Miranda Brady

Biography

Miranda J. Brady is an Associate Professor in the School of Journalism and Communication. She holds a Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University in Mass Communication. Dr. Brady is a settler who lives on unceded, unsurrendered Algonquin territories. Her work takes a critical/cultural approach and explores the construction of identity in the media and other cultural institutions.

Research Areas

• Motherhood and Reproductive Labour
• Critical Autism Studies
• Media and Indigenous Studies

Current Projects

Dr. Brady’s current research, colloquially called The Bad Mothers Project, investigates the changing expectations of gender roles in relation to motherhood and reproductive labour. Dr. Brady’s work in this area has examined the relationship between Millennials and their moms, anti-vaxx moms, and horror films coming out of second wave feminism. Her forthcoming book Mother Trouble examines white maternal angst and popular culture after the second wave.

Dr. Brady’s second line of inquiry examines the intersections of autism, media, and communication. She explores cultural sites that shape perceptions of autistic people and looks to shifting definitions to understand autism as a culturally and historically contingent phenomenon that relates (sometimes tangentially) to lived experiences. Her work is rooted in a community-based social model and first-hand knowledge. She co-edited a 2022 special issue on Autism_Media_Social Justice for the journal Studies in Social Justice which featured scholarly and creative works by #ActuallyAutistic authors and academics. She is also working with autistic community advocates and academics in Canada and the UK on the SSHRC-funded Bridging the Silos: Autistics and Menopause project, which will offer recommendations for making knowledge about menopause more accessible to and informed by autistic people.

Selected Publications

Books 

Brady, Miranda J. (Forthcoming). Mother Trouble: Mediations of White Maternal Angst After Second Wave Feminism. University of Toronto Press.

Brady, Miranda J. & Kelly, John M.H. (2017). We Interrupt This Program: Indigenous Media Tactics in Canadian Culture. Vancouver: UBC Press.

Edited Collections

Brady, Miranda J., Kelly Fritsch, Margaret Janse van Rensburg and Kennedy Ryan (Guest Editors). (2022) Special issue on Autism_Media_Social Justice in Studies in Social Justice, 16(2): 300-517. https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/issue/view/218

Peer Reviewed Articles 

Brady, Miranda J., Erika Christiansen, and Emily Hiltz. (2022). Good Karen, Bad Karen: visual culture and the anti-vaxx mom on Reddit. Journal of Gender Studies, 1-17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2022.2069088

Brady, Miranda J. (2022). Onstage and Behind the Scenes: Autistic Performance and Advocacy. Studies in Social Justice, 16(2): 429-226. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v16i2.2666

Brady, Miranda J. (2021). “I think the men are behind it”: reproductive labour and the horror of second wave feminism. Feminist Media Studies, 21(7): 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/14680777.2021.1986093 

Brady, Miranda J. & Cardin, Melodie. (2021). Your Typical Atypical Family: Streaming Apolitical Autism on Netflix. Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 42(8): 96-116. DOI: 10.3138/topia-42-008

Brady, Miranda J. & Hiltz, Emily. (2017). The Archaeology of an Image: The Persistent Persuasion of Thomas Moore Keesick’s Residential School Photographs. Topia: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, 37: 61-85. Available through: http://bit.ly/topia37

Aronczyk, Melissa & Brady, Miranda J. (2015). Branding History at the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Canadian Journal of Communication. 40. 40(2): 165-184.

Brady, Miranda J. (2013). The Flexible Heterotopia: Indian Residential Schools and the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology, 19(4): 408-420.

Monani, Salma & Brady, Miranda J. (2013). ImagineNATIVE 2012: Ecocinema and the Indigenous Film Festival. Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture, 13(4): 1-26: http://reconstruction.eserver.org/133/133_Monani_Brady.shtml

Brady. Miranda J. (2013). Media Practices and Painful Pasts: The Public Testimonial in Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Media International Australia, 149: 128-138.

