Andrea Braithwaite
PhD
Senior Teaching Professor
Vice-President, Canadian Game Studies Association
Dr. Braithwaite’s current research focuses on gendered and affective discourses of crime, deviance, and justice in media, particularly games, gaming communities, and Canadian pop culture.
- PhD, Communication Studies McGill University, Montréal, Quebec 2009
- MA - Popular Culture Brock University, Catharines, Ontario 2003
- BA (Honours) - Communication Studies Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario 2001
Nancy Drew and the Case of the Girl Gamers
University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta May 30, 2016Canadian Communication Association at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences
MMO Gaming and Virtual Worlds Ethnography
Brock University, St. Catharines, OntarioQualitative Analysis Conference
Bon Cop, Bad Cop: Canadianizing the Buddy Cop Film
University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba September 25, 2015Criminal Justice Speaker Series
Spreading the Message – The Art of Communicating
McGill University, Montréal, Québec July 24, 2014International Baccalaureate World Student Conference on Human Rights
Industrial-Strength Celebrity: Glee, A Case Study
McGill University, Montréal, Québec March 2, 2011Media Stardom & Celebrity Cultures
“‘It’s about ethics in game journalism’? Gamergaters and Geek Masculinity.” Social Media + Society special issue: Making Digital Cultures of Gender and Sexuality with Social Media. 2:4 (2016). 1-10. doi: 10.1177/2056305116672484
“Nancy Drew and the Case of the Girl Gamers.” Video Games, Culture, and Justice. Eds. André Brock, Kishonna Gray, and David Leonard. University of Washington Press (Forthcoming, 2017).
“Nancy Drew and the Case of the Neoliberal College.” First Person Scholar (Forthcoming, Fall 2017).
. . 21:5 (2015).
. . 21:3 (2015).
‘’ Games and Culture. Prepublished 8 Oct 2015. doi: 10.1177/1555412015610246.
Seriously, get out: Feminists on the Forums and the War(craft) on Women. New Media & Society. 16:5 (2014). 703-718. Prepublished 12 June 2013. doi: 10.1177/1461444813489503.
. . 21:1 (2014).
'It’s the beast thing': Victimization, Violence, and Popular Masculine Crises. Feminist Media Studies. 11:4 (2011). 417-432. doi: 10.1080/14680777.2011.555959.
“Bon Cop, Bad Cop: Fighting Crime Across the Two Solitudes.” In Screening Justice: Canadian Crime Films, Culture and Society. Eds. Steven Kohm, Sonia Bookman, and Pauline Greenhill. Fernwood Publishing (2016). 132-148.
The Strong Museum of Play Research Fellowship
July 1, 2015Dr. Braithwaite was awarded the summer fellowship in Rochester, New York to explore the early years of Nancy Drew video games. Building on her doctoral work on young female detective figures, her research focused on feminism and women in gaming.
UOIT Teaching Excellence Award
July 1, 2014Dr. Braithwaite received this honour for her cross-textual and interdisciplinary approach to examining how societal values are influenced by media, popular culture and political texts; and encouraging insightful conversations among her students.
Frozen Justice: A Century of Canadian Crime Film
SSHRC Insight Grant April 1, 2016Dr. Braithwaite is a co-investigator in this four-year, multidisciplinary research project to investigate the history of Canadian crime films. A key objective is the development of a comprehensive, accessible database of these films for scholars, film students and industry. The project also aims to establish a national conference to evoke broad cultural conversations about the impact of crime films in Canada.
Canadian Communication Association
- Introduction to Communication Studies (COMM 1100U)
This course introduces students to communication studies with an overview of key topics in the field as defined by the various courses included in this degree. It will examine how knowledge of communication theory, communication processes, and communication skills can be applied to successful communication practices. - Researching Communication and Digital Culture (COMM 2210U)
This course introduces students to the major research approaches in communication, cultural and digital media studies, and acquaints them with a variety of field-specific qualitative and quantitative methods. Students learn to formulate research questions, evaluate and select appropriate methods, design a research project and interpret and report research findings to peers. - The Media in Canada (COMM 2220U)
This course examines the history, economics, and policies of the media in Canada. What is “Canadian” about the media? How do media goods represent Canada? What policies protect and promote the “Canadian” media industry, how and why? These questions are addressed through a survey of Canadian publishing, film, radio, television, games and digital media. - Television (COMM 2240U)
In this course, students learn to think critically about television’s history, business, politics, genres, viewers and effects in society. - History of Communication Technology (COMM 2410U)
This course focuses on the history of communication technologies. Students learn about the development and impact of tablets, the printing press, the telegraph, the telephone, the phonograph, the radio, the TV, satellites, cybernetics, personal computers, A.I. and smartphones. - Pop Culture (COMM 3250U)
This course surveys and applies competing theories of popular culture in society through case studies of ads, films, TV shows, video games, comic books, music, celebrities and more. The course helps students to understand, contextualize and critically analyze pop culture. - Digital Games Studies: From Pong to Pokémon GO (COMM 3740U)
Video games are an increasingly prominent part of everyday experience. Games and gaming are becoming a core component of how we communicate, learn, relax, socialize, and engage with the world around us. In this course, students will explore the cultural impact, meanings, and uses of video games and become immersed in the emerging field of game studies. Core issues in game studies, such as play and pleasure, storytelling and genre, and representation and production will be introduced as part of a broader emphasis on games’ cultural and critical contexts. By the end of the course, students will have a critical understanding of how video games shape and are shaped by the cultures in which they exist.
