- My name is Elizaveta Friesem, I hold a PhD in Media and Communication from Temple University, and a PhD in Cultural S... moreMy name is Elizaveta Friesem, I hold a PhD in Media and Communication from Temple University, and a PhD in Cultural Studies from St. Petersburg State University, Russia. I am an affiliated faculty of Media Education Lab.
My primary research combines principles of media literacy education, media studies, and gender studies in order to promote gender equality and diversity. My goal is to help educators teach about diversity in and through the media. Although I focus on gender and sexuality, I am passionate about teaching about diversity more broadly, including race, class, and disability.
I also explore the impact of the media on public understanding of sensitive issues connected with sexuality (rape, child sexual abuse, street harassment, revenge porn, etc.); media literacy and difference along the lines of gender, sexuality, race, and physical ability; and media literacy education in various cultural contexts.
I am a Leadership Council member of the National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE).
You can contact me at elizaveta.friesem@temple.edu
TWITTER: @lisafriesem
URL: http://www.elizavetafriesem.comedit
Media scholars see audiences as agentic, and people’s relationships with media texts and tools as complex and not easily predictable. At the same time, we are reminded that media representations of gender are ideological, and that media... more
Media scholars see audiences as agentic, and people’s relationships with media texts and tools as complex and not easily predictable. At the same time, we are reminded that media representations of gender are ideological, and that media environment does contribute to the development of our gender identities. The article argues that it is crucial to help people understand this complexity through education and discusses the need to create an interdisciplinary approach to media and gender classes. This approach would combine a theoretical framework based on media studies and gender studies with best practices developed within media literacy education. The article offers analysis of educational materials created by three nonprofit organizations, in order to elucidate the main challenges that the interdisciplinary approach toward media and gender classes should address.
Research Interests:
Those who are concerned about Americanization of the world should consider changes that icons of American popular culture often undergo when they travel across borders. This paper analyzes a dubbed-in-Russian episode of the critically... more
Those who are concerned about Americanization of the world should consider changes that icons of American popular culture often undergo when they travel across borders. This paper analyzes a dubbed-in-Russian episode of the critically acclaimed animated sitcom Futurama in order to determine whether official translation and dubbing on Russian television successfully convey concepts and merits of imported American programming. I found the translation to be infested with numerous semantic mistakes, and the dubbing to be substantially inferior to the original voiceover of the show. The paper discusses possible effects of low-quality translation and dubbing on the image of American culture among Russian viewers. I posit explanations for the emergence of this situation: economical (e.g., low-paid translators and voiceover actors) and ideological (remnants of Soviet-era anti-capitalist ideology and propaganda).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Media coverage helps people to be informed about many important social phenomena. However, there is no evidence that audiences know what to do with what they have learned from the media. The current study examines whether we can use... more
Media coverage helps people to be informed about many important social phenomena. However, there is no evidence that audiences know what to do with what they have learned from the media. The current study examines whether we can use implicit knowledge that people accumulate from the media about sensitive social problems to help them understand these issues, and reflect on their social responsibility. I applied principles of media literacy education and educational dialogue to conduct 16 focus groups on media representations of child sexual abuse with 93 college students. This study suggests that a question-based dialogue where the facilitator uses participants’ natural curiosity to help them construct meanings out of implicit knowledge they possess has an important potential to encourage civic engagement.
Research Interests:
In this paper we analyze a historical form of media literacy education that is still insufficiently discussed in English-language literature: Russian cineclubs. We focus on one particular cineclub that was created by a Soviet educator... more
In this paper we analyze a historical form of media literacy education that is still insufficiently discussed in English-language literature: Russian cineclubs. We focus on one particular cineclub that was created by a Soviet educator Oleg Baranov in the 1950s. We describe this cineclub’s context and structure, and discuss its popularity among students. The content of Baranov’s classes might have been shaped by ideological requirements of the time. However, we believe that the structure of his model can be used as an inspiration for a media literacy club in today’s schools globally, and not only in Russia.
Research Interests:
Media literacy educators talk about the importance of developing essential social skills, such as collaboration, by using video production in the classroom. Through media production students acquire types of literacy that are still... more
Media literacy educators talk about the importance of developing essential social skills, such as collaboration, by using video production in the classroom. Through media production students acquire types of literacy that are still considered problematic in traditional classrooms but that are crucial for young people’s lives in the twenty-first century. Video production with disadvantaged youth can also play a role of art therapy, where students use their creativity to come to terms with traumatizing pasts. This paper offers an account of a media literacy intervention that involved making videos with a class of foster youth. Using the methodology of portraiture, I describe highlights and pitfalls of collaboration that one of the teams experienced. I focus on moments of conflict, unleashed creativity and transformation that were brought by one video project.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The media used to portray people with disabilities as grotesque monsters whose gender and sexuality were rendered ambiguous. Even today, media representations of disability might still contain ideologies of normalcy that reinforce power... more
The media used to portray people with disabilities as grotesque monsters whose gender and sexuality were rendered ambiguous. Even today, media representations of disability might still contain ideologies of normalcy that reinforce power imbalances when people with disabilities are represented as gendered, sexual, and attractive. It is, therefore, necessary to critically engage with portrayals of people with disabilities, especially in cases when they are represented as gendered and/or sexually attractive. In this paper we argue that strategies of media literacy education appear to be well suited for this purpose. Using five key questions of media literacy education, we demonstrate how structured media analysis can help viewers uncover dominant ideologies embedded in seemingly improved media texts.