Brady, Miranda J. & Antoine, D. (2012). Decolonize Wall Street! Situating Indigenous Critiques of the Occupy Wall Street Movement. American Communication Journal, 14(3): 1-10.

Brady, Miranda J. & Monani, Salma. (2012). Wind Power! Marketing Renewable Energy on Tribal Lands and the Struggle for Just Sustainability. Local Environment, 12(2): 147-166.

Brady, Miranda J. (2011). Subjectivity through Self-Education: Media and the Multicultural Citizen at the National Museum of the American Indian. Television and New Media,12(5):441-459. 

Brady, Miranda J. (2011). Mediating Indigenous Voice in the Museum: Narratives of Place, Land, and Environment in New Exhibition Practice. Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture, 5(2): 202-220.

Tsay, Mina & Brady, Miranda J. (2010). A Case Study of Cooperative Learning and Communication Pedagogy: Does Working in Teams Make a Difference? Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 10(2): pp. 78-89. 

Brady, Miranda J. (2008). Governmentality and the National Museum of the American Indian: Understanding the Indigenous Museum in a Settler Society. Social Identities:  Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, 14(6): 763-773.

Chapters in Edited Books

Brady, Miranda J. (2020). Media Activism in the Red Power Movement. Lori Kido Lopez (ed.). Race and Media: Critical Approaches. New York: NYU Press, 230-240.

Brady, Miranda J. (2013). Canadian (Re)Presentation: Media, First Peoples, and Liveness in the Museum. In A. N. Valdivia (Gen. Ed.) & S. R. Mazzarella (Ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies, V. 3: Content and Representation. Oxford, UK: Blackwell, pgs. 484-504.

Brady, Miranda J. (2012). Stories of Great Indians by Elmo Scott Watson:    Syndication, Standardization, and the Noble Savage in Feature Writing. In M.G. Carstarphen & J. Sanchez (Eds.), American Indians and the Mass Media. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pgs. 18-32.

Brady, Miranda J. (2009). The Well-Tempered Spy: Family, Nation, and the Female Secret Agent in Alias. In J.S. Packer (Ed.), Secret Agents: Popular Icons Beyond James Bond. New York: Peter Lang, pgs. 111-134.

Brady, Miranda J. (2009). A Dialogic Response to the Problematized Past: The National Museum of the American Indian. In S. Sleeper-Smith (Ed.), Contesting Knowledge: Museums and Indigenous Perspectives. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, pgs. 133-155. 

Creative and Non-Refereed Works

Brady, Miranda J., Kelly Fritsch, Margaret Janse van Rensburg, Kennedy Ryan, & Comics Not Otherwise Specified. (2022). “A Conversation With Comics Not Otherwise Specified.” [Podcast and transcript], Studies in Social Justice, 16(2): 498-517.

• Transcript: https://journals.library.brocku.ca/index.php/SSJ/article/download/3509/2943
• Podcast: https://mediaspace.carleton.ca/media/CNOS+Final_+26+Nov.+2021/1_52k1oxvu

Brady, Miranda J., Kelly Fritsch, Margaret Janse van Rensburg & Kennedy Ryan. (2022). Autism_Media_Social Justice special issue “Editor’s Introduction”. Studies in Social Justice, 16(2): 300-317. DOI: https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v16i2.3867  

Brady, Miranda J. (2019). Millennial Angst and the Bad Mother from the News to Netflix: https://www.flowjournal.org/2019/11/millennial-angst-and-the-bad-mother-from-the-news-to-netflix/

Aronczyk, Melissa & Brady, Miranda J. (2012) Crowdsourcing as Consultation: Branding History at Canada’s Museum of Civilization, Parts I & II. Antenna: http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2012/12/18/crowdsourcing-as-consultation-branding-history-at-canadas-museum-of-civilization-part-i/

 Brady, Miranda J. (2009). Museum T.V. and Hollywood Films: How the Smithsonian Institution Became Big Media’s “Pile of Loot.” FlowTV Journal  10(5): http://flowtv.org/