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Chris Robé is a Professor of Film and Media Studies at Florida Atlantic University in the School of Communication and Multimedia Studies. His scholarly work focuses on the intersection of media, activism, and social movements, examining how media serves as both a representational platform and material practice for collective struggles toward equity and justice.
His educational background includes a PhD in Film and Media Studies/Literature from Lehigh University. His academic journey has positioned him at the forefront of critical media studies, with particular emphasis on how marginalized communities utilize media for social change.
Robé's research interests span Film Studies, Media Activism, Historical Materialism, Cultural Studies, Anarchist Media, and Surveillance Studies. His work consistently explores how media production is linked to theoretical analysis and historical concerns, training students in counter-cinema, alternative media, and avant-garde traditions as viable alternatives to commercial concerns. He investigates how media, in all its forms, can function as both an agent of social change and a politically reactionary force.
His scholarly contributions reveal a trajectory from historical examinations of radical film culture to contemporary analyses of digital media activism. His publications demonstrate consistent engagement with themes of social justice, resistance, and the politics of representation across different media forms and historical periods.
- Abolishing Surveillance: Digital Media Activism and State Repression (PM Press, 2023)
- InsUrgent Media from the Front: A Media Activism Reader (Indiana University Press, 2020)
- Breaking the Spell: A History of Anarchist Filmmakers, Videotape Guerrillas, and Digital Ninjas (PM Press, 2017)
- Left of Hollywood: Cinema, Modernism, and the Emergence of U.S. Radical Film Culture (U of Texas Press, 2010)
As an active participant in academic and activist communities, Robé serves as vice-president of his faculty union, advocating for academic freedom and quality public higher education. He regularly contributes film criticism to publications like PopMatters and Cineaste, bridging academic scholarship with public discourse.
His current research explores three main areas: conservative digital media activism in Florida, street art and political murals mediating tensions around Brexit and neoliberalism in Northern Ireland, and archival research related to Raymond Williams' work on film and television.