With increasing popular and academic attention being paid to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content in video games, the time has come for a thorough account of the history of this content in this medium. In the... more
With increasing popular and academic attention being paid to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content in video games, the time has come for a thorough account of the history of this content in this medium. In the project reviewed here, we have documented more than 300 games and more than 500 examples of LGBTQ content spanning 30 years. Using a grounded theoretical approach, we were able to classify this content into nine large categories—characters, relationships/romance/sex, actions, locations, mentions, artifacts, traits, queer games/narratives, and homophobia/transphobia—each of which contains several subcategories. In outlining our classification system here, we will demonstrate the myriad ways queerness in gender and sexuality have been integrated into digital games.
Research Interests:
In this paper we analyze a historical form of media literacy education that is still insufficiently discussed in English language literature: Russian cineclubs. We focus on one particular cineclub that was created by a Soviet educator... more
In this paper we analyze a historical form of media literacy education that is still insufficiently discussed in English language literature: Russian cineclubs. We focus on one particular cineclub that was created by a Soviet educator Oleg Baranov in the 1950s. We describe this cineclub’s context and structure, and discuss its popularity among students. The content of Baranov’s classes might have been shaped by ideological requirements of the time. However, we believe that the structure of his model can be used as an inspiration for a media literacy club in today’s schools globally, and not only in Russia.
Research Interests:
In this chapter, the authors use Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions to examine the development of media literacy as a field of study and practice. More specifically, they focus on the current stage of media literacy, which they... more
In this chapter, the authors use Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions to examine the development of media literacy as a field of study and practice. More specifically, they focus on the current stage of media literacy, which they believe to be model drift that reveals the emerging crisis of the current paradigm based on epistemological assumptions of modernity. The authors look at this stage against the current social background of the era of post-truth and through the prism of ongoing debates between different media (literacy) scholars and educational practitioners. The era of post-truth can be seen as a logical manifestation of postmodernity, when the idea that truth and facts are relative is becoming part of the public discourse. In this period, different scholars and practitioners offer different ideas on what media literacy is and what its import may be. These debates are not new; yet, today they might have more serious consequences, signaling a need to reevaluate the ex...
This essay describes the sequence of three activities (from one U.S. university course) that aimed to (1) increase students’ awareness about social injustices, (2) help them develop their empathy to see the complexity of these injustices,... more
This essay describes the sequence of three activities (from one U.S. university course) that aimed to (1) increase students’ awareness about social injustices, (2) help them develop their empathy to see the complexity of these injustices, and (3) consider ways to change the social system through civic dialogue. The first activity was designed to explore the dynamics of cultural appropriation using principles of media literacy education and the concept of power. The second activity complicated the picture by encouraging students to reflect on the importance of empathy. Students discussed how empathy can substitute blame in conversations about cultural appropriation. The third activity connected empathy to practices of nonviolent communication (developed by Marshall Rosenberg) and Kingian nonviolence. As a result, students were able to discuss how these principles can be applied to cultural appropriation, especially when media technologies are involved.
Research Interests:
In this paper, we analyzed college students’ perceptions of their experiences with sexism through the frameworks of the benevolent sexism theory and the theory of system justification. These theories describe the complexity of sexism and... more
In this paper, we analyzed college students’ perceptions of their experiences with sexism through the frameworks of the benevolent sexism theory and the theory of system justification. These theories describe the complexity of sexism and explain obstacles of dealing with it in the modern Western world. We qualitatively analyzed students’ responses to an open-ended question about sexism on their campuses. While many informants did describe sexism as a problem, others indicated that it is not important. Respondents displayed negative emotions that often took the form of blame directed both ways. There were almost no responses describing the complexity of the dynamics of the modern sexism, which the theories of system justification and ambivalent sexism highlight. We conclude that the subtle nature of the modern sexism combined with people’s reluctance to empathize with the other side (whether they are negatively affected by sexism or not) contribute to the persistence of sexism in the...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This essay describes the sequence of three activities (from one U.S. university course) that aimed to (1) increase students’ awareness about social injustices, (2) help them develop their empathy to see the complexity of these injustices,... more
This essay describes the sequence of three activities (from one U.S. university course) that aimed to (1) increase students’ awareness about social injustices, (2) help them develop their empathy to see the complexity of these injustices, and (3) consider ways to change the social system through civic dialogue. The first activity was designed to explore the dynamics of cultural appropriation using principles of media literacy education and the concept of power. The second activity complicated the picture by encouraging students to reflect on the importance of empathy. Students discussed how empathy can substitute blame in conversations about cultural appropriation. The third activity connected empathy to practices of nonviolent communication (developed by Marshall Rosenberg) and Kingian nonviolence. As a result, students were able to discuss how these principles can be applied to cultural appropriation, especially when media technologies are involved.
