About the Instructor
Dr. Bernardo Attias is currently a Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at CSUN, where he has taught since 1994. He received a Ph.D. in Communication Studies with a Rhetorical Studies emphasis from the University of Iowa, and he has a B.S. in Communication Studies from Northwestern University's School of Speech. Before coming to CSUN, Attias was a Visiting Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Rhetoric and Communication at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
His research focus emphasizes cultural approaches to communication studies as well as communication-centered approaches to cultural studies. The emphasis of much of his work is on the political economy of mass mediated events. He has written on media coverage of the war in the Gulf, on the politics of psychoanalysis, on the rhetoric and politics of hip-hop culture, and on the drug war, and he has introduced an interdisciplinary notion of "internal third worlds" useful for the analysis of urban geopolitical phenomena such as the shifting demographics of Los Angeles.
His teaching experience is vast. At CSUN alone he has taught 19 different courses (18 in the Communication Studies Department and 1 in the Humanities Interdisciplinary Program). He sees education as an ongoing process of intellectual development, and the teacher as a guide to that process. His teaching philosophy, which stresses interactivity and critical thinking skills, reflects a strong commitment to the educational process. He develops unique and challenging course materials, and has been at the forefront of the move to integrate new technological resources into the educational process.
Dr. Attias maintains a number of sites on the web that reflect his teaching and research interests as well as his political and artistic activity. Such sites include a rhetorical history of the drug war, a database of information about CIA involvement in the drug trade, an analysis of "consent" issues in sex crimes law, and sites devoted to French philosophers Michel Foucault and Jean Baudrillard.
Dr. Attias' curriculum vita is also available online.
Live With Intention
Live with intention.
Walk to the edge.
Listen hard.
Practice Wellness.
Play with Abandon.
Laugh!
Choose with no regret.
Continue to learn.
Appreciate your friends.
Do what you love.
And Live,
As if this is all there is.
Mary Anne Hershey