Teaching with The Ghost Reader: Preliminary Pedagogical Reflections
Elena D. Hristova, Bangor University, Wales
The women featured in The Ghost Reader and the digital companion have been part of my scholarship since 2012. Or rather, they became part of my scholarship when Maria Lauret, having finished reading my MPhil thesis asked, “Where are the women?” My thesis examined the educational and propaganda visual culture of labor unions during World War II; visual culture often produced by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) and other organizations partaking in the Intergroup Relations Movement (IRM). My thesis was concerned with men and manhood: the comics had men in them, men created the comics, and men seemed to be the intended readership. The women were nowhere to be seen, at least not in the same way as the men. There were minor female characters; and some women, such as Gene Weltfish and Marie Jahoda were part of the intellectual contingent of the IRM. On the other hand, when researching for my PhD, the women seemed to be everywhere: Patricia Kendall, Marie Jahoda, Hazel Gaudet, Babette Kass, Marjorie Fiske and other women at the Bureau of Applied Social Research (BASR) were researching the audience effects of comics and cartoons. Women were scientifically assessing when and how visual persuasion was effective. Women’s research was used to develop ideas about effective mass media communication and the psychology of prejudice. Women’s research was also fundamental to the way audiences and research subjects were hailed.
Before the publication of The Ghost Reader: Recovering Women’s Contributions to Media Studies (TGR hereafter, 2023) the narratives of some of the women featured in the volume were already part of my teaching. It was precisely the fact that Dorsten, Stabile, and I, along with others, were already including the contributions of women in media, communication, and film studies modules (US English course), that pushed us to collect those contributions in one place. My research on World War II educational comics against prejudice (Hristova, 2013) familiarised me with the work of Ruth Benedict, as well as Weltfish and Jahoda, two authors in TGR, so their stories were part of my discussions of the intersection of visual persuasion, the academy, and anti-communism. My current research on the history of the BASR, its gendered division of labour (Hristova, 2022), and developments on the understanding of audiences includes the stories of Jahoda, Herta Herzog, and Kendall, who are all featured in TGR. These women’s connections with the BASR, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, as well as the AJC in Jahoda’s case, showcase the networks of institutions and individuals working in the war effort and beyond to combat prejudice, theorise and methodologise the study of communication, and make a living from it – be it in the academy or the advertising industry. In my teaching practice, I weave the work narratives and research contributions of the women in TGR into foundational media studies workshops, undergraduate lectures, and postgraduate research methods seminars. Informed by this, below, I provide a reflection on: 1) institutional practices and embedding women in the curriculum, 2) delivering a guest lecture in Media History, 3) administrative possibilities for gender equity; and, 4) a short and adaptable lesson plan for the undergraduate media, cultural studies, communications, or journalism classroom that teaches with The Ghost Reader: "The cultural critic is political: the case of Fredi Washington."
Institutional practices and teaching arrangements
As we progressed with the editorial work on TGR, in April 2022 I joined Bangor University as Lecturer in Film and Media. During the 2022-2023 academic year I have been testing the use of TGR in the undergraduate and postgraduate classroom wherever possible, as in my first year of teaching I was asked to cover modules for a colleague on research leave.
A notable addendum here is that module structures and expectations differ across academic institutions, which is an important structural component of how we plan our lessons, lectures, and workshops — and therefore how and when to use TGR effectively and with impact. For instance, during my four years as a teaching graduate student and doctoral candidate at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, I taught in three configurations: two hour-and-fifteen minute, three fifty-minute, and one three-hour sessions per week. The latter became my favourite because it provided enough time to dive deeply into topics, break down concepts, and engage in small and large group work, discussion, and research. I continued with the three-hour session per week structure as a Lecturer in Media at Regent’s University London. At Bangor University, however, the standard is a weekly one-hour lecture, one-hour seminar, and a screening for film modules. This broken-up structure can present a pedagogical challenge, especially when the lecture, screening and seminar are on different days and in different locations.
As we plan the use of TGR in the context of each academic institution, some important challenges arise. First, keeping students engaged in both short and long sessions has their own challenges, but my go-to has been short bursts of different activities, always focusing on and following the students’ developing interests. Second, the amount of material we introduce to students should be appropriate for the level of study and level of engagement. Students learn well from each other, therefore, designing activities that enable students to conduct research and share their findings and new-found expertise can be linked to becoming experts on a piece of work in TGR. Third, as teaching academics we need to have some clarity and foresight on how we introduce and integrate women’s important contribution into the curriculum – one can introduce a new foundational figure such as Mae Churchill into a module on the political economy of communication, or teach a methods module where audience research is based on the work of Fiske, Herzog, Kendall, Hortense Powdermaker and Jeanette Sayre. Another important contribution would be a focus on the work, scholarship, and contributions of one (or several women) akin to the ways in which we happily design modules based around one male theorist.
