontology, epistemology, ideology, and aesthetics of film.
FAMST 241- Television and Digital Media Theory
Explores important theoretical writings concerning electronic and digital media. Course readings define the unique properties of these mediums, consider their ontological status, and discuss how they differ from one another and other cultural forms.
FAMST 242- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242AR- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242AT- Adaptation Theory
This graduate seminar examines key theoretical concepts in adaptation studies. Focusing on literature-to-film adaptation, FAMST 242AT takes a long-historical, diachronic approach to adaptation theory, engaging with classical and early modern thinking.
FAMST 242CI: Cloud Infrastructure: Pipelines, Platforms, and Data
This course examines cloud infrastructure in the form of Internet pipelines, digital platforms, and data. We look at the various histories, forms of governance, and impact of these sociotechnical systems on digital civil liberties and cultural formations of access, truth, privacy, and free speech.
FAMST 242CP- Computing Power: Computation and Society from Babbage to Bitcoin
Examines the historical and contemporary relationship between computing and social power. Students learn about influential historiographical and theoretical developments within social studies of computing, including recent intersections with the study of race, sexuality and gender, and global capitalism.
FAMST 242DP- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory: Distance and Proximity: within and beyond pandemic culture
Distance and proximity serve as a context for a critical examination of pandemic culture. We will examine how our adaptations to and experience of the pandemic allows us to reconsider current international media histories and theories.
FAMST 242EM- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242ES- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242FF- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242FS- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory: The Frankfurt School on Film
This course explores the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, an interdisciplinary group of German philosophers and theorists. It focuses on those who wrote about the media in an effort to probe new approaches to historiography, technology, and popular culture.
FAMST 242GS- Game Studies
Provides a general, graduate-level introduction to the academic field of game studies, ideal for students working on interactive digital media objects or platforms and/or cultures of play.
FAMST 242LA- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory: Latin America
Studies the history, works, ideologies and concepts in film theory produced in Latin America with emphasis on the global and regional flow of ideas. Course readings include foundational texts, key sources of influence, as well as the screening of significant works.
FAMST 242MF- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242MG- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242MM- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242MP- Media and Policing
An examination of the relationship between police power and modern image-making technologies from a variety of critical historiographical and theoretical perspectives. We will trace a genealogy of the present by putting eighteenth- and nineteenth-century methodologies and visual culture in conversation with new research methods and media.
FAMST 242PG- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242S- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242SM- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242ST- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory: Science and Technology Studies
Introduces theories and methods in science and technology studies. Students learn about scholars, texts, and schools of thought that have shaped this interdisciplinary field, as well as more recent intersections with gender/sexuality, race, indigeneity, media, the environment and more.
FAMST 243- Special Topics in Critical Thinkers
Explores in depth the work of one particular thinker relevant to the field of media and cultural studies, for example, Freud, Barthes, Benjamin, and others.
FAMST 244- Rhetoric of Film Theories
Examines the forms of language and conventions of reasoning that sustain major film theories.
FAMST 245- Narrative Theory and Memory
Theories of narrative and their relationship to the human mind, traumatic experience, and the evocation of emotion.
FAMST 247- Feminism and Media Theory
An intellectual history of feminist film and television theory from the 1970s to the present. Course readings are discussed in relation to gender representations in various screenings. Areas covered include psychoanalysis, structuralism, poststructuralism and more.
FAMST 248- Digital Media Theory and Practices
Studies the emerging theoretical paradigms and creative practices of new media technologies including the Internet, computer games, CD-ROM, DVD, and wireless communication devices. Also examines how technologies mediate, perpetuate, and challenge social, cultural, political, and economic institutions and humanistic values.
FAMST 249- Postcolonial Media Theory
Studies colonial ideologies and representations, and postcolonial challenges and negotiations, with an emphasis on concepts such as imperialism, Eurocentricism, Orientalism, Third Cinema, hybridity, voice, and identity. Interrogates the institutions, frameworks, and processes involved in the production of knowledge.
