About Rachel Thompson
Rachel Thompson earned her bachelor’s degree in Social Anthropology and Comparative Literature from Harvard University. Her honors thesis explored literature’s evolving role in the digital age through an ethnographic study of an online literary magazine. She also co-founded and directed the Harvard Organization for Prison Education and Reform, a network of eight volunteer groups that tutor in prisons across Massachusetts and work on advocacy initiatives relating to mass incarceration and education. Before joining CMS, Rachel worked in Boston-area art museums — the Harvard Art Museums and the Peabody Essex Museum — with a focus on developing teaching curriculum for makerspaces as well as integrated digital media experiences for visitors. At MIT, she worked as a Research Assistant in the Global Media Technologies and Cultures Lab under the direction of Lisa Parks. Thesis: Incomplete Sentences: Exploitation and Empowerment in American Incarceration Media
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Incomplete Sentences: Exploitation and Empowerment in American Incarceration Media
In order to interrogate the ways in which such popular media can lift up or drown out the voices of those who are incarcerated, I critically analyze three case studies: a popular television show, an acclaimed podcast, and a recently released feature film with an accompanying documentary.
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Posted by Andrew Whitacre and Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast: Haidee Wasson, “Do-it Yourself Cinema: Portable Film Projectors as Media History”
Haidee Wasson explores the long and vibrant place of portable film devices in the history of small media, repositioning the “movie theatre” as the singular or even central figuration of film presentation and viewing.
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast: Civic Arts Series, “Thumbs Type and Swipe” featuring DIS’s Lauren Boyle
DIS enlists leading artists and thinkers to expand the reach of key conversations bubbling up through contemporary art, culture, philosophy, and technology, with the aim to inspire, inform and mobilize a generation around the urgent issues facing us today and tomorrow.
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Posted by Andrew Whitacre and Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast: Sohail Daulatzai, “The Battle of Algiers as Ghost Archive: Specters of a Muslim International”
Sohail Daulatzai on The Battle of Algiers’ “competing narratives, a battleground over the meaning and memory of decolonization and Western power, and a site for challenging the current imperial consensus.”
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast, Stuart Cunningham and David Craig: “Social Media Entertainment”
Media scholars Stuart Cunningham and David Craig propose challenging, revisionist accounts of the political economy of digital media, the precarious status of creative labor and media management, and the possibilities of progressive cultural politics in commercializing environments.
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Posted by Andrew Whitacre and Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast: Nick-Brie Guarriello, “The Good Stuff”: The Intersections of Work, Leisure, and Relational Bonding on Tumblr and Patreon
Nick-Brie Guarriello on the political economies and labor demands of micro-celebrity and Influencer culture across social media platforms regarding the Pokémon GO community.
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast, Caren Kaplan: “Bringing the War Home” – Visual Aftermaths and Domestic Disturbances in the Era of Modern Warfare
Caren Kaplan focuses on a period that includes the Vietnam War (1955-1975) and extends into the “War on Terror” through a consideration of Martha Rosler’s photo collage series “House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home” (1967-2004).
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast: Roderick Hart, “The Language of Civic Life: Past to Present”
The University of Texas’ Roderick Hart argues that disagreements – endless, raucous disagreements – draw citizens in, or at least enough of them to sustain civic hope.
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Posted by Andrew Whitacre and Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Video and podcast, Civic Arts Series: Myron Dewey, “Protecting the Water in Solidarity and Unity”
Myron Dewey has pioneered the blending of citizen monitoring, documentary filmmaking, and social networking in the cause of environment, social justice and indigenous people’s rights.
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast: 2018 CMS Alumni Panel
On the heels of the day’s graduate program information session, CMS/W hosted our annual colloquium featuring alumni of the Comparative Media Studies master’s program, discussing their lives from MIT to their careers today.
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Posted by Andrew Whitacre, Sasha Costanza-Chock and Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast: Sasha Costanza-Chock, “#MoreThanCode: Practitioner-led Research to Reimagine Technology for Social Justice”
Sasha Costanza-Chock explores key findings and recommendations from #MoreThanCode (morethancode.cc), a recently-released field scan based on more than 100 practitioner interviews.
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Video and podcast: Marisa Morán Jahn, part of the Civic Arts Series
Marisa Morán Jahn is a multi-media artist, writer, educator and activist, whose colorful, often humorous uses of personae and media create imaginative pathways to civic awareness of urgent public issues.
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Video and podcast: Daniel Bacchieri, in the Civic Arts Series
Daniel Bacchieri is an award-winning Brazilian journalist, documentary film maker and collaborative web developer/curator, whose visually inspiring StreetMusicMap platform has been widely praised for its curation of street performers from across the globe.
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast, “Collective Intelligence”: Featuring Agnieszka Kurant, Stefan Helmreich, Adam Haar Horowitz and Caroline Jones
Four MIT artists and scholars discuss the idea of collective intelligence in relation to emerging technology, artistic inquiry, and social and cultural movements. CMS/W Professor Nick Monfort moderates.
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Posted by Rachel Thompson S.M., Comparative Media Studies, 2019
Podcast, Thomas Allen Harris: “Collective Wisdom” Keynote
Critically-acclaimed filmmaker and artist Thomas Allen Harris reveals his process, experiences, and unexpected outcomes working with communities in online and offline shared spaces and places.