Practicing inclusion in the curriculum: Media history lecture
The way we address these challenges and opportunities within our specific institutional constraints can guide the structure, content, and length of the lecture, seminar, or workshop. For me, the short-term goal of the 2022-2023 academic year was to normalise the presence of women in the curriculum, to attribute research correctly, and to develop citational practices among undergraduates that would accurately reference the original idea, theory, or method. A colleague invited me to give a lecture to his media history students. Pedagogically, this was a “tour” (Mohanty, 2002, pp. 518-519) of women’s contribution to media studies and did not necessarily fully disrupt the centrality of the male figures in the module. Nonetheless, I approached it as an important step to normalise women as foundational figures in media studies and to introduce students to the women whose ideas, scholarship, and contribution they should encounter in a media history module.
Initially, I had prepared a lecture with a two-fold aim: first, to provide a rich context to explain why progressive women were erased from media history; and second, to introduce students to three women from TGR. At the last minute, worried about having enough time to do justice to the women’s contributions and importance, I flipped the order of the lecture. I began with a simple statement, “These are women you should all know about,” and provided an overview of the contributions, careers, and forced limitations put on Kendall (Hristova, 2023), Fredi Washington (Mulligan, et al., 2023), and Churchill (Dorsten, 2023). In the second short part of the lecture, I addressed the importance of anti-communism, gendered workplaces, and the foreclosure of academic opportunities as reasons why students may be unfamiliar with these women and their contributions. I encouraged students to research the women, especially making use of the People’s Voice column Stabile, Risam, and their team digitised as part of the online Fredi Washington reader.
Administrative work for gender equity: Degree revalidation and new module opportunities
In May 2023 I was appointed Subject Lead for Film, Journalism, Media. As part of my role, which is both leadership and administrative, I complete the “Annual Review of Teaching and Learning and Development Plan” using feedback from faculty, external examiners, and students, and act for its execution. This is an administrative tool for curriculum enhancement that allows me to include an action point for gender and race equity in the curriculum, and propose opportunities for decolonisation.
One of these opportunities came during the 2022-2023 academic year, when the School of Arts, Culture and Language at Bangor University revalidated the degree offering related to Film, Journalism, Media. Revalidation is a process each UK Higher Education degree programme undertakes periodically so as to ensure that the degree is robust. It includes university and external faculty with required expertise, and at times industry experts. In the UK Higher Education sector, revalidation is an opportunity to reinvent modules and assessments to invigorate the degree programme. Therefore, this was an opportunity for me to fulfil some of the possibilities laid out in TGR. Stabile, Dorsten and I write:
Imagine a module focused on social media, social movements, or contemporary activism where the arc of development begins with the daguerreotypes of Frederick Douglass and his strategic use of media to further the cause of abolitionism. Or a history of investigative journalism that starts with Ida B. Wells’ Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases. Or a survey of audience research in the first half of the twentieth century that includes radical, anti-racist thinkers like Eleanor Leacock, Hortense Powdermaker, Gene Weltfish, and many others (2023, p. 11).
In my case, I imagined a module where the arc of development of cultural criticism begins with, among others, Fredi Washington’s columns in the People’s Voice. The module “Cultural Dispatches: Practical Criticism and Journalism” will provide students with the history of cultural, film, television and media criticism, as well as the opportunity to develop a portfolio of cultural criticism of film, media, television, culture, exhibitions, performances, music for a variety of audiences on a range of platforms, from academic journals to TikTok.1 Washington’s sizable body of media, film, theatre, and cultural criticism will be foundational for understanding the cultural and political work of criticism and the critic (Washington, et al., 2019). At the end of the next academic year, I will have my own cultural dispatch on teaching the module; but right now, readers can find below an adaptable lesson plan from “Cultural Dispatches” that teaches with TGR to introduces students to Washington and the politics of cultural criticism.
Concluding thoughts
Changing the ways in which we teach and what we teach can be challenging. My hope is that willing participants will find ways to teach with and alongside TGR to suit their specific academic institution, teaching set up, and level of study. Start with what you know, be it a method, one of the women featured in TGR, one of the works featured, or a basic desire to impact the ways in which we teach our disciplinary history. It is important to remember that this will be an ongoing process for generations of scholars, and the effects may not be immediately visible. Just as The Ghost Reader has shown the important contribution of women’s academic and cultural labour for the development of media studies and adjoining disciplines in the US and Europe, so too, I hope, we will soon be teaching with and about the disciplinary impact and importance of international ghosts.
Lesson plan
The cultural critic is political: The case of Fredi Washington
Length: 3h
Rationale and Learning Objectives
This lesson is part of the students’ exploration of the history and development of cultural, film, and media criticism, as well as their key practitioners. Through a series of creative assignments, students develop a voice as active cultural citizens who can analyse culture in context. By the end of the semester, students produce a portfolio of cultural criticism that showcases their ability to communicate about culture/film/media to a variety of audiences through a variety of platforms and styles.
The lesson showcases Fredi Washington as a key cultural critic deeply interested in and embedded in the political issues of her time. Students develop an understanding of the historical and academic discussions of Washington as a cultural critic and political activist. Students will also develop research and analytical skills and strengthen their public communication. Students are encouraged to take inspiration from practitioners of cultural criticism to develop their own voice.
