Two faculty members from our department—Associate Professor Elfriede Fürsich and Assistant Professor Litzy Galarza—were recently interviewed in separate episodes of the Culturalstudies Podcast, hosted by internationally renowned cultural and media studies scholar Toby Miller.
Dr. Miller has held academic positions at NYU and UC Riverside and currently serves as Distinguished Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at Tecnológico de Monterrey. He has authored or edited over 50 volumes on media, culture, politics, and social theory. His podcast—now nearing 800 episodes—is known for lively conversations with artists, writers, and scholars about the politics of culture, with special attention to contemporary media and popular culture.
In her episode, Dr. Elfriede Fürsich, a media scholar whose work focuses on lifestyle journalism, representation, and global media narratives, discussed topics such as free speech, media consolidation, public broadcasting, and travel media. She offered a critical look at how media content shapes public understanding of people across borders and global narratives.
Dr. Litzy Galarza, whose research explores Latina/o/x media, citizenship, and cultural labor, discussed immigration, gender, and the representation of Latina/o/x identities in media, with particular attention to concepts of citizenship in the long-running television series Jane the Virgin. Her episode examined how media can reflect and challenge cultural norms around identity and national belonging.
These episodes offer a glimpse into the kinds of questions our faculty explore and how their work connects with broader political and cultural conversations.
You can listen to both episodes on the Culturalstudies Podcast website.