Faculty Page
Prof. Teresa Bergman
Department of Communication
University of the Pacific
OVERVIEW: RESEARCH, TEACHING AND SERVICE
The focus of my research is currently in the use of documentary film in public history sites and memory studies. In particular, I analyze the orientation films at public memorials and monuments in terms of their messages regarding patriotism, nationalism and citizenship. My research incorporates an interdisciplinary methodology that includes rhetoric, documentary film theory, ethnography, and critical/cultural studies. These varied theoretical approaches help to illuminate the intersection of location, memory and documentary film. I have taught for seventeen years at the postsecondary level, and my course topics range from documentary film history to communication criticism and video production. I have professional documentary film/video production experience in a variety of formats including digital, video and 16 millimeter. My preferred areas of teaching include history and rhetoric of documentary film, critical/cultural studies, rhetorical criticism, U.S. popular culture, media criticism, scriptwriting, and film/video production. My academic service for the National Communication Association (NCA) and the Western States Communication Association (WSCA) includes serving as associate editor for the Western Journal of Communication, reviewer for multiple interest groups, and past President for the Media Studies Interest Group of WSCA.
Ph.D. American Cultural and Film Studies, University of California, Davis 2001
Dissertation: “Fashionably Objective: When the Politics of Epistemology
Encounter Progressive Political Documentary Representation”
M.A. Cinema Studies, San Francisco State University 1992
B.A. English, University of California, Berkeley 1978
Bergman, T. “Can Patriotism Be Carved In Stone?: A Critical Analysis of Mt. Rushmore’s Orientation Films.” Rhetoric and Public Address, Volume 11, No.1, 2008.
Bergman, T. and Cynthia Smith. “You Were on Indian Land: Alcatraz Island as Recalcitrant
Memory Space” Places of Public Memory: Rhetoric of Museums and Memorials. Eds. Greg Dickinson, Brian Ott, And Carole Blair. University of Alabama Press, forthcoming.
Bergman, T. “The Political Symbolism in the Documentary Chisholm: Unbought & Unbossed.” Gender and Political Communication in America. Ed. Janis Edwards, Rowman, Littlefield/Lexington Books, forthcoming.
Bergman, T. “Documentary Film Theory,” Encyclopedia of Communication Film Theory. Eds. Stephen Littlejohn and Karen Foss. Sage Publications, forthcoming.
Bergman, T. “Can Patriotism Be Carved In Stone?: A Critical Analysis of Mt. Rushmore’s Orientation Films.” Naturalizing Rhetoric. Ed. Thomas Patin. University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming.
Bergman, Teresa. “Personal Narrative, Dialogism and the Performance of ‘Truth’ in Complaints of a Dutiful Daughter.” Text and Performance Quarterly, Volume 24, No.1, 2004.
Bergman, Teresa. “A Critical Analysis of the California State Railroad Museum’s
Orientation Films.” The Western Journal of Communication, Volume 67, No. 4, Fall 2003.
Bergman, T. and Jon Schamber. “How to Remember the Alamo.” In-progress.
Bergman, Teresa. “Submerged Patriotism: A Critical Analysis of the USS Arizona Memorial’s Orientation Films.” In-progress.
Bergman, T. “How to Remember Rosie: The Politics of Representation and Memory at the Rosie the Riveter Memorial” for the 2009 National Communication
Association Conference.
Bergman, T. “Lessons in Symbolism in the Lincoln Memorial’s Orientation Film” for the 2008 National Communication Association Conference.
Bergman, T. “Unbought & Unbossed and Unable to Break Through” for the 2008 Western States Communication Association Conference.
Bergman, T. and Jon Schamber. “How to Remember the Alamo” for the 2007 National Communication Association pre-conference in Urban Communication.
Bergman, T. “Can Patriotism be Carved in Stone?” for the 2006 National Communication Association Conference.
National Communication Association (NCA)
International Communication Association (ICA)
Western States Communication Association (WSCA)
Film Arts Foundation (FAF)