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Written by Donnie Laur Tuesday, 03 November 2009 11:41

News - Faculty News and Awards

The Global Media Research Center is pleased to present 21st Century Neoliberal Man

Dr. Deborah Tudor, Associate Dean & Professor, SIUC
Tuesday, November 17th - 4:30 p.m. - Communications 1032

This talk teases out contradictions embedded in neo-liberal philosophies to consider how neo-liberal masculinity might differ from the concept of a hegemonic masculinity (Apple 2001) by existing in a set of tensions with femininity, and how feminist positions can sometimes be altered into positions that bear neo-liberal masculinity.  Dr. Tudor will examine both theatrical cinema and televisual texts -- Dexter and Star Trek XI—to trace this new representation born at the fictionalized intersections of business, the military, science, religion, and family relations. This analysis examines how the text and its political economy generate this transformation.

Several authors have argued that neoliberalism has revoked and is also based on white patriarchy--a feature that is also played out in several contemporary media texts.  However, this view disregards the accommodations and compromises between feminism, particularly the white bourgeois kind, and capitalism; a compromise which has to fundamentally change the nature of masculinity itself.  While many texts offer a return to stability based in a largely white patriarchy--a foundation of neo-liberalism argued by a number of authors that Dr. Tudor cites—they articulate a white neo-liberal masculinity that coexists with certain pragmatic feminist ideas; for example “opening the paid labor market to women”.  This analysis demonstrates how neo-liberal elements can merge with feminist ideas, creating a confluence of different ideological formations that open contradictions in representations of women as well as of men within neo-liberal philosophy.

Deborah Tudor earned her doctorate in radio, television and film at Northwestern University, where she also earned her Master of Arts degree.  She was a professor in the Department of Communication at DePaul University for nine years before becoming the Chair of the Department of Cinema & Photography at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  Dr. Tudor became the Associate Dean of the College of Mass Communication & Media Arts at SIUC in January 2009.  Her academic interests and specialties include British, Australian and war cinema, digital cinema, sports and documentary. In addition to writing more than a dozen papers and professional presentations, along with numerous articles and reviews, she is the author of the 1997 book Hollywood's Vision of Team Sports: Gender, Race and Family.  Her book manuscript on British cinema is currently under review by the University of Illinois Press.

This is a free event and all are welcome.  For more information, contact Laura Germann at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 618-453-6876.