A media studies scholar and filmmaker, John T. Caldwell teaches in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media. He has authored and edited several books, including “Production Studies: Cultural Studies of Media Industries” (co-edited with Vicki Mayer and Miranda Banks, Routledge, 2009); “Production Culture: Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film and Television” (Duke Univ. Press, 2008); New Media: Digitextual Theories and Practices” (co-edited with Anna Everett, Routledge, 2003); “Electronic Media and Technoculture” (edited, Rutgers Univ. Press, 2000); and “Televisuality: Style, Crisis and Authority in American Television” (Rutgers Univ. Press, 1995).
Professor Caldwell’s critical and theoretical writings have been featured in the journals Television and New Media, Cinema Journal, Genre, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Emergences: Journal of Media and Composite Cultures, Medie Kultur, Film Quarterly and Aura: Journal of Film Studies, and have been published in numerous books, including “The Media/Cultural Studies Reader” (2009), “The Media Industries Book” (2009), “Film and Television After the DVD” (2008), “The Oxford Handbook of Film and Media Studies” (2008), “Television After TV” (2004), “Media/Space: Place, Scale, and Culture in a Media Age” (2004), “Issues in Contemporary Television” (2004), “The New Media Book” (2002), “Film Theory: An Anthology” (2000), “Television: The Critical View” (1999), “Living Color: Race, Feminism, and Media” (1998) and “American Television: History and Theory” (1994).
His film and video productions have received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (1979, 1985), Regional Fellowships (AFI/NEA, 1985, 1988) and state arts councils (1984, 1985, 1989). His films have been screened in museums and festivals in Amsterdam, Berlin, Chicago, Hawaii, Mexico City, New York City, Palm Springs, Park City, Paris, Taipei, Toulouse, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. They have been broadcast on SBS-TV Network/Australia, WTTW-Chicago, WGBH-Boston, WNED-Buffalo and WEIU-TV-Illinois.
Professor Caldwell is the producer-director of the award-winning documentaries “Freak Street to Goa: Immigrants on the Rajpath” (1989), a film about the migratory pattern of “hippies” in India and Nepal, and “Rancho California (Por Favor)” (2002), a troubling look at migrant camps that house indigenous Mixteco workers within the arroyos of Southern California’s most affluent suburbs.
An M.F.A. graduate of California Institute of the Arts, Professor Caldwell received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
Awards and Distinctions Bauhaus IKKM Fellow, Bauhaus Universitat-Weimar, Germany, Internationales Kolleg fur Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie, April-August 2012
Annenberg Scholar, University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School of Communication, Scholar-in-Residence, Philadelphia, PA, January-April, 2012
Keynote Speaker, Yale University, Yale Conference on Television, Department of Film Studies and American Studies, New Haven, CT, Feb.2012
Keynote Speaker, Stockholm University, European Production Studies Conference, “Lights, Tystnad, Azione!: Practices, Sites, and Careers.” Sweden, April 7-8, 2011.
Prix-Italia Lecture, The Best of Television, Radio, and the Internet, 63rd Prix Italia Awards Conference, Turin/Torino, Italy, September 21, 2011.
Distinguished Teaching Award, with Special Commendation in the Area of Graduate Teaching, UCLA, Los Angeles, April 2010.
Annual James O. Naremore Lecture, Indiana University, Department of Communication and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, October 8, 2009.
Plenary/VIP Lecture, ELOMEDIA: The Pan European Doctoral School of Audiovisual Media (Roskilde and Copenhagen Universities [Denmark], Helsinki University of Art and Design, and Tampere, Turku & Lapland Universities [Finland], April 22-25, 2009.
Plenary Lecture, Nottingham University, "Ephemeral Media Conference," Nottingham, UK, July 22, 2009.
Keynote Address, London Metropolitan University, “Television Goes Digital” Conference, London, UK, September 14th 2007.
Plenary Address, Northwestern University, Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, Evanston, IL. May 11, 2007.
Plenary Address, Glasgow University, Scotland, International Screen Studies Conference, Scotland, (invited), June 30-July 2, 2006.
Keynote Lecture, "What is the DVD" International Conference, Humanities Research Center, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom, April 23, 2005.
Keynote Lecture, Shanghai University, China, “Wither Film Theory?: Boundaries, Frontiers, and Predicament” Conference, Shanghai, China, June 3, 2004.
