Atsushi Tajima has been a member of the Geneseo faculty since 2007.
Office Hours Fall 2023
Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm
or by appointment, please email at: tajima@geneseo.edu
If immediate assistance is needed please see Department Secretary Noreen Mazurowski.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Ph.D. in Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison (2006)
M.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A. in Journalism and Public Communication, University of Alaska Anchorage
A.S. (US equivalent) in Mechanical Engineering, Nagao National College of Technology, Japan
Affiliations
Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
Eastern Communication Association
International Communication Association
National Communication Association
More About Me
Interests
mass communication
media effects
media and cultural studies
gender
race and ethnicity
research methods
Research and Teaching Interests
Dr. Tajima tries to understand how the media operate, produce cultural products, and shape ways audiences think about themselves and their world. He emphasizes the extent to which we learn about society, such as politics, ourselves, and how to behave the social norm from mass-mediated messages. He tries to answer those inquiries through critical theories of race, ethnicity, gender, social class, globalization, media production, and audience effect. While Dr. Tajima primarily teaches mass media, media effect, critical and cultural studies, and visual communication, he also encourages students to craft their own research; he has directed a total of 104 student research projects during 2011–20, all presented at professional conferences. Because of this research mentorship, he was the recipient of the 2013 Drs. Carol and Michael Harter Endowment for Faculty Mentoring Award.
His recent research appears in Journal of Magazines and New Media Research, Inter-Asia Cultural Studies, Newspaper Research Journal, Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, and Feminist Media Studies.
Classes
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COMN 260: Intro to Mass Communication
This course covers mass communication in both historical and contemporary contexts. Students are introduced to the broad sociocultural function of mass media, as well as the specific function of each medium. The course explores roles of mass communication in terms of the societal impact, technology, and the effects on individuals.
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COMN 330: Photography as Visual Comm
Visual images, largely provided through the ease that anyone can take a picture with digital technology, play a significant role in contemporary communication. This course explores photography's role in our visual communication. It introduces technical aspects of photography, historical development of photography, explores different venues of photography (e.g., photojournalism, advertising), and analyzes how visual messages influence viewers. The course covers both creative aspects as well as criticism of photography to enhance our visual literacy. Prior photographic experience is not needed.
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COMN 462: International Mass Comm
This course explores the role of mass communication and the media in our increasingly interdependent, globalized world. Through selected case studies, national systems of mass media found in various parts of the world are compared and analyzed. Issues that transcend geo-political boundaries are also examined. These include globalization of the media industry and cultural products, inequality in the flow of information, media influences on identity formation across different cultures, and media portrayals of war and peace.