Modern Culture and Media
Source: https://www.brown.edu/undergraduate-programs/modern-culture-and-media-ab Parent: https://www.brown.edu/undergraduate-programs
Modern Culture and Media (MCM) is an interdisciplinary concentration that explores the ties between media and broader cultural and social formations.
Degree Type
A.B.
department
Department of Modern Culture and Media
CIP Code
09.0102ℹ
The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) was developed by the U.S. Department of Education to categorize educational programs in the U.S. for a variety of reporting purposes. Each program at Brown is assigned a CIP code that best matches its academic curriculum.
Current STEM Eligible CIP Codes
- Africana Studies
- American Studies
- Comparative Literature
- English
- French Studies
- German Studies
- Italian Studies
- Pembroke Center
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Modern Culture and Media
Modern Culture and Media (MCM) is an interdisciplinary concentration that explores the ties between media and broader cultural and social formations.
We stress creative thinking and critical production: comparative analysis and theoretical reflection, as well as work that integrates practice and theory. We thus bring together aspects of modern culture that are normally separated by departmental structures such as film and media studies, fine art, literature, literary arts and philosophy. This concentration offers the student a range of possible specializations. A student might decide to focus on the critical study and production of a certain type or combination of media (print, photography, sound recording, cinema, video, television, and digital media); or they might focus on certain cultural, theoretical and/or social formations (for example, gender/sexuality in post-Cold war television, postcolonial theory and film, the changing form of the novel, theories of subjectivity and ideology, video games and theories of representation). These paths are united by a commitment to critical thinking/practice: rather than reproducing conventions, MCM concentrators learn how conventions emerge, what work they do, and explore ways to change them.
Student Goals
Students in this concentration will:
- Understand the foundations of contemporary cultural criticism, including theories of cinema, television, and digital media
- Become adept at analyzing media texts and their apparatus
- Develop their writing abilities in a sequence of papers
- Produce a body of original work that may be creative, critical-theoretical, or a combination of both
Tracks
- Practice Based
- Theory Based
Department Undergraduate Group (DUG)
Student Leaders: Dri deFaria, Lucas Pham, Alexander Sayette
Graduating Class
| Class Year | Total Students | Honors Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | 15 |
| 2022 | 25 | 8 |
| 2023 | 34 | 6 |
| 2024 | 56 | 19 |
| 2025 | 38 | 18 |
MCM alumni are award-winning film producers and directors as well as photojournalists, artists, composers, curators, and university professors. For more information, visit the MCM website.
What are Modern Culture and Media concentrators doing…
The Director of Undergraduate Studies is typically the first point of contact for prospective concentrators. Once students have declared, they may be assigned a specific concentration advisor from within the department or program.