Reading Prior to Class
“Introduction” to The Ghost Reader
Malia Mulligan, Morning Glory Ritchie, and Miche Dreiling, “Fredi Washington,” from The Ghost Reader
Laurie Woodard, “‘A Free America for All Peoples…’: Fredi Washington, the Negro Actors Guild, and the Voice of the People,” The Journal of African American History 105.3 (Summer 2020): 452-478.
Further readings:
From the Fredi Washington reader:
Carol Stabile and Roopika Risam, “Series Editors’ Introduction”
Laurie Avant Woodard, "’An All-Out Fight’: Fredi Washington's Print Crusade Against White Supremacy”
In-Class Activities
First, discussion questions based on readings (these may be asked in advance, or become part of the journal/reflections on Blackboard/Moodle):
- What is distinctive about Washington’s career as a cultural critic?
- How did Washington understand herself as a critic? Her responsibilities as a critic?
- What were some of the political and cultural issues Washington faced / wrote about?
Second, screening of Imitation of Life (1943; length 1h 50 min), or selected parts of the film, followed by discussion:
- Discuss initial reactions to the film, as well as to Washington’s Peola.
- Unpack the role “passing” played in the life of Black Americans. This is a good entry point into discussing segregation, and racial relations of the time.
- Examine the typecasting Washington experienced after playing Peola. What kind of an impact would this have had on her? How did it contribute to her radicalization and becoming a cultural critic?
Third, in-class research and presentation activity:
Using the online Fredi Washington reader students read 10 of her columns. This should be done in groups of 2/3 students working together (although depending on class size this could be changed; this activity can also be adapted into a research paper, a short essay, or a short response piece).
Washington’s columns can be printed out or provisions made to ensure that students have access to technology to read the material online in class.
After reading the columns, groups should work together to answer the following questions and present their findings, with examples, to the class:
What are the key cultural and/or political issues Washington addressed in her column? How does she frame the issues? If you are not familiar with the issues make sure that you familiarise yourself with them
How is Washington articulating a cultural critique? Political critique? Consider her use of language/rhetoric
What is the responsibility/role of the cultural critic, according to Washington?
What have you learned about cultural critique from the writing of Fredi Washington?
What has Washington inspired you to implement into your own cultural critic persona?
Bibliography
Dorsten, A.-M., 2023. Emma "Mae" Dena Solomon Huettig Churchill (1911-1996). In: E. D. Hristova, A. Dorsten & C. A. Stabile, eds. The Ghost Reader: Recovering Women's Contributions to Media Studies. London: Goldsmiths Press, pp. 142-160.
Favara, J., Stabile, C. A. & Strait, L., n.d. Washington, Fredi. [Online] Available at: https://broadcast41.uoregon.edu/biography/washington-fredi [Accessed 31 May 2023].
Hristova, E. D., 2013. Imagining Brotherhood: The Comics of the American Jewish Committee, 1941 - 1948. [Online].
Hristova, E. D., 2022. Lazarsfeld's Legacy | Research and Publishing at the Bureau of Applied Social Research: The Gendering of Commercial and Academic Work. International Journal of Communication 16, pp. 655-663.
Hristova, E. D., 2023. Patricia Louise Kendall (1922–1990). In: E. D. Hristova, A. Dorsten & C. A. Stabile, eds. The Ghost Reader: Recovering Women's Contributions to Media Studies. London: Goldsmiths Press, pp. 243-269.
Hristova, E. D., Dorsten, A.-M. & Stabile, C. A., 2023. The Ghost Reader: Recovering Women's Contributions to Media Studies. London: Goldsmiths Press.
Mohanty, C. T., 2002. “Under Western Eyes” Revisited: Feminist Solidarity through Anticapitalist Struggles. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 28.2, pp. 499-535.
Mulligan, M., Ritchie, M. G. & Dreiling, M., 2023. Fredi Washington (1903-1994). In: E. D. Hristova, A. Dorsten & C. A. Stabile, eds. The Ghost Reader: Recovering Women's Contributions to Media Studies. London: Goldsmiths Press, pp. 381-404.
Stabile, C. A., 2018. The Broadcast 41: Women and the Anti-Communist Blacklist. London: Goldsmiths Press.
Washington, F. et al., 2019. Fredi Washington: A Reader in Black Feminist Media Criticism, s.l.: Reanimate Collective.
Woodard, Laurie. “‘A Free America for All Peoples…’: Fredi Washington, the Negro Actors Guild, and the Voice of the People.” The Journal of African American History 105.3 (Summer 2020): 452-478.
Woodard, Laurie Avant. "’An All-Out Fight’: Fredi Washington's Print Crusade Against White Supremacy.” In Fredi Washington: A Reader in Black Feminist Media Criticism, edited by Washington, F. et al., 2019., Reanimate Collective.
In its previous iteration the module was focused exclusively on film criticism and lacked diversity. ↩