Keynote Address and Screening, 2003 International Communication Association Conference, San Diego, CA May 30, 2003.
UCIRA Grant, University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, University of California (system-wide), 2002.
Keynote Address, University of Taipei, “Media and Cultural Development in the Digital Era” Conference, Taipei, Republic of China, March 2001.
Keynote Lecture, University of Siegen, Germany, “Live is Life” International Media Conference, Siegen, Germany, May 1999.
Books "Production Culture: Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film/Television"
(Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2008).
">"Televisuality: Style, Crisis, and Authority in American Television"
(New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, August 1995).
"Production Studies: Cultural Studies of Film/Television Work Worlds"
(New York and London: Routledge, May 2009). Co-Edited with Vicki Mayer, and Miranda Banks
"New Media: Theories and Practices of Digitextuality"
(New York and London: The AFI Series/Routledge, 2003). Co-Edited with Anna Everett.
Theories of the New Media: A Historical Perspective
(London: Athlone/Continuum Press, 2000). [European Edition of Electronic Media] [Edited Book]
Electronic Media and Technoculture
(New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, (2000). [Edited Book]
Research Articles and Book Chapters (selected) (2011) "Worker Blowback", TELEVISION AS DIGITAL MEDIA.pdf
(2011) "Industrial Promotional Surround" EPHEMERAL MEDIA.pdf
(2010) "Breaking Ranks/ Backdoor Workforces", POPULAR COMMUNICATION.pdf
(2009) "Hive-Sourcing is the New Out-Sourcing", CINEMA JOURNAL.pdf
(2009) "Screen Studies and Industrial 'Theorizing'", SCREEN.pdf
(2005) "Welcome to the Viral Future of Cinema", CINEMA JOURNAL.pdf
(2004) "Critical Industrial Practice," TELEVISION & NEW MEDIA.pdf
(2004) "Convergence Television", TELEVISION AFTER TV.pdf
(2004) "Industrial Geography Lesson", TELEVISION AFTER TV.pdf
(2003) "Second-Shift Media Aesthetics", NEW MEDIA.pdf
Articles and Chapters on Film/Video Productions
(Produced/Directed by Caldwell) (2009) “Indigenism, (In)visibility,” FILMING DIFFERENCE.pdf
(2003) "Representation And Complicity," AZTLAN.pdf
Films "Rancho California (por favor)"
"Freak Street to Goa: Immigrants on The Rajpath"
Professor Caldwell’s critical and theoretical writings have been featured in the journals Television and New Media, Cinema Journal, Genre, Quarterly Review of Film and Video, Emergences: Journal of Media and Composite Cultures, Medie Kultur, Film Quarterly and Aura: Journal of Film Studies, and have been published in numerous books, including “The Media/Cultural Studies Reader” (2009), “The Media Industries Book” (2009), “Film and Television After the DVD” (2008), “The Oxford Handbook of Film and Media Studies” (2008), “Television After TV” (2004), “Media/Space: Place, Scale, and Culture in a Media Age” (2004), “Issues in Contemporary Television” (2004), “The New Media Book” (2002), “Film Theory: An Anthology” (2000), “Television: The Critical View” (1999), “Living Color: Race, Feminism, and Media” (1998) and “American Television: History and Theory” (1994).
His film and video productions have received fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (1979, 1985), Regional Fellowships (AFI/NEA, 1985, 1988) and state arts councils (1984, 1985, 1989). His films have been screened in museums and festivals in Amsterdam, Berlin, Chicago, Hawaii, Mexico City, New York City, Palm Springs, Park City, Paris, Taipei, Toulouse, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. They have been broadcast on SBS-TV Network/Australia, WTTW-Chicago, WGBH-Boston, WNED-Buffalo and WEIU-TV-Illinois.
Professor Caldwell is the producer-director of the award-winning documentaries “Freak Street to Goa: Immigrants on the Rajpath” (1989), a film about the migratory pattern of “hippies” in India and Nepal, and “Rancho California (Por Favor)” (2002), a troubling look at migrant camps that house indigenous Mixteco workers within the arroyos of Southern California’s most affluent suburbs.
