The Media and Cultural Studies subject area at Newcastle University is located in the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences. The research focus of the team is described by a research cluster entitled ‘Identities, Culture and Media’ (ICM). The team is committed to high quality research and teaching with a focus on the analysis of contemporary identities and identifications in transition. Our research interests involve the analysis of cultural forms and representations, local and global media output, and the theoretical backdrops which inform research and teaching in media, communication and culture.
The ICM research cluster engages with and advances contemporary social and cultural theory in the areas of media analysis; journalism; globalisation; cultural studies; gender, sexuality and critical-race studies; psychoanalysis; queer theory; & post-structuralism.
The work being undertaken in the spheres of identities, identifications, and subjectivities is also characterised by collaboration and dialogues with media practitioners and the cultural industries. One of the shared themes of the group is the understanding of social and cultural contexts in which identities which are being constructed in conditions of social and political transition.
The following projects are examples of ongoing research among the team:
Black and Asian recruitment into the Mainstream Press: Barriers and Bridges (Deborah Chambers, David Baines, Ian Blackhall, Sue Baines)
This study consists of a focused, in-depth academic investigation of the opportunities and constraints involved in the recruitment of Black and Asian journalists into the mainstream press. It focuses on ethnic minorities from Indian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Chinese backgrounds as representative of the key resident minority groups in the UK that are typically under-represented in a range of professions. Three key 'news regions' of London, Birmingham and Tyne and Wear are selected for investigation as representative of national and regional trends. The project examines the reasons why so few people from ethnic minority backgrounds enter or remain in the journalism profession and assesses the effectiveness of industry-led initiatives introduced to address the problem to date. By identifying ways of remedying the lack of ethnic diversity in the journalism profession, the research will contribute, as a major case study, to key debates on race, ethnicity and the sociology of professions.
Archiving Identities: Media, Community & Transition in 'NewcastleGateshead'
(Tony Purvis, Gareth Longstaff, Deborah Chambers, Chris Haywood and Liviu Popovciu)
There is also research being conducted into the ways in which marginalised identities and cultures are represented and archived in the NewcastleGateshead area. This work focuses on periods of transition, finding links between the recent past and present, aspects of the old and new, to consider identities in alignment, collision, confrontation, and encounter. By examining how the media and culture industries play a powerful and significant role in shaping local and national identities this research seeks to examine these industries’ impact on identity. By drawing on existing archives along side past media narratives this research will allow individuals and groups to make connections between past and current/future understandings of identities. Some key aims of the project are to examine, document and analyse the cultural changes which have taken place in ‘NewcastleGateshead’in the last fifity years . Drawing on this, the investigation will examine how far official archives reflect the region’s diverse cultures and identities. As well as enabling local people to acquire skills in new media technologies so that new productions will complement existing archives.
From these initiatives, the Media and Cultural Studies team have developed a number of significant links with media and cultural industries and institutions listed below;