Elsie Walker
Bio
Elsie Walker is Professor of Cinema Studies at Salisbury University. She is a well-known specialist in film sound tracks, and editor of Literature/Film Quarterly. She is also a proud mother of two daughters who happen to love movies.
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Research Interests
My primary area of research expertise is film soundtracks, and I've published two books in that area through Oxford University Press: Hearing Haneke: the sound tracks of a radical auteur (2017), and Understanding Sound Tracks Through Film Theory (2015). I'm passionate about how films can enable us to hear each other, ourselves, music, and the world's noise better. I'm currently working on my third book for Oxford UP titled Life 24x a Second--it's an extended study of how much cinema represents life, gives us life, and sustains us through the toughest challenges of being alive. I pay particular attention to the soundtracks of films that resonate with the current Black Lives Matter movement, the global pandemic, and the confrontations with death and mortality that we all face. This new book is due for release in November 2023.
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Teaching Philosophy
I believe that film is a singularly incredible art form for teaching us the value of perceiving the world as others do and the importance of compassion along with that. I teach all aspects of film studies, with particular emphasis on international cinema and cultural politics. I love using cinema to teach my students to see and hear with heightened states of awareness, alertness, and open-heartedness. As a trained violinist and pianist, I regard films as "music" that can teach us how to listen to everything better.
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Selected Publications
Walker, Elsie and Johnson, David T. (2008) Conversations with Directors: An Anthology of Interviews from Literature/Film Quarterly. Scarecrow Press.
Walker, Elsie (2017) Hearing Haneke: the sound tracks of a radical auteur. pp. 232. Oxford University Press.
Web Address
Walker, Elsie (2015) Understanding Sound Tracks Through Film Theory. pp. 450. Oxford University Press.
Web Address
Walker, Elsie (2012) Music and the Moving Image. vol. 5. no. 2. University of Illinois Press.
Web Address
Walker, Elsie M. (2021) "Hearing and Teaching Soundtracks as a Mother and a Daughter: a Personal, Feminist, Pedagogical Approach to Flux". Oxford Handbook of Cinematic Listening. no. 1. pp. 529-548. Oxford University Press.
Web Address
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Current Courses
Fall 2023
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Spring 2024- Loading FILM 322...
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- Awards/Honors
President’s Diversity AwardPresented by Salisbury University
Distinguished Faculty AwardPresented by Salisbury University
Fulton School of Liberal Arts Award for ScholarshipPresented by Salisbury University
- Presentations
"Ten Years of Teaching Sound Tracks: reflections and hopes"2018Music and the Moving Image, New York, NYI presented an unbroken chain of over thirty film clips that feature groundbreaking sonic details, along with providing an audio commentary woven into the rhythm of the films' music, sound effects, and dialogue. I explained why I'd chosen these films as highlights from my teaching sound tracks over the last ten years at Salisbury University.
"Hearing Film Soundtracks: Humanity, Violence, and Hope "2018York College Film Series, York College, PAI lectured on how certain films reawaken our sense of hearing and then argued that this has reverberating significance—even the simplest questions like “whose voice is loudest?” or “whose music do we hear?” can have deep political and emotional impact. Drawing on my research over the last ten years, I explored film sound in an interactive way with the general scholarly audience of students, faculty, and community members.
“Motherhood and Hearing Films Better: a pedagogical perspective.”2017Music and the Moving Image, New York, NYI focused on teaching a contemporary Japanese film about child poverty and neglect called "Nobody Knows," from the point of view of being a mother who wants to inspire humanitarian values in the classroom. I believe that we can all use our personal experience to help us become better professionals--so I was telling a specific story with broad applicability.
- Service Activities and Community Relations
My primary service to SU is as Editor of the journal Literature/Film Quarterly (LFQ), a journal that's been in production for fifty years. LFQ is a distinguished, international publication in adaptation studies. It is archived with JSTOR Arts and Sciences database, so it reaches 9,000 universities in over 60 countries. The latest issues of LFQ are fully accessible to all online at www.lfq.salisbury.edu. I've been working on the journal since 2003. Since 2016, I am also Chair of SU's Women's Forum, a Chapter of the University System of Maryland Women's Forum. In this role, I work at making the culture of SU better for all those who identify as female, especially through conferences, events that raise awareness about gender politics, and improving facilities for families and female employees campus-wide. My other service to SU includes mentoring students who've created film festivals since 2014, drawing in submissions from all over the world.
- External Collaboration Highlights
Through being Editor of SU's own Literature Film Quarterly, I collaborate with authors from all over the world every few months. I'm also on the editorial board of the premiere US journal about sound tracks--Music and the Moving Image (University of Illinois Press). For more information, visit https://www.press.uillinois.edu/journals/mmi.html
- Press Releases
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SU Libraries' Study Buddy Playtime Packs Aid SU Student, Faculty Parents
Wednesday, November 09, 2022 -
SU Hosts Third International Women's Day Conference, 'Seeking Justice'
Monday, February 18, 2019 -
'Hearing Haneke' Book Launch Scheduled March 2
Friday, February 02, 2018 -
SU Community Members Participate in Women's March
Monday, February 20, 2017 -
SU Hosts Inaugural International Women's Day Conference Wednesday, March 8
Thursday, February 09, 2017 -
SU's Walker Discusses Sound Tracks, Theory in New Book
Wednesday, March 18, 2015 -
SU Adventures in Ideas Series Examines Hitchcock Saturday, February 15
Friday, February 07, 2014 -
Adventures in Ideas Series Explores 'Film, Media and Society Today' February 4
Friday, January 13, 2012 -
'Lit/Film Quarterly' Editors Pen 'Conversations With Directors'
Monday, January 05, 2009 -
Walker Continues Brown Bag Series With Talk on Hitchcock Adaptation
Monday, November 06, 2006
- Employee Recognition