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James, Debbie


Assistant Professor of Media Communications
Division: Communication, Visual and Performing Arts
Program: Communication
Communication and Training
Office: E2560
Phone: 708-534-3140
Email: djames@govst.edu


Education | Publications | Honors | Presentations | Research | Service | Professional Memberships

Education

Ph.D. Communication, Wayne State University, 2011 

M.A. Media Studies, New School for Social Research, 2003  

B.A. Honors Fine Arts and Art History, University of Guelph, 1999 

Publications

In Process 

Ali, S., James, D., & Vultee, F. Strike a pose: Comparing Associated Press and UNICEF visual representations of the children of Darfur. African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review. In press. 

Journal Articles (* publishing as D. James Smith) 

*Smith, D. J. (2009), Big-eyed, wide-eyed, sad-eyed children: Constructing the humanitarian space in social justice documentaries. Studies in DocumentaryFilm. 3:2. 159–175.  

Book Chapters 

James, D. (2012). What it takes to screen her film: A feminist study of UNESCO’s audiovisual E-Platform. In R. Gajjala and Yeon Ju Oh (Eds.). Cyberfeminism 2.0. New York: Peter Lang. 

Other Publications 

*Smith, D. J. (2008), Film review: Shake hands with the devil. Scope: An Online Journal of Film & TV Studies.11. 

*Smith, D. J. (2007), Catfight in My Name is Earl as a site of feminist resistance. Flow: A Critical Forum on Television and Media Culture. 5:9. Available at < http://flowtv.org/?p=99 > 

Honors

2011 Top Paper award. ICA, Global Communication and Social Change. Social networking Sarajevo Roses: Digital representations of post-conflict civil life in the (former) Yugoslavia                                                 

2011 Top Graduate Student Paper award. ICA, Global Communication and Social Change              

2011 2nd Prize (with Sadaf Ali), Graduate School Research Exhibition, WSU. Comparing AP images of children in Kosovo vs. Rwanda 

2011 Humanities Center Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, WSU                                                      

2010 Graduate School Summer Dissertation Fellowship, WSU      

2009 Communication Dept. Research Award, WSU. Big-eyed, wide-eyed, sad-eyed children: Constructing the humanitarian space in social justice documentaries                                                                           

2009 Graduate School and Communication Dept. Dissertation Research Award, WSU                    

In support of dissertation fieldwork in Jamaica  

2008 WSU Communication Dept. 4th Annual Summer Doctoral Seminar: Queer Media Theory  

 

Presentations

James, D. (2012). The Container Project: Defining locally relevant community media production practice. International Communication Association (ICA) Conference, Phoenix. 

James, D. (2012). Control and access embedded in the code: Screening communities of social justice media content and practice. Society of Cinema and Media Studies Conference. Boston. 

Ali, S., James, D. (2012). Comparing AP images of children in Kosovo vs. Rwanda. Central States Communication Association Conference. Cleveland. 

James, D. (2011). Socialnetworking Sarajevo Roses: Digital representations of post-conflict civil life in the (former) Yugoslavia.  Top Paper, Global Com. and Social Change. ICA Conference. Boston. 

James, D. (2011). International development documentaries: Institutional representations of women, work, and community. Feminist Scholarship Division. ICA Conference. Boston. 

James, D. (2011). Producing media, producing citizenship: The practice of digitizing the experience of everyday life in Jamaica.Society of Cinema and Media Studies Conference. New Orleans. 

James, D. (2010). Strike a pose series: An examination of children in conflict through photojournalism. At WSU Dept. of Comm. Research Colloquium. Presented by D. James and S. Ali. Detroit. 

Ali, S., James, D., and Vultee, F. (2010). Strike a pose: Comparing Associated Press and UNICEF visual representations. AEJMC Annual Conference, Denver. Presented by Sadaf Ali. 

James, D. (2010). The biggest WATT in St. James Town: Marrying co-op radio with co-op housing. Making MediaPublic Conference. York U and Ryerson U. Co-presented with Vernon Smith. Toronto. 

James, D. (2009). Quality control or digital gatekeeping? Examining access to UNESCO’s Audiovisual E-Platform for at WSU Dept. of Comm. Research Colloquium. Invited. 

James, D. (2008). Big-eyed, wide-eyed, sad-eyed children: Western consumption of images of distant places. Media, Communication and Humanity Conference. London School of Economics. London. 

James, D. (2008). Engaged scholarship: Taking activism and social justice seriously in our work. Summer Doctoral Seminar, WSU. Invited Panelist. Detroit. 

James, D. (2008). The Politics of global warming: Media, morality, and the culture of green in news documentaries. Society of Cinema and Media Studies Conference. Philadelphia. 

James, D. (2007). Peeling Back the duct tape: Documentary filmmakers respond to the making of the ‘War on Terror’ public relations campaign. 3rd International Conference on Media Coverage of the ‘War on Terror.’ London. 

Research

Media, politics, and human rights 

Transnational media industries and production practices 

Emerging digital cultures in post conflict regions 

Women's independent media 

Service

2012 Search Committee Member. Division Chair of the Division of Communication, Visual, and Performing Arts. 

2011 Committee Co-chair. B.A. program development. Communication Program. 

2009 Ad hoc Reviewer. Platform: Journal of media communication. 

Professional Memberships

International Communication Association (ICA)                                                                               

Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS)