معرفی
Jeffrey Sconce serves as Professor in the Screen Cultures program within the Department of Radio/Television/Film at Northwestern University's School of Communication. His work critically examines electronic media's entanglement with cultural anxieties, irrational beliefs, and marginalized cinematic forms.
His academic foundation includes a PhD in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, complemented by an MA, BS, and BA (in Radio/TV/Film and English) from the University of Texas-Austin.
Sconce's research pioneers connections between electronic media and the occult (Haunted Media, 2000) and media technologies in psychotic ideation (The Technical Delusion, 2019). He champions marginal cinema through foundational texts like Sleaze Artists (2007), establishing frameworks for analyzing exploitation film, horror, and cultural failure. His methodology blends media archaeology with cultural theory to expose how technologies shape irrational belief systems.
Analysis of his 14 most recent publications (2006-2020) reveals persistent engagement with media's irrational dimensions—from ghostly electronic presences to cinematic failure. His work consistently elevates 'lowbrow' forms while interrogating media's role in constructing reality boundaries, with increasing focus on digital mediation's psychological impacts since 2014.
His honors include the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship (2020-2021), Ameritech Chair in Communications (2004-2005), and dual AGS Faculty Honor Roll distinctions (2003-2004, 2004-2005).
Professor Sconce's teaching directly translates his research into RTVF courses including Media Contexts, Media and Irony, The Horror Film, Exploitation Cinema, and Irrational Media, cultivating critical analysis of media's complex cultural operations through historically grounded frameworks.