An M.F.A. graduate of California Institute of the Arts, Professor Caldwell received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
Awards and Distinctions Bauhaus IKKM Fellow, Bauhaus Universitat-Weimar, Germany, Internationales Kolleg fur Kulturtechnikforschung und Medienphilosophie, April-August 2012
Annenberg Scholar, University of Pennsylvania, Annenberg School of Communication, Scholar-in-Residence, Philadelphia, PA, January-April, 2012
Keynote Speaker, Yale University, Yale Conference on Television, Department of Film Studies and American Studies, New Haven, CT, Feb.2012
Keynote Speaker, Stockholm University, European Production Studies Conference, “Lights, Tystnad, Azione!: Practices, Sites, and Careers.” Sweden, April 7-8, 2011.
Prix-Italia Lecture, The Best of Television, Radio, and the Internet, 63rd Prix Italia Awards Conference, Turin/Torino, Italy, September 21, 2011.
Distinguished Teaching Award, with Special Commendation in the Area of Graduate Teaching, UCLA, Los Angeles, April 2010.
Annual James O. Naremore Lecture, Indiana University, Department of Communication and Culture, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, October 8, 2009.
Plenary/VIP Lecture, ELOMEDIA: The Pan European Doctoral School of Audiovisual Media (Roskilde and Copenhagen Universities [Denmark], Helsinki University of Art and Design, and Tampere, Turku & Lapland Universities [Finland], April 22-25, 2009.
Plenary Lecture, Nottingham University, "Ephemeral Media Conference," Nottingham, UK, July 22, 2009.
Keynote Address, London Metropolitan University, “Television Goes Digital” Conference, London, UK, September 14th 2007.
Plenary Address, Northwestern University, Kaplan Institute for the Humanities, Evanston, IL. May 11, 2007.
Plenary Address, Glasgow University, Scotland, International Screen Studies Conference, Scotland, (invited), June 30-July 2, 2006.
Keynote Lecture, "What is the DVD" International Conference, Humanities Research Center, University of Warwick, Coventry, United Kingdom, April 23, 2005.
Keynote Lecture, Shanghai University, China, “Wither Film Theory?: Boundaries, Frontiers, and Predicament” Conference, Shanghai, China, June 3, 2004.
Keynote Address and Screening, 2003 International Communication Association Conference, San Diego, CA May 30, 2003.
UCIRA Grant, University of California Institute for Research in the Arts, University of California (system-wide), 2002.
Keynote Address, University of Taipei, “Media and Cultural Development in the Digital Era” Conference, Taipei, Republic of China, March 2001.
Keynote Lecture, University of Siegen, Germany, “Live is Life” International Media Conference, Siegen, Germany, May 1999.
Books "Production Culture: Industrial Reflexivity and Critical Practice in Film/Television"
(Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2008).
">"Televisuality: Style, Crisis, and Authority in American Television"
(New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, August 1995).
"Production Studies: Cultural Studies of Film/Television Work Worlds"
(New York and London: Routledge, May 2009). Co-Edited with Vicki Mayer, and Miranda Banks
"New Media: Theories and Practices of Digitextuality"
(New York and London: The AFI Series/Routledge, 2003). Co-Edited with Anna Everett.
Theories of the New Media: A Historical Perspective
(London: Athlone/Continuum Press, 2000). [European Edition of Electronic Media] [Edited Book]
Electronic Media and Technoculture
(New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, (2000). [Edited Book]
Research Articles and Book Chapters (selected) (2011) "Worker Blowback", TELEVISION AS DIGITAL MEDIA.pdf
(2011) "Industrial Promotional Surround" EPHEMERAL MEDIA.pdf
(2010) "Breaking Ranks/ Backdoor Workforces", POPULAR COMMUNICATION.pdf
(2009) "Hive-Sourcing is the New Out-Sourcing", CINEMA JOURNAL.pdf
(2009) "Screen Studies and Industrial 'Theorizing'", SCREEN.pdf
(2005) "Welcome to the Viral Future of Cinema", CINEMA JOURNAL.pdf
(2004) "Critical Industrial Practice," TELEVISION & NEW MEDIA.pdf
(2004) "Convergence Television", TELEVISION AFTER TV.pdf
(2004) "Industrial Geography Lesson", TELEVISION AFTER TV.pdf
(2003) "Second-Shift Media Aesthetics", NEW MEDIA.pdf
Articles and Chapters on Film/Video Productions
(Produced/Directed by Caldwell) (2009) “Indigenism, (In)visibility,” FILMING DIFFERENCE.pdf
(2003) "Representation And Complicity," AZTLAN.pdf
Films "Rancho California (por favor)"
"Freak Street to Goa: Immigrants on The Rajpath"