Brianne Waychoff
Associate Professor, Communication Studies Program (COM) Co-Coordinator / Gender and Women’s Studies Program (GWS) Co-Coordinator
EMAIL: bwaychoff@bmcc.cuny.edu
Office: S-628F
Office Hours: On Sabbatical for 2020/21 Academic Year
Phone: (212) 776-6367
Associate Professor Brianne Waychoff is an interdisciplinary artist, scholar, activist, and educator. She has a B.A. in Theatre and an M.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies from the University of Northern Iowa, as well as a Ph.D. in Communication Studies with an emphasis in Performance Studies and minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from Louisiana State University.
Professor Waychoff joined the BMCC faculty as a full-time professor in 2012 after being an adjunct at other CUNY schools and St. John’s University. Professor Waychoff has published in a range of scholarly journals, presented performance work at professional venues and festivals throughout the United States, been an invited guest artist at several institutions in the US and abroad, and won grants and other awards for her scholarly and creative work. Dr. Waychoff’s commitment to gender justice was acknowledged nationally when she was invited by the White House to participate in the United State of Women Summit in 2016, celebrating the accomplishments of women and girls and making plans for the future. She is the co-coordinator of the Gender and Women’s Studies AA program and an Open Education Resources Fellow at BMCC.
Dr. Waychoff is the chair of the Community College Caucus of the National Women’s Studies Association, chair of the nominating committee for the Performance Studies Division of the National Communication Association, and a member of the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender. She serves on the editorial boards of Text and Performance Quarterly, Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, and Women and Language.
Expertise
Women’s Studies, Speech, Social Justice Issues, Queer Theory, Performance Studies, Media Studies, Gender Studies, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Gender, Feminist Theory, Disability Studies, Cultural Diversity, Communication Studies
Degrees
- Ph.D. Louisiana State University, Communication Studies; Minor in Women’s and Gender Studies, 2012
- M.A. University of Northern Iowa, Women’s Studies, 2004
- B.A. University of Northern Iowa, Theatre Performance, 2001
Courses Taught
- The focus of this course is to provide an understanding of the influence and impact on our lives and society by the mass media. The course examines the history, law, technology, economics and politics of the mass media through independent study, field trips, etc. Students are encouraged to be aware of techniques of influence used by the mass media to influence and determine social and political values. In addition, students learn to develop tools for critical analysis of and standards for discriminating consumption of the mass media.
Prerequisite: SPE 100 or permission of department - The purpose of this course is to raise students? awareness regarding the ways in which gender is created, maintained, and/or changed through cultural expectations and interaction. Students will gain theoretical insights and develop analytical skills to identify gendered expectations, and to learn how such expectations serve to limit behavior for people of all genders. The course will enhance understanding of how predominant social assumptions and communication norms can devalue and silence women and other non-dominant groups, and how students can become change agents to enhance our collective lives. Prerequisite:SPE 100
- This introductory level, interdisciplinary course explores the basic concepts and perspectives of Gender & Women's Studies from an intersectional angle; that is, examining the ways in which gender intersects with race, ethnicity, nationality, class, sexuality, sexual identity, disability, and other categories. The concepts of gender - the roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a society considers appropriate for men and women - privilege and oppression, intersectionality, and feminist praxis will be at the core of this course. After a background in the history and significance of Gender & Women's Studies as a field of study, you will learn to critically examine how institutionalized privilege and oppression shape individual lives and intersecting identity categories.
- The Gender and Womena??s Studies Capstone course will be a culmination and synthesis of studentsa?? work in the GWS program. Over the course of the semester, students will explore a topic in GWS in-depthI? they will sharpen their analytic abilities and critical thinking skills while engaging in an independent research and/or experiential learning project. Through course readings and individual and/or group work, students will apply interdisciplinary concepts, theories and methods to real life experiences, resulting in a research paper or project and a presentation to the class. Prerequisite: GWS 100 and two GWS electives
- The aim of this course is to develop effective skills in speech communication. The student examines how to generate topics and organized ideas, masters elements of audience psychology and practices techniques of speech presentation in a public forum. All elements of speech production and presentation are considered.
- This course is devoted to the reading aloud of various works of literature, such as poetry, prose or drama, in order to develop an awareness of the voice and body as an instrument of communication, and to instill an appreciation of the beauty and sensitivity of the English language.
Research and Projects
- Survival Party
- A performance: Two women re-create a video of two girls playing and improvising, but it’s not quite right. How did we grow to be who we are? Did we form in a chrysalis? Did we hibernate in a cave? Are we fully formed now or still far from solid? Part slumber party, part young adult survival novel, part feminist call to action; an artistic collaboration between children and adults, and a performance of our secret worlds. Created by Magin Schantz and Brianne Waychoff presented at Dixon Place Theatre, Little Theatre Series, in October 2015. We are currently expanding the project.
Publications
- “Butoh, Bodies, and Being.“Kaleidoscope: A Graduate Journal of Qualitative Communication Research. Vol. 9 (2009). 37-54.
- “The Anarcha Project Symposium.” Text and Performance Quarterly, 30.4 (2010).
- “Butoh: Metamorphic Dance and Global Alchemy.” The Journal of Pacific Affairs 84.4 (2011).
- “Leftovers: Performing Gleaning.” Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, 8.1 (2012).
- “A Portrait of Experiments in Ecriture Feminine.” Text and Performance Quarterly, 33.4 (2013): 380-402.
- “Performance as Communication in Intersecting Inter-disciplines.” Text and Performance Quarterly, 34.2 (2014): 109-211.
- “When the Carnival Ends.” PAJ: Performing Arts Journal, 111 (2015): 91-95.
- “Bez Prace Nejsou Kolace.” Liminalities: A Journal of Performance Studies, 14.2 (2018)
Honors, Awards and Affiliations
- OSCLG Cheris Kramarae Outstanding Dissertation Award.
- Honors outstanding dissertations concerned with communication, language, and gender.
- PSC-CUNY 44 Research Award
- “A Performance-Based Approach to the Feminist Philosophy of Écriture Féminine”
- Community College Collaborative Incentive Research Grant (C3IRG)
- “Assessing the Impact of Digital Storytelling in the Public Speaking Classroom”
- PSC-CUNY 46 Research Award
- “Bez Práce Nejsou Koláce: Using the Digital to Explore Cultural Memory and Performance”
- PSC-CUNY 50 Research Award
- “Gender and Women’s Studies Programs at Two-Year Institutions”
