About Us
Western Land Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Attawandaron peoples, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum. This land continues to be home to diverse Indigenous peoples (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) whom we recognize as contemporary stewards of the land and vital contributors of our society.
EDID News
- May 02, 2023
'Londombia' photo project celebrates the lives of Colombians in London
CBC News, May 1 - FIMS instructor Juan Bello is heading an upcoming photo exhibit celebrating London's Colombian community and their history in the city.
- April 13, 2023
Effie Sapuridis awarded the Graduate Student Award of Merit by SWAAC
Media Studies PhD student Effie Sapuridis has been named the recipient of the Graduate Student Award of Merit by Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada.
- December 15, 2022
Pacinthe Mattar named the Winter 2023 Asper Fellow
FIMS is pleased to announce that Pacinthe Mattar, award-winning journalist and recent Nieman Fellow in Journalism at Harvard University, has been named the next Asper Fellow in Media.
- November 21, 2022
FIMS PhD students and Western Libraries help launch Media Library in El Salvador
The Surviving Memory in Postwar El Salvador project is working in collaboration with Centro Arte para la Paz (CAP) in Suchitoto, El Salvador, to create a Mediateca, a digital space for the preservation of historical media.
- October 24, 2022
Local radio hosts recognized with an honorary university degree
Long-time radio hosts, activists and teachers Dan and Mary Lou Smoke tell London Morning about their careers in broadcasting and what receiving an honorary degree from Western University means to them.
- September 22, 2022
Governments' use of automated decision-making systems reflects systemic issues of injustice and inequality
The Conversation - In 2019, former UN Special Rapporteur Philip Alston said he was worried we were "stumbling zombie-like into a digital welfare dystopia."
- September 02, 2022
New faculty member set to explore research-creation
As the Faculty of Information & Media Studies welcomes the inaugural class for the Creative Arts & Production major this September, the FIMS community is also excited to announce the addition of a new faculty member set to teach in the program.
- July 21, 2022
There is no structure in art because art is free - and that is why art is remembered
Research Profile: How do you dismantle a system built on patriarchal, heteronormative settler-colonial ideologies? You use feminist, queer and colonial work to think differently about these systems.
- July 11, 2022
Advancing Social Justice in an Age of Datafied Governance
Joanna Redden and Alison Hearn are part of a team of researchers recently awarded SSHRC funding to pursue questions about the use of Artificial Intelligence or Automated Decision Support by government services.
- June 21, 2022
Archive project preserves iconic Indigenous radio program
June 2022 - The Smoke Signals Radio Archive pays tribute to the legacy and work of Elders Dan and Mary Lou Smoke. Audio recordings covering over 30 years of episodes document and highlight historical events.
- June 01, 2022
Accounting for Injustice: AFTRA, Work & Singers' Royalities
In 1989 Matt dropped out of the University of California, Berkeley to devote himself to his rock band Little My. A vocalist and guitarist for the San Francisco Bay Area group, Stahl and his bandmates played shows and released original material over the next 10 years.
- April 29, 2022
Indigenous radio archive project works towards preserving three decades of First Nations history
Since the 1990s, the Smoke Signals Radio Show—a First Nations radio program hosted by Dan Smoke and Mary Lou Smoke—has explored the nuances of Indigenous culture, customs and beliefs and featured guests with diverse stories and worldviews.
- April 28, 2022
Resisting the Inevitable Through Repair
Research Profile: We all know the three Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle. But Western University Professor Alissa Centivany is adding a fourth: Repair.
- January 24, 2022
Challenging What's Newsworthy
Award-winning journalist Kyle Edwards presented the 2022 Clissold Lecture on January 20. Edwards looked at how news organizations, post-COVID, can change their practices when covering Indigenous issues to create a more accurate narrative of Indigenous communities.
- November 03, 2021
Andrea Benoit receives award for Best Book in Canadian History
Andrea Benoit, PhD'14 (Media Studies), was awarded the 2021 CBHA/ACHA Award for Best Book in Canadian Business History for her publication "VIVA MAC: AIDS, Fashion, and the Philanthropic Practices of MAC Cosmetics."
- September 14, 2021
New faculty help raise Indigenous voices across campus
Western News, Sept. 3 - Western welcomes four new Indigenous faculty members, including FIMS' Sally Kewayosh (Bkejwanong Territory, Walpole Island First Nation) & Sofia Locklear (Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina with roots in Kenora, Ontario).
- June 29, 2021
Statement on Islamophobia, Colonial Violence and Accountability
June 29, 2021 - The following is a statement from the Faculty of Information and Media Studies at Western following recent events. We make this statement to clarify our academic and pedagogic commitments at FIMS.
- May 12, 2021
Denying Black musicians their royalties has a history emerging out of slavery
In the summer of 2020, Black Lives Matter protests and activism included voices arguing for economic justice in the recording industry. The Black Music Coalition demanded music industry executives account for "inequities in the treatment of Black artists."
- April 22, 2021
FIMS broadens collective expertise with addition of new faculty members
After a search for academic appointments in Indigenous Scholarship, Indigenous Journalism, or Indigenous Creative Production and Teaching, FIMS is pleased to announce the arrival of two full-time faculty members.
- January 13, 2021
Activist author Desmond Cole challenges journalists, media and status quo
Western News, January 12: Advocacy and activism can be exhausting, Desmond Cole admits. But it’s less soul-searing than the systemic racism endured every day by Canadians who are Black, Indigenous and People of Colour.
- June 08, 2020
FIMS Statement on Police Violence and Racism
Downtown London was filled with chants of Black Lives Matter on June 6, as marchers gathered to protest against anti-black racism and racist police violence.
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