Gauthier featured on NPR’s The Academic Minute

Jennifer Gauthier

On Monday, communication studies professor Jennifer Gauthier was a featured guest on NPR’s The Academic Minute.

In the segment, Gauthier discussed modern news outlets and the other options that are available to consumers outside of the mainstream media. Since six major companies control 90 percent of the information and entertainment distributed in the United States, Gauthier encourages her students to consider other perspectives—particularly through films made by indigenous women around the world.

“Diné, Anishnaabe, Cree, Métis and Kanaka Maoli, and other indigenous filmmakers are using digital video to revive indigenous languages and reclaim Indigenous epistemologies,” Gauthier said. “Their films invite viewers to learn from what feminist scholars call ‘subjugated knowledges.’”

Gauthier also touted the science fiction films being made by indigenous producers that challenge Western beliefs.

“Engaging new viewpoints is the only way to foster individual growth and investigate social change,” Gauthier said.

At Randolph, Gauthier teaches courses in rhetoric, media studies, and gender studies and coordinates the College’s minor in film studies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in art history from Vassar College, a master’s degree in Liberal Studies from Wesleyan University, and a Ph.D. in cultural studies from George Mason University. Her interdisciplinary background has led her to pursue research on global indigenous media and its role in challenging discourses of identity in settler nations. She is the recipient of two Fulbright Awards to Canada and lectures around the world. Her research on Indigenous media and cultural policy, gender, and sovereignty movements has appeared in national and international scholarly journals and edited collections. Her current project examines the media work of Indigenous women in Canada.

The Academic Minute features researchers from colleges and universities around the world, keeping listeners abreast of what’s new and exciting in the academy and of all the ways academic research contributes to solving the world’s toughest problems and to serving the public good. Production support for The Academic Minute comes from The Association of American Colleges & Universities.

Read more and listen to Gauthier’s full interview here.