The New School Graduate Program in International Affairs

Twenty-first century international affairs cannot be understood in isolation from global media. Media can no longer be regarded as a mere observer or recorder of worldwide events, an inert and separate Fourth Estate. It is growingly an influential actor in its own right, dynamically defining, reshaping, and conditioning the fundamental character of international discourse. Nor can media and culture be wholly conceived as distinct and separate; they are inextricably at work shaping one another. The emerging ramifications of this are only beginning to be addressed, especially with regard to what they mean for the development and preservation of open, democratic societies. While more traditional programs in international affairs often sideline the role of media and culture in the processes of international interaction, the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School is proud to offer a unique concentration with the critical study of media and culture from an international affairs perspective as its focus.

Spring 2010 announcements

• The 2009-2010 issue of Contexts Journal is here!  Copies are available in student mailboxes and on the 6th floor of 66 West 12th Street. Send an e-mail to have a copy mailed to you or to get involved in next year's journal. You can also visit  contextsjournal.com. 

• On May 12, 2010, the concentration held its spring semester Media and Culture Concentration Meeting. 

• On May 4, 2010, the Media and Culture Concentration presented a conversation on Africa's World Cup.  GPIA assistant professor Sean Jacobs moderated a conversation with Time Magazine senior editor Tony Karon, Austin Merrill, who writes the Fair Play blog for Vanity Fair, and writers Binyavanga Wainaina and Teju Cole.

• On Friday, April 16, 2010, GPIA hosted a conversation with James Hoge, Editor of Foreign Affairs. In this conversation, Hoge focused on the changes in the media as well as within the fields of international affairs and foreign policy over the last decade.

• Event: If you missed GPIA and the Media and Culture concentration's recent event, Media in the Age of Obama: A conversation with Gary Younge and Ian Buruma.

• Have questions about the concentration and what it really means? Join the Media & Culture Discussion Forum!

highlights from fall 2009

highlights from spring 2009

• Missed former Washington Post reporter Michael Dobbs' lecture on "What the President Doesn't Know"? View it here now.

• This semester, we hired a new faculty member for our concentration -- let's get ready to welcome Sean Jacobs in Fall 2009!

• The Spring 2009 Speakers Series included a conversation with rising journalist Peter Savodnik on his experiences covering international news and on how Media & Culture concentration students can break into this field; a discussion with Human Rights Watch on human rights and the role of the media; as well as a presentation by Dr. Sangita Shresthova, a Czech/Nepali development scholar, filmmaker, and media analyst, on' Bollywood and the World.' For more on these and other past or future events, please visit our events page.

highlights from past semesters

• [SPRING 2008] Read about what went on during the media & culture concentration's first meeting of the semester and view highlights from that semester, including Robert Cottrell's three-part workshop on the death of journalism.
• [FALL 2008] In the Fall 2008, the fourth issue of Contexts was released. We also held a Fall 2008 Speakers Series including a discussion with Steven Lee Myers of the New York Times on covering the Bush administration, a presentation on rebuilding media in the post-conflict environment of Liberia, as well as a roundtable on U.S. and Russian foreign policy in the context of developing events in Georgia and Chechnya and the recent U.S. presidential election. For more on these and other events, please visit our events page.

To learn more about the Media & Culture Concentration please contact the Concentration Chair, Professor Sean Jacobs, at Room 622. Adam Esrig is the current Concentration Associate. Please contact him with questions, suggestions or concerns.