Matt Sienkiewicz
Matt Sienkiewicz is Associate Professor and Chair of the Boston College Communication department.
He teaches courses in global media cultures and media theory. His research focuses on comedy studies and media globalization.
He is the co-author of That's Not Funny: How the Right Makes Comedy Work for Them (University of California Press, 2022), the author of The Other Air Force: U.S. Efforts to Reshape Middle Eastern Media Since 9/11 (Rutgers University Press, 2016) and the co-editor of The Comedy Studies Reader (University of Texas Press, 2018) and Saturday Night Live and American TV (Indiana University Press, 2013)
His publications include articles in the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Media, Culture & Society, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, The International Journal of Cultural Studies, Popular Communication, The Journal of Film and Video, The Velvet Light Trap, The Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, Jewish History, Columbia Journalism Review and The Atlantic.
In addition to his work as a scholar, Matt is also an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and screenwriter. His film, Live From Bethlehem, was released by the Media Education Foundation in September 2009 and has screened worldwide, including at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, Poland's WatchDocs Human Rights Film Festival, and London’s Frontline Club.
He serves as the faculty advisor for Boston College Hillel.
He teaches courses in global media cultures and media theory. His research focuses on comedy studies and media globalization.
He is the co-author of That's Not Funny: How the Right Makes Comedy Work for Them (University of California Press, 2022), the author of The Other Air Force: U.S. Efforts to Reshape Middle Eastern Media Since 9/11 (Rutgers University Press, 2016) and the co-editor of The Comedy Studies Reader (University of Texas Press, 2018) and Saturday Night Live and American TV (Indiana University Press, 2013)
His publications include articles in the Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Media, Culture & Society, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, The International Journal of Cultural Studies, Popular Communication, The Journal of Film and Video, The Velvet Light Trap, The Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication, Jewish History, Columbia Journalism Review and The Atlantic.
In addition to his work as a scholar, Matt is also an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and screenwriter. His film, Live From Bethlehem, was released by the Media Education Foundation in September 2009 and has screened worldwide, including at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, Poland's WatchDocs Human Rights Film Festival, and London’s Frontline Club.
He serves as the faculty advisor for Boston College Hillel.
less
InterestsView All (18)
Uploads
Papers by Matt Sienkiewicz
"The Ragged Edge" is a documentary about survival on and off the racetrack; about riding the edge between victory and oblivion. Its focus is Erik Buell Racing (EBR), the only American sport bike company. EBR is now racing for its survival. This documentary combines the power, excitement, and tension of motorcycle racing from the point of view of teams in the pits with the equally powerful stories of a company trying to make it through a financial maelstrom and the personal survival stories of working families in America's heartland.
"The Ragged Edge" is a documentary about survival on and off the racetrack; about riding the edge between victory and oblivion. Its focus is Erik Buell Racing (EBR), the only American sport bike company. EBR is now racing for its survival. This documentary combines the power, excitement, and tension of motorcycle racing from the point of view of teams in the pits with the equally powerful stories of a company trying to make it through a financial maelstrom and the personal survival stories of working families in America's heartland.
The Other Air Force gives readers a unique inside look at television and radio production in Afghanistan and the Palestinian territories, from the isolated villages of the Afghan Panjshir Valley to the congested streets of Ramallah. Communications scholar Matt Sienkiewicz explores how the U.S. takes a “soft-psy” approach to its media efforts combining “soft” methods of encouraging entertainment programming, such as adaptations of The Voice and The Apprentice with more militaristic “psy-ops” approaches to information control. Drawing from years of field research and interviews with everyone from millionaire executives to underpaid but ever resourceful cameramen, Sienkiewicz considers the perspectives of the Afghan and Palestinian media workers trying to forge viable broadcasting businesses without straying outside American-set boundaries for acceptable content.
As it carefully examines the interplay of U.S. military and economic might with the capacity for local ingenuity and resistance, the book also analyzes the intriguingly complex programming that emerges from this tension. Combining eyewitness reportage with cutting-edge scholarship, The Other Air Force reveals the remarkable creative output that can emerge even from the world’s tensest conflict zones.