FAMST 250- Cultural Theory
Explores key ideas, issues, and developments in cultural studies and critical theory through close readings of primary texts. Possible approaches include the Frankfurt School, the Birmingham School, Freudianism/Lacanianism, semiotics/structuralism, and postmodernism/post-structuralism.
FAMST 251- Popular Culture
Surveys contemporary approaches to the study of popular culture. Readings include theorists who have critically engaged the Frankfurt School, who have written before and beyond the Birmingham School, or who have taken a comparative international perspective.
FAMAT 252- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252AR- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Alchemy and Reverie
Explores media and the idea of mediation in relation to mystical, esoteric, and occult symbols and traditions. How can alchemy (the ancient art of transmutation) and reverie (the psychology of daydreaming) inspire us to reimagine present-day technologies.
FAMST 252AV- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
Explores nascent trends in environmental media studies, e.g. elemental media, blue humanities, cold humanities, thermocultures, geology of media and their intersections with ongoing debates in animal studies, plant philosophy, game studies and critical analysis.
FAMST 252CJ- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252EJ- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252EN- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252FT- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252GP- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252JC- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252MD- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Media and Datification
In this seminar, we explore how processes of datification and machine learning and AI tools are being used to reconfigure media technologies, industries, content, and audiences.
Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Media Risk
This seminar interrogates mediations of risk, uncertainty, and speculation, to theorize the concept of “risk media.” Among its primary concerns are 1) risk as the taming of uncertainty, 2) risk, as coming harm, requiring mediation to become legible, and 3) radical uncertainty inspiring speculative media.
FAMST 252OC- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Occult Correspondences
This course puts media, cultural, and literary theory into correspondence with esoteric, occult, and alchemical symbols and traditions. Topics include: magic and mimesis, crystal poetics, anomalous phenomena, reverie and imagination, hermeneutics and more.
FAMST 252OM- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Oil Modernity
This seminar examines how our dependency on oil shapes modern ways of seeing and being. It draws together current literature and debates in humanistic scholarship on energy justice with an emphasis on perspectives from the Global South and Indigenous North.
FAMST 252PG- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252MH- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252PM- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Political Media
Explores the changing nature of film, TV, radio, the internet, blogs, and social/interactive media in the political firmament of U.S. while taking into account powerful influences from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media outlets and more.
FAMST 252RI- Race, Immigration, and White Supremacy in California
This interdisciplinary course explores the legacies of colonialism and the logics of white supremacy as they continue to shape the migration experience to California. This course considers internal migration from other regions of the United States, and migration from Asia.
FAMST 252SM- Sound and Aurality
Explores the interdisciplinary field of sound studies from a variety of critical historiographical and theoretical perspectives. Topics include architectural acoustics, eco-sonic media, vibrational ontologies, sound-reproduction technologies, noise and more.
FAMST 253- Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies
Even though Freud was an early modern theorist of popular culture and everyday life, the emergent field of cultural studies has paid little attention to the insights of psychoanalysis. What could cultural studies learn from psychoanalysis and vice versa?
FAMST 254- The Inhuman and Posthuman in Digital Culture
Examines the rhetorics and aesthetics of digital media technologies, especially as they construct new epistemologies and ontologies of representing/mediating the human condition, paying particular attention to claims that new digital technologies have transformed the liberal Enlightenment subject into the posthuman.
FAMST 255- Gaming Culture
The computer games industry rivals film and television for audience discretionary income. This course focuses on computer game theories, genres, aesthetics, industrial histories and practices, and representational discourses.
FAMST 260- Film and Ethnography
Brings the techniques of film analysis to bear on the films, videos, and writings of leading visual anthropologists, such as Tim Asch, Jorge Preloran, and Dennis O’Rourke.
