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What's New?Joint doctorate in comms celebrates 25 years with special McLuhan eventThe Université de Montreal (UdeM), Université de Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and Concordia celebrated the 25th anniversary of their Joint Doctorate in Communication with a special event held recently at the Société des arts technologiques (SAT). « more » Congratulations!
... to M.E. Luka, PhD Candidate in Communication Studies, on winning the prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship! « more » Dates to Remember
Find out more ...News PublicationsConcordia Research Chair Launches Book on Subliminal Messaging ControversyFebruary 22nd, 2012
For communications professor Charles Acland, the idea of subliminal influence indicates an “extraordinary faith in the power of even the most fleeting words, sounds and images to shape our unconscious.” In Swift Viewing: The Popular Life of Subliminal Influence, Acland, a professor and research chair in Concordia’s Department of Communication Studies, traces the evolution of subliminal influence from a concept in experimental psychology to a mainstream belief about what he calls “our vulnerability to manipulation in an age of media clutter.” Since theories of subliminal influence first found their way into mainstream culture in the late 1950s, public opinion surveys have shown that up to 70 per cent of respondents think that advertisers use subliminal techniques, whether the message is to buy a particular product or to confirm to a certain way of thinking. For Acland, the idea of subliminal influence, regardless of its existence or direct effectiveness, indicates an “extraordinary faith in the power of even the most fleeting words, sounds and images to shape our unconscious.” By providing a broad survey of examples ranging from Marshall McLuhan’s media theories to representations of mind control in sci-fi movies, Acland examines the subliminal as “both a product of and balm for information overload.” In so doing, he creates what acclaimed author Fred Turner calls a “much-needed and frighteningly contemporary history.” Through the historical sweep of Swift Viewing, Acland shows that the concept of subliminal influence has its origins as far back as the late 1800s. His detailed chapter on the tachistoscope, a tool used to quickly slide images past a viewer’s eye to measure the length of exposure necessary for perception, demonstrates that we have had “a fascination with the rapid arrival and departure of texts” for more than a century. By tracing this fascination through its mainstream adoption and subsequent debunking that there are any actual effects, and following its continued traction in everything from presidential campaigns to episodes of TV’s Family Guy, Acland proves that this concept has staying power and is specifically connected to the way we understand our audiovisual surroundings. Ultimately, Acland shows that the continued engagement with the concept is one way “individuals share scepticism about their environment,” a scepticism prompted by the daily barrage of information that defines present-day media culture. Related links: Swift Viewing (Duke University Press) Concordia University Research Chair in Communication Studies Wins Major AwardFebruary 3rd, 2010
The award recognizes the most original essay – published in a peer-reviewed journal during the previous year – that significantly advances scholarship in film and media studies. Acland’s winning article “Curtain, Carts, and the Mobile Screen” appears in the fiftieth anniversary issue of Screen 50:1 (2009). This is the first time this twenty-one year old essay award has gone to a scholar at a Canadian university. Trudeau Scholarship 2008August 21st, 2008
While working as a journalist for the Daily Monitor, Uganda’s independent daily newspaper, William Tayeebwa covered the armed conflicts in the African Great Lakes region, and he experienced firsthand the profound and devastating impact of war. During his travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo, he realised that during war, not only do humans suffer, but fauna and flora are not spared either. William also witnessed how war provides an avenue for local, regional and international predators to exploit national resources, thus creating even more reasons for some groups to take up arms in a vicious cycle of violence. Back in Africa in 2003 after his graduate studies at the University of Oslo, Norway, he concentrated on the journalism training of Africa’s future generation of reporters and editors. He did so first at Uganda’s national university (Makerere), and later in 2005 as a visiting lecturer at Rwanda’s national university (Butare). William tried to inject his students with the peace-journalism vaccine, so that their work may deliberately privilege the voices of peacemakers. He sought to educate them outside of the conventional mold that proposes placing political and official elite sources against each other. He strongly believes that a skilled new generation of African journalists will be able to question and circumvent the structural bottlenecks imposed by corporate media, government censorship and media dependence on advertising revenue — none of which favour a peace-journalism model. Trudeau Scholar PublishedAugust 27th, 2007
Something New in the AirAugust 27th, 2005Something New in the AirThe Story of First Peoples Television Broadcasting in Canada A new book by Lorna Roth A definitive history of the pioneering efforts of television Northern Canada and APTN.
Something New in the Air (at Amazon.com) charts the development of indigenous television from the 1970s to the present. Lorna Roth focuses on the regional, national, and global implications of Television Northern Canada and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), the only dedicated aboriginal television service in the world. She shows that First Peoples, by making their programming an integral part of the Canadian broadcasting infrastructure, have succeeded in creating a provocative model for media resistance. Something New in the Air recounts the struggle of First Peoples to attain the legislated recognition of their collective communications and cultural rights that partly explains why they are now acknowledged as having the most advanced aboriginal broadcasting network in the world. Dr. Peter van Wyck wins 2005 Robinson Book PrizeAugust 27th, 2005The 2005 Gertrude J. Robinson Book Prize was awarded to Dr. Peter van Wyck, of Concordia University, for Signs of Danger: Waste, Trauma and Nuclear Threat (at Amazon.com).The prize is awarded annually by the Canadian Communications Association forthe best book in communications written by a Canadian scholar or one who worksand lives in Canada. In its decision, the jury was unanimous in its praise of Dr. van Wyck. Theywrote, “This is a brave, creative, and mature work that bridges the fields ofenvironmental communications, memory studies, and art. Dr. van Wyck hasproduced an original and highly visionary piece of scholarship that not onlymakes a compelling contribution to the field, but actually propels us forwardinto new vistas of learning and imagination.” Signs of Danger explores the controversial Waste Isolation Pilot Plant inCarlsbad, NM, where the US government has begun piling nuclear waste in a vastunderground pit. [more] Charles Acland Wins 2004 Robinson Book PrizeAugust 27th, 2004Communication Studies Professor Charles Acland has won the 2004 Robinson Book Prize for his book Screen Traffic: Movies, Multiplexes and Global Culture. The prize is awarded annually by the Canadian Communication Association for the best book in communication studies written by a Canadian scholar. In Screen Traffic, Acland examines how, since the mid-1980s, the U.S. commercial movie business has altered conceptions of moviegoing both within the industry and among audiences. He shows how studios, in their increasing reliance on revenues from international audiences and from the ancillary markets of television, videotape, DVD, and pay-per-view, have cultivated an understanding of their commodities as mutating global products. Consequently, the cultural practice of moviegoing has changed significantly, as has the place of the cinema in relation to other sites of leisure. Acland explores this transformation by investigating the generation and dissemination of a new understanding of Hollywood movies. [more] |
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Modern consumers of mass media have long been swayed by the notion that secret, invisible messages are embedded in everything from radio commercials to Hollywood blockbusters. With his new book, Charles Acland takes an in-depth look at the complex history of subliminal influence, and questions what the lasting implications may be for our information-saturated modern world.
