Richard C. Cante

Assistant Professor
Media and Cultural Studies

Current Research: Looks at the cultural re-mapping of relations between ethics, aesthetics and politics since the mid-1990s, with particular attention to the complicated involvement of the media.

Grant Funding: Frey Grant for Course Improvement in the Study of American Art; Junior Faculty Development Grant; Office of Intellectual Climate Special Events Grant; Williamson Grant for Sexuality Studies Course Development (three times).

Recent Publications: Essays in various anthologies and in journals including Narrative, Scope and Strategies. Recently completed a book manuscript entitled Gay Men and the Form(s) of Contemporary U.S. Culture.

Courses Regularly Taught:
Graduate Seminars:  Communication and Cultural Historiography; Ethics and Recent Critical Theory; Overview of Film & Media History, Theory and Criticism; Queer Theory.

Undergraduate Courses:  Critical Perspectives (sometimes offered as an overview, sometimes offered as a special section on Freud); Humor, Comedy, Laughter; Introduction to Media History, Theory and Criticism; Pornography and Culture; Sexuality and Visual Culture.

Future/Projected Courses: Film Theory after Film Theory (Graduate Seminar, Spring 2007); Global Cinema: Texts, Contexts, Approaches (Undergraduate, TBA).

Areas of Specialization: Film & Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Critical Theory, Sexuality Studies.

Honors:  Golden Anniversary Monograph Award (National Communication Association); Louise Kerchcoff Prize for Gender Research (University of Southern California).

Professional Service: Core Faculty, Program in Sexuality Studies

Community Service: Organizer of numerous public events and series of events at UNC-CH since 2000.  Regular participant in continuing education offerings and initiatives.