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Elfriede Fürsich

  • Associate Professor

Education

  • University of Georgia, M.A./Ph.D.

Biography

Dr. Elfriede Fürsich is Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies whose research explores media representation, journalism genres, and cultural narratives in a globalized world. She critically analyzes how media construct and reinforce narratives around cultural diversity, globalization, migration, and social identity—often shaping public perception, policy, and power structures.

 

Her scholarship investigates how media and journalism impact public understanding by either supporting or disrupting common narratives with a particular focus on genres such as travel journalism, food media, and other forms of lifestyle journalism. She also studies emerging forms of digital storytelling, including newsgames, and their potential to foster empathy and engagement with complex social issues.

 

Through an interdisciplinary and international lens, Dr. Fürsich offers critical insights into the media’s dual role—as both content and creative industry—in shaping global discourse, influencing identity formation, and navigating cultural and political conflict. Her work, which has been translated into German, Mandarin, Korean, and Portuguese, highlights the evolving nature of journalistic narratives and the media’s power to shape how we see ourselves and others in a rapidly changing world.

 

She is the co-editor of The Political Relevance of Food Media and Journalism (2023), which explores how food media engage with politics and social issues, challenging the notion that they are trivial or apolitical. Another other co-edited book Travel Journalism: Exploring Production, Impact, and Culture (2014) examines how travel journalism shapes global imaginaries and cultural perceptions. Her research spans diverse topics, including media portrayals of migration, gender, and class, as well as the tensions between journalistic credibility and commercialization. She has also contributed to methodological debates in media studies, advocating for the continued relevance of textual analysis in understanding media impact.

 

Currently, she serves on the editorial boards of the academic journals Journalism Studies and Global Media Journal; previously, she was on the boards of International Journal of Cultural Studies and Popular Communication.

 

Before joining the University of Pittsburgh, she has taught in the US, India and Germany. She was tenured faculty at Boston College; was Visiting Faculty at University of Hyderabad, India; worked in Germany as BCP Visiting Professor of Media and Popular Culture at Freie Universität Berlin and as a Visiting Professor at University of Hamburg’s Erasmus Mundus M.A. Program in Journalism, Media and Globalization. In addition, she has also held classes at Hertie School of Governance in Berlin and Filmuniversität Babelsberg.

 

Elfriede Fürsich is core faculty in Pitt’s interdisciplinary Film and Media Studies Program as well as Affiliate Faculty Member of the European Studies Center, Cultural Studies Program, and the Global Studies Center.

 

Books

Journal Articles (selected)

 

Courses Taught

University of Pittsburgh (Department of Communication) (2017- )

  • Media Criticism
  • Media Theory
  • Global Media (Special Topics in Mass Communication)
  • Media as Creative Industry (Special Topics in Mass Communication)
  • Creative Industries - Economic, Social and Cultural Dimension (graduate)