Viveca Greene
Associate Professor of Media Studies
Viveca Greene (she/her) teaches courses on contemporary US politics, critical humor studies, audience research, and disinformation. Her research focuses on far-right extremists’ uses of irony and social media, feminist satire and rape culture, and racist trolling.
Viveca’s work is published in various transdisciplinary academic journals (Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Studies in American Humor, and Social Semiotics), edited volumes (The Oxford Handbook of Screen Comedy, The Joke Is on Us: Political Comedy in Late Neoliberal Times, and We the Media: A Citizen's Guide to Fighting for Media Democracy), and online publications (Cultural Critique Online, TheNation.com, and In Media Res). Viveca is also co-editor (with Ted Gournelos) of A Decade of Dark Humor: How Comedy, Irony, and Satire Shaped Post-9/11 America.
Viveca earned a Ph.D. from the communication department at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the University's highest teaching honor: The Distinguished Teaching Award. She holds an Ed.M. from the Harvard University Graduate School of Education and a B.A. from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She has been interviewed by journalists at news outlets including The Nation, The New York Times, Insider, Wired.com, and National Public Radio, but she prefers the dynamic discussions with students in classrooms and faculty offices, at the Kern Café, and on walks at Hampshire.
Recent and Upcoming Courses
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Stand-up comedy, satirical news, and memes: How do these and other humor-related cultural forms allow both right-wing groups and members of the many groups the right-wing targets (immigrants, racial/ethnic/religious minorities, queer people, women, etc.) to challenge the status quo? What is the power and are the limitations of these cultural forms? In this discussion-based and writing-intensive course, students will grapple with humor's many social and political functions, and in relation to white supremacy, rape culture, and other weighty issues. Course readings will include literature by scholars in communication, media studies, sociology, psychology, political science, and ethnic studies, which we will draw from in analyzing specific performances and platforms. Ultimately students will produce a final research project on a humor-related topic of their own choosing and present it to the class. Note: this course aligns with the Art & Politics Learning Collaborative and will address its urgent question: How can art and politics intersect to challenge dominant narratives and create community? Keywords:satire
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The course is designed to further develop students' understanding of critical media studies, and to provide the structure and space to conceive of and successfully carry out a related (non-fiction) project. The course is tagged as part of the Art & Politics Learning Collaborative (LC) and thus our collective work, and students' individual projects, will engage in some way with the LC's urgent challenge: "How can art and politics intersect to challenge dominant narratives and create new visions for community?" Division II students can use the course to satisfy the Division II Supported Projects requirement, and Division III students can use it as an Advanced Educational Activity (AEA). [Students, including second-year Division I students, should have completed one or more college-level media studies courses in a prior semester. Please email the professor with questions.]
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Election research under the MDP