Stephen Charbonneau

Stephen Charbonneau is an Associate Professor in the Communication and Multimedia Studies department at Florida Atlantic University, specializing in film and media studies with a focus on documentary filmmaking, critical theory, and new media cultures. He earned his PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2007 and has established himself as a significant scholar in documentary studies through his book Projecting Race: Postwar America, Civil Rights, and Documentary Film (2016) and numerous scholarly publications.

Charbonneau's research centers on questions of participation, intersubjectivity, collaboration, and everyday life within documentary filmmaking, autoethnographic video, and essayistic digital cultures. His scholarly trajectory began with work on youth media organizations like the Global Action Project, which led to broader historical inquiries into community-based and nontheatrical uses of film tied to postwar struggles for racial equality. His research demonstrates consistent engagement with how documentary film mediates social conflict, particularly around race and class relations.

Analysis of his publications reveals a sustained scholarly trajectory examining documentary film's role in social justice movements, from postwar civil rights struggles to contemporary digital activism. His work consistently bridges historical analysis with contemporary media practices, highlighting continuities between mid-20th century community filmmaking and current digital essayistic practices. The scholarship demonstrates particular strength in archival research on state-sponsored educational documentaries and participatory filmmaking models.

His scientific recognition includes:

• Fulbright Fellowship (2012-13) for research on state-sponsored documentary film to mediate social conflict fueled by race and class

Charbonneau teaches courses including FIL 3803: Film Theory and FIL 6807: Film Theory and Criticism. His current research projects include Stoney: A Committed Life, A Committed Cinema (a biography of documentarian George C. Stoney), InsUrgent Media from the Front: A Global Media Activist Reader (co-edited with Chris Robé), and The Twenty-First Century Essayistic. He has organized academic events including 'Mediated Rights: The Transformative Power of Images from Selma to Ferguson' at Georgia State University (2016) and 'Public Media 2.0' at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2013).