Research Interests:
With increasing popular and academic attention being paid to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content in video games, the time has come for a thorough account of the history of this content in this medium. In the... more
With increasing popular and academic attention being paid to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) content in video games, the time has come for a thorough account of the history of this content in this medium. In the project reviewed here, we have documented more than 300 games and more than 500 examples of LGBTQ content spanning 30 years. Using a grounded theoretical approach, we were able to classify this content into nine large categories—characters, relationships/romance/sex, actions, locations, mentions, artifacts, traits, queer games/narratives, and homophobia/transphobia—each of which contains several subcategories. In outlining our classification system here, we will demonstrate the myriad ways queerness in gender and sexuality have been integrated into digital games.
Research Interests:
Media scholars see audiences as agentic, and people's relationships with media texts and tools as complex and not easily predictable. At the same time, we are reminded that media representations of gender are ideological, and that media... more
Media scholars see audiences as agentic, and people's relationships with media texts and tools as complex and not easily predictable. At the same time, we are reminded that media representations of gender are ideological, and that media environment does contribute to the development of our gender identities. The article argues that it is crucial to help people understand this complexity through education and discusses the need to create an interdisciplinary approach to media and gender classes. This approach would combine a theoretical framework based on media studies and gender studies with best practices developed within media literacy education. The article offers analysis of educational materials created by three nonprofit organizations , in order to elucidate the main challenges that the interdisciplinary approach toward media and gender classes should address.
Research Interests:
This study explores benefits and challenges of combining media analysis and media production in media and gender classes. I use ethnographically informed case study to focus on one educational activity that had students create collages... more
This study explores benefits and challenges of combining media analysis and media production in media and gender classes. I use ethnographically informed case study to focus on one educational activity that had students create collages out of images found in glossy magazines in order to expose problematic ideologies embedded in these media texts. Through interviews with students and teachers, classroom observations, and analysis of collages produced by young people I explore whether media analysis/media production activities helps students produce oppositional readings of media texts. I argue that, although combining media analysis with media production makes media and gender classes more engaging, teachers using this approach may inadvertently reinforce problematic stereotypes or leave them unexamined.
Research Interests:
Fedorov, A., Friesem, E. Soviet Cineclubs: Baranov’s Film/Media Education Model // Journal of Media Literacy Education. 2015, № 7(2), p. 12-22. http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1143&context=jmle
Research Interests:
Media literacy educators talk about the importance of developing essential social skills, such as collaboration, by using video production in the classroom. Video production with disadvantaged youth can also play a role of art therapy, as... more
Media literacy educators talk about the importance of developing essential social skills, such as collaboration, by using video production in the classroom. Video production with disadvantaged youth can also play a role of art therapy, as students use their creativity to come to terms with traumatizing pasts. This paper offers an account of a media literacy intervention that involved making videos with a class of foster youth. Using the methodology of portraiture, I describe highlights and pitfalls of collaboration that one of the teams experienced. I focus on moments of conflict, unleashed creativity and transformation brought by one video project.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT
Research Interests:
Those who are concerned about Americanization of the world should consider changes that icons of American popular culture often undergo when they travel across borders. This paper analyzes a dubbed-in-Russian episode of the critically... more
Those who are concerned about Americanization of the world should consider changes that icons of American popular culture often undergo when they travel across borders. This paper analyzes a dubbed-in-Russian episode of the critically acclaimed animated sitcom Futurama in order to determine whether official translation and dubbing on Russian television successfully convey concepts and merits of imported American programming. I found the translation to be infested with numerous semantic mistakes, and the dubbing to be substantially inferior to the original voiceover of the show. The paper discusses possible effects of low-quality translation and dubbing on the image of American culture among Russian viewers. I posit explanations for the emergence of this situation: economical (e.g., low-paid translators and voiceover actors) and ideological (remnants of Soviet-era anti-capitalist ideology and propaganda).
Research Interests:
Media is usually seen as a feature of the modern world enabled by the latest technologies. Scholars, educators, parents, and politicians often talk about it as something people should be wary of due to its potential negative impact on... more
Media is usually seen as a feature of the modern world enabled by the latest technologies. Scholars, educators, parents, and politicians often talk about it as something people should be wary of due to its potential negative impact on their lives. But do we really understand what media is?
My book argues that, in order to make sense of the modern media, we should explore fundamental principles of human communication. Ideally, this exploration will help us better understand ourselves and others, enhance our empathy, and engage in collaboration that will replace polarization based on blame.
My book argues that, in order to make sense of the modern media, we should explore fundamental principles of human communication. Ideally, this exploration will help us better understand ourselves and others, enhance our empathy, and engage in collaboration that will replace polarization based on blame.