FAMST 262- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262AF- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262CV- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262EI- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization: Energy Justice: Infrastructures
This seminar, part of the year-long Mellon Sawyer Seminar on Energy Justice in Global Perspective, explores the social and environmental costs of energy infrastructures. We study oil, hydro, and solar projects, and how they are mediated, resisted, and re-imagined.
FAMST 262GH- Global Hollywood
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262GM- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262MC- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262PL- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262PN- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262TH- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization: Transnational Hollywood
Examines the role of film exhibitors,distributors, and makers on national cinema and national cinemas around the world. Runaway global production, local film distribution and censorship, and Hollywood-owned cinemas abroad are all examined.
FAMST 263- Cultural Translation
Defines and examines the problematic of “transition” as the circulation of cultural texts beyond borders and boundaries (temporal, linguistic, institutional, communal, national, regional, and disciplinary).
FAMST 265- Race and Gender in Cyberculture
Interrogates theories and representations of disembodiment in cyberculture. Especially interested in utopic and dystopic visions of gender-bending and colorblindness via the consensual hallucination of cyberspace.
FAMST 266- Political Economy of Global Media
Examines media institutions and networks of exchange, focusing on their transformation, shifting power relations, and emerging geopolitical imaginations.
FAMST 267- Media Industries
The business strategies, political economy, regulatory dimensions and cultural products of contemporary media industries. A focus on the dynamics of globalization, convergence and new technologies grounds our exploration of the interconnected industries.
FAMST 268- Paradigms of Globalization
Analysis of various theories of globalization, with specific focus on ‘global media.’ Interrogates the ways in which transnational networks and flows of capital, information, technology, people, representations, aspirations and actions are constitutive of temporary life.
FAMST 270- Creative-Critical Praxis
This graduate seminar explores the use of creative, artistic, and experimental methods in the production of interdisciplinary scholarly research through the examination of a variety of creative-critical modes, including filmmaking, game design, critical theory and more.
FAMST 295I- Professional Internship
An opportunity for training, career sampling, and contacts in the media industry.
FAMST 298- Preparation for Dissertation Prospectus
Preparation for the Ph.D. qualifying exam and writing of the dissertation prospectus.
Teaching Assistant Practicum
Designed to accommodate graduate students who serve as teaching assistants. Includes analyses of texts and materials, discussion section teaching techniques, formulation of topics and questions for papers and examinations, and grading papers and exams.
FAMST 593- Programming and Curation Practicum
Examines issues related to curation, including the construction of canons, cultural value, and economies of prestige. Students work with the CWC director in curating programs for the Pollock Theater and related research events.
FAMST 594- Special Topics in Film and Media
A seminar on research subjects of current interest.
FAMST 594DV- Special Topics in Film and Media
A seminar on research subjects of current interest.
FAMST 594FF- Special Topics in Film and Media
A seminar on research subjects of current interest.
FAMST 595- Group Studies
Provides guidance, training, a forum, and a common center for various research endeavors.
FAMST 595TS- Group Studies
Provides guidance, training, a forum, and a common center for various research endeavors.
FAMST 596- Directed Reading and Research
Individual tutorial.
FAMST 597- MA Orals and PhD Exam Preparation
Master’s Oral Exam and PhD Qualifying Exam preparation.
FAMST 598- Preparation for Dissertation Prospectus
Preparation for the Ph.D. qualifying exam and writing of the dissertation prospectus.
FAMST 599- Dissertation Research and Writing
Only for the research and writing of dissertation. Instructor should be chair of the student’s doctoral committee.
FAMST 231- Media Production
Graduate-level instruction in film or video pre-production, production, and post-production.
FAMST 213- Autobiographical Screenwriting
Explores the creative process in autobiographical screenplay construction through writing exercises as well as film viewing.
FAMST 202- Critical Analysis and Method
Seminar examining a range of methodologies and critical approaches to the study of film and media, with the specific topics chosen by the instructor.
FAMST 222- Special Topics in Film Analysis
Close examination of an element of film style – such as sound, color, or camera movement – and its impact on interpretation.
