Faculty and Staff
Tamara Chaplin (