It is easy for academic research (including and, especially, research on mass media) to fall into the trap of reifying traditional divisions between "theory" and "practice," between criticism/analysis and craft, even as we champion the idea that "practice" is always constituted by implicit or explicit theories of political, social and cultural reality. But what would it mean to think more robustly about how theory and practice are inextricably linked in our contemporary media moment? Are there better (and worse) ways to conceptualize (and teach) the interrelatedness between theory and practice/production today? Moreover, in what ways are media makers producing work (films, podcasts, comic books, PowerPoint presentations, original webisodes, apps, content for social networking sites, etc.) that is predicated on powerful theories of identity and sociality, especially as they try to reach dispersed audiences constituted by assumed commonalities of affect, identity, history, and/or politics? This symposium attempts to create a critical conversation about how scholars might (and have already attempted to) re-theorize media-making/-makers given the various ways in which production processes are becoming increasingly non-linear, deterritorialized, and self-consciously derivative of other genres, stories, and platforms.

Theorizing Production/Producing Theory runs across four panels and is being directed by John L. Jackson, Jr., Ph.D., the Richard Perry University Professor of Communication and Anthropology and hosted by Barbie Zelizer, Ph.D., the Raymond Williams Professor of Communication and Director of the Scholars Program in Culture and Communication. The program begins at 9:40 a.m., concludes at 5 p.m. and includes breakfast (beginning at 9 a.m.), lunch, and an evening reception. A complete program schedule including panel topics will be made available prior to the event.

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For more information, please visit http://www.asc.upenn.edu/News/Calendar.aspx?id=723