FAMST 223- Black Film Criticism
Explores the social, cultural, aesthetic, and economic contexts of black critical writing on film over the past century. Studies the black critique of racial representation in Hollywood and other cinemas, the black independent cinemas, and issues of black spectatorship.
FAMST 224- Genre Analysis
Genre criticism illuminates the artistic and popular appeal of film and explores the relation of aesthetics to ideology. Course analyzes genre criticism through the lens of genre theory, reexamining conventional approaches to the nature and history of formulaic films.
FAMST 252- Film and Media Authorship
Examines theories of authorship in film and television and how these ideas are redefined and questioned in a poststructuralist and postmodernist paradigm as well as with the evolution of interactive technologies.
FAMST 226- National Cinemas
Close analysis of theories of nation, nationalism, and national cinema, with a focus on the contentious relations between culture, history, media capital and the state. Topics include evolving genres, styles, movements and institutions; local lifeworlds and more.
FAMST 230- Philosophy of Film History
Studies works and concepts in the philosophy of history that have informed the researching and writing of film and media history. Will also consider the ways in which film and media texts have extended debates and concepts of historiographic practice.
FAMST 231- Media Historiographies
Comparative analysis of various historical accounts of cinema, television, and digital media that have shaped the field of film and media studies. Emphasis on issues and debates that have dominated efforts to write rigorous, methodologically explicit histories of different media.
FAMST 232- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMST 232GE- Special Topics in Film and Media History: Global Film Exhibition
Examines the industrial, social, cultural, and racial practices employed in theatrical and non-theatrical exhibition venues around the world and the local, national, and transnational film cultures developed around moviegoing and other consumption activities related to cinema.
FAMST 232GM- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMAT 232JC- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMST 232PC- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMST 232PN- Special Topics in Film and Media History
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media history.
FAMST 232RW- Special Topics in Film and Media History: Revisiting Weimar Culture
This course explores the art, politics and culture of the Weimar Republic, the period between the defeat of Germany in World War I and Hitler’s rise to power in 1933. It focuses on film and visual culture, with attention to questions of gender, sexuality, and class. It examines questions of history and historiography as well as the work of theorists who proposed new ways of thinking about art, popular culture, and technological innovation that remain resonant today.
FAMST 233 Histories of Film Style
Examines different explanatory models for patterns of historical continuity, influence, and change in film style. Also includes comparative study of influential models for the history of style in other art forms, such as painting, photography and architecture.
FAMST 234- History, Memory, and Media
Explores how visual and acoustic media have influenced the writing of public histories and the formation of collective memories, and the possibilities and limitations of representing historical events in both fiction and non-fiction audio-visual form.
FAMST 235- (Auto)biographical Documentary
Studies modes of documentary filmmaking in the context of literary and cinematic self-representation including the relationships among personal and collective history and identity construction.
FAMST 236- Historicizing New Media
Looks at issues of media production and consumption along an historical continuum including changing patterns of media literacy, types of apparatuses, ideologies, ethics, and aesthetics.
FAMST 240- Film Theory
Examines the history and rhetoric of thinking about the ontology, epistemology, ideology, and aesthetics of film.
FAMST 241- Television and Digital Media Theory
Explores important theoretical writings concerning electronic and digital media. Course readings define the unique properties of these mediums, consider their ontological status, and discuss how they differ from one another and other cultural forms.
FAMST 242- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242AR- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242AT- Adaptation Theory
This graduate seminar examines key theoretical concepts in adaptation studies. Focusing on literature-to-film adaptation, FAMST 242AT takes a long-historical, diachronic approach to adaptation theory, engaging with classical and early modern thinking.
FAMST 242CI: Cloud Infrastructure: Pipelines, Platforms, and Data
This course examines cloud infrastructure in the form of Internet pipelines, digital platforms, and data. We look at the various histories, forms of governance, and impact of these sociotechnical systems on digital civil liberties and cultural formations of access, truth, privacy, and free speech.
FAMST 242CP- Computing Power: Computation and Society from Babbage to Bitcoin
Examines the historical and contemporary relationship between computing and social power. Students learn about influential historiographical and theoretical developments within social studies of computing, including recent intersections with the study of race, sexuality and gender, and global capitalism.
FAMST 242DP- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory: Distance and Proximity: within and beyond pandemic culture
Distance and proximity serve as a context for a critical examination of pandemic culture. We will examine how our adaptations to and experience of the pandemic allows us to reconsider current international media histories and theories.
FAMST 242EM- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242ES- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242FF- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242FS- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory: The Frankfurt School on Film
This course explores the critical theory of the Frankfurt School, an interdisciplinary group of German philosophers and theorists. It focuses on those who wrote about the media in an effort to probe new approaches to historiography, technology, and popular culture.
FAMST 242GS- Game Studies
Provides a general, graduate-level introduction to the academic field of game studies, ideal for students working on interactive digital media objects or platforms and/or cultures of play.
FAMST 242LA- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory: Latin America
Studies the history, works, ideologies and concepts in film theory produced in Latin America with emphasis on the global and regional flow of ideas. Course readings include foundational texts, key sources of influence, as well as the screening of significant works.
FAMST 242MF- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242MG- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242MM- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242MP- Media and Policing
An examination of the relationship between police power and modern image-making technologies from a variety of critical historiographical and theoretical perspectives. We will trace a genealogy of the present by putting eighteenth- and nineteenth-century methodologies and visual culture in conversation with new research methods and media.
FAMST 242PG- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242S- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242SM- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory
Close examination of a topic in film and/or media theory.
FAMST 242ST- Special Topics in Film and Media Theory: Science and Technology Studies
Introduces theories and methods in science and technology studies. Students learn about scholars, texts, and schools of thought that have shaped this interdisciplinary field, as well as more recent intersections with gender/sexuality, race, indigeneity, media, the environment and more.
FAMST 243- Special Topics in Critical Thinkers
Explores in depth the work of one particular thinker relevant to the field of media and cultural studies, for example, Freud, Barthes, Benjamin, and others.
FAMST 244- Rhetoric of Film Theories
Examines the forms of language and conventions of reasoning that sustain major film theories.
FAMST 245- Narrative Theory and Memory
Theories of narrative and their relationship to the human mind, traumatic experience, and the evocation of emotion.
FAMST 247- Feminism and Media Theory
An intellectual history of feminist film and television theory from the 1970s to the present. Course readings are discussed in relation to gender representations in various screenings. Areas covered include psychoanalysis, structuralism, poststructuralism and more.
FAMST 248- Digital Media Theory and Practices
Studies the emerging theoretical paradigms and creative practices of new media technologies including the Internet, computer games, CD-ROM, DVD, and wireless communication devices. Also examines how technologies mediate, perpetuate, and challenge social, cultural, political, and economic institutions and humanistic values.
FAMST 249- Postcolonial Media Theory
Studies colonial ideologies and representations, and postcolonial challenges and negotiations, with an emphasis on concepts such as imperialism, Eurocentricism, Orientalism, Third Cinema, hybridity, voice, and identity. Interrogates the institutions, frameworks, and processes involved in the production of knowledge.
FAMST 250- Cultural Theory
Explores key ideas, issues, and developments in cultural studies and critical theory through close readings of primary texts. Possible approaches include the Frankfurt School, the Birmingham School, Freudianism/Lacanianism, semiotics/structuralism, and postmodernism/post-structuralism.
FAMST 251- Popular Culture
Surveys contemporary approaches to the study of popular culture. Readings include theorists who have critically engaged the Frankfurt School, who have written before and beyond the Birmingham School, or who have taken a comparative international perspective.
FAMAT 252- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252AR- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Alchemy and Reverie
Explores media and the idea of mediation in relation to mystical, esoteric, and occult symbols and traditions. How can alchemy (the ancient art of transmutation) and reverie (the psychology of daydreaming) inspire us to reimagine present-day technologies.
FAMST 252AV- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Animal, Vegetable, Mineral
Explores nascent trends in environmental media studies, e.g. elemental media, blue humanities, cold humanities, thermocultures, geology of media and their intersections with ongoing debates in animal studies, plant philosophy, game studies and critical analysis.
FAMST 252CJ- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252EJ- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252EN- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252FT- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252GP- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252JC- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252MD- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Media and Datification
In this seminar, we explore how processes of datification and machine learning and AI tools are being used to reconfigure media technologies, industries, content, and audiences.
Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Media Risk
This seminar interrogates mediations of risk, uncertainty, and speculation, to theorize the concept of “risk media.” Among its primary concerns are 1) risk as the taming of uncertainty, 2) risk, as coming harm, requiring mediation to become legible, and 3) radical uncertainty inspiring speculative media.
FAMST 252OC- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Occult Correspondences
This course puts media, cultural, and literary theory into correspondence with esoteric, occult, and alchemical symbols and traditions. Topics include: magic and mimesis, crystal poetics, anomalous phenomena, reverie and imagination, hermeneutics and more.
FAMST 252OM- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Oil Modernity
This seminar examines how our dependency on oil shapes modern ways of seeing and being. It draws together current literature and debates in humanistic scholarship on energy justice with an emphasis on perspectives from the Global South and Indigenous North.
FAMST 252PG- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252MH- Special Topics in Cultural Studies
Close examination of a topic in cultural studies.
FAMST 252PM- Special Topics in Cultural Studies: Political Media
Explores the changing nature of film, TV, radio, the internet, blogs, and social/interactive media in the political firmament of U.S. while taking into account powerful influences from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media outlets and more.
FAMST 252RI- Race, Immigration, and White Supremacy in California
This interdisciplinary course explores the legacies of colonialism and the logics of white supremacy as they continue to shape the migration experience to California. This course considers internal migration from other regions of the United States, and migration from Asia.
FAMST 252SM- Sound and Aurality
Explores the interdisciplinary field of sound studies from a variety of critical historiographical and theoretical perspectives. Topics include architectural acoustics, eco-sonic media, vibrational ontologies, sound-reproduction technologies, noise and more.
FAMST 253- Psychoanalysis and Cultural Studies
Even though Freud was an early modern theorist of popular culture and everyday life, the emergent field of cultural studies has paid little attention to the insights of psychoanalysis. What could cultural studies learn from psychoanalysis and vice versa?
FAMST 254- The Inhuman and Posthuman in Digital Culture
Examines the rhetorics and aesthetics of digital media technologies, especially as they construct new epistemologies and ontologies of representing/mediating the human condition, paying particular attention to claims that new digital technologies have transformed the liberal Enlightenment subject into the posthuman.
FAMST 255- Gaming Culture
The computer games industry rivals film and television for audience discretionary income. This course focuses on computer game theories, genres, aesthetics, industrial histories and practices, and representational discourses.
FAMST 260- Film and Ethnography
Brings the techniques of film analysis to bear on the films, videos, and writings of leading visual anthropologists, such as Tim Asch, Jorge Preloran, and Dennis O’Rourke.
FAMST 262- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262AF- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262CV- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262EI- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization: Energy Justice: Infrastructures
This seminar, part of the year-long Mellon Sawyer Seminar on Energy Justice in Global Perspective, explores the social and environmental costs of energy infrastructures. We study oil, hydro, and solar projects, and how they are mediated, resisted, and re-imagined.
FAMST 262GH- Global Hollywood
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262GM- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262MC- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262PL- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262PN- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization
Close examination of a topic in globalization of film and/or media.
FAMST 262TH- Special Topics in Film and/or Media Globalization: Transnational Hollywood
Examines the role of film exhibitors,distributors, and makers on national cinema and national cinemas around the world. Runaway global production, local film distribution and censorship, and Hollywood-owned cinemas abroad are all examined.
FAMST 263- Cultural Translation
Defines and examines the problematic of “transition” as the circulation of cultural texts beyond borders and boundaries (temporal, linguistic, institutional, communal, national, regional, and disciplinary).
FAMST 265- Race and Gender in Cyberculture
Interrogates theories and representations of disembodiment in cyberculture. Especially interested in utopic and dystopic visions of gender-bending and colorblindness via the consensual hallucination of cyberspace.
FAMST 266- Political Economy of Global Media
Examines media institutions and networks of exchange, focusing on their transformation, shifting power relations, and emerging geopolitical imaginations.
FAMST 267- Media Industries
The business strategies, political economy, regulatory dimensions and cultural products of contemporary media industries. A focus on the dynamics of globalization, convergence and new technologies grounds our exploration of the interconnected industries.
FAMST 268- Paradigms of Globalization
Analysis of various theories of globalization, with specific focus on ‘global media.’ Interrogates the ways in which transnational networks and flows of capital, information, technology, people, representations, aspirations and actions are constitutive of temporary life.
FAMST 270- Creative-Critical Praxis
This graduate seminar explores the use of creative, artistic, and experimental methods in the production of interdisciplinary scholarly research through the examination of a variety of creative-critical modes, including filmmaking, game design, critical theory and more.
FAMST 295I- Professional Internship
An opportunity for training, career sampling, and contacts in the media industry.
FAMST 298- Preparation for Dissertation Prospectus
Preparation for the Ph.D. qualifying exam and writing of the dissertation prospectus.
Teaching Assistant Practicum
Designed to accommodate graduate students who serve as teaching assistants. Includes analyses of texts and materials, discussion section teaching techniques, formulation of topics and questions for papers and examinations, and grading papers and exams.
FAMST 593- Programming and Curation Practicum
Examines issues related to curation, including the construction of canons, cultural value, and economies of prestige. Students work with the CWC director in curating programs for the Pollock Theater and related research events.
FAMST 594- Special Topics in Film and Media
A seminar on research subjects of current interest.
FAMST 594DV- Special Topics in Film and Media
A seminar on research subjects of current interest.
FAMST 594FF- Special Topics in Film and Media
A seminar on research subjects of current interest.
FAMST 595- Group Studies
Provides guidance, training, a forum, and a common center for various research endeavors.
FAMST 595TS- Group Studies
Provides guidance, training, a forum, and a common center for various research endeavors.
FAMST 596- Directed Reading and Research
Individual tutorial.
FAMST 597- MA Orals and PhD Exam Preparation
Master’s Oral Exam and PhD Qualifying Exam preparation.
FAMST 598- Preparation for Dissertation Prospectus
Preparation for the Ph.D. qualifying exam and writing of the dissertation prospectus.
FAMST 599- Dissertation Research and Writing
Only for the research and writing of dissertation. Instructor should be chair of the student’s doctoral committee.
Graduate FAQs (Frequently asked Questions)
Fall 2024 Application Portal Opens on September 1, 2024 Fall 2024 Graduate Application Deadline: December 1, 2024
Do you have a terminal master’s program?
We do not have a terminal master’s program. Our two programs are either an MA/PhD or PhD program.Do you admit students in any quarter other than Fall?
No.Should I contact the faculty I’m interested in working with before I send in my application?
The Graduate Admissions Committee makes final admissions decisions, not individual faculty. Please wait for contact from faculty after you have submitted your application, which means you should clearly share your connections within your application to your faculty of interest’s research. Our website provides information on our faculty, including their CVs and current research projects. Please review our faculty and include in your Statement of Purpose how faculty of ours align with your research interests and goals. If you are admitted, our program is small enough that you will have the opportunity to work closely with numerous faculty members. You also will have plenty of opportunities to meet with and talk to individual faculty once you are admitted and before you have to make a decision about joining our program.How long does it take to graduate with a PhD?
If you enter with a bachelor’s degree, it is a 6-year program, with most students receiving their M.A. degree at the end of the second year. For students entering with a master’s degree, it is a 5-year program.I’m an international applicant – do I need to take the TOEFL?
It depends. If you have received a degree from an English-only university, then the TOEFL requirement is usually waived, but it may need to be confirmed that it is on the approved list for acceptable English-speaking universities. Applicants who receive a degree in the U.S. do not need to take the TOEFL. Applicants who have not received a degree in the U.S. or at an un-approved English-only university must take the TOEFL. Other acceptable exams include the Duolingo English Test (DET) and International English Language System (IELTS) exams.Do you need official transcripts? Is there anything I should mail to the department during the application process?
Unofficial transcripts can be uploaded to your application. Please be sure to black out the first five digits of your social security number if it is present on your transcript. If you are admitted into our program, the Graduate Division will require official transcripts after you have signed the SIR (Statement of Intent to Register). We no longer require that any paper documents be sent to our office, including transcripts. If paper documents are sent to our office, they will be shredded. It is the applicant’s responsibility to upload all required materials to the application system online by the deadline.How long should my Statement of Purpose, Contribution Statement, and Writing Sample be?
The lengths for the Statement of Purpose and Personal Contributions/Achievements should be 2 pages each, with 12-point font size. A writing sample is required, 15 – 20 pages in length. The CV is a separate document from the Statement of Purpose, Contribution Statement, and Writing Sample.My bachelor’s (or master’s) degree is not in Film and Media; will the Admissions Committee consider my application?
The Department is interested in applications from individuals with a variety of backgrounds. Individuals are considered if they have well-developed research interests that align with Film or Media Studies.Do you accept international students? What about funding?
Yes, we do admit international students. Funding for international students is the same as domestic student funding with respect to out-of-state tuition costs and is paid for by the department and the university.I can’t afford the application fee. Is there any fee waiver program?
Yes, the Graduate Division has a first-come, first-served fee waiver program for qualified U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Be sure to apply for the fee waiver, located within the online application (UCSB Online Application), as soon as possible because there is a limited amount of fee waiver funds available.What kind of funding do you offer, if any?
Students admitted into our program receive full funding during their time in the program when in good academic standing. Funding includes: tuition, out-of-state tuition (including international students), health insurance, campus-based fees, and guaranteed 50%-time employment during the academic year (Fall, Winter, and Spring), which results in a monthly paycheck. Academic good-standing is required.How do I apply for a fellowship?
Applicants do not self-nominate for recruitment fellowship opportunities at UCSB. The university provides recruitment fellowships for which the department’s Graduate Admissions Committee nominates based on the pool of applicants. If you are nominated and approved for a fellowship, the Graduate Program Director, Dr. Naoki Yamamoto, will let you know. Please contact our Graduate Advisor, at grad@filmandmedia.ucsb.edu for email questions or to schedule a time for consultation or advising via Zoom.Graduate Schedule
Year 1
Year 2
M.A. Committee must be constitued and form submitted by end of 4th week of Winter.
M.A. Oral Exam taken by end of 4th week of Spring.
Language Requirement met by end of Spring (PH.D. Only).
All coursework completed by end of Spring (Ph.D. Only).
Year 3
Dissertation Committee must be constituted and form submitted by end of 4th week of Spring.
Dissertation topic and exam areas must be chosen by Spring.
Reading lists formulated by 10th week of Spring.
Language Requirement met by end of Spring (MA/PH.D.).
All coursework completed by end of Spring (MA/PH.D.).
Year 4
Prospectus submitted by 1st day of Fall.
Qualifying Exams taken by end of 3rd week of Fall.
Prospectus Defense completed by 7th week of Fall.
Year 5
Ph.D. (5-year) Completed by end of Spring.
Year 6
Ph.D. (6-year) Completed by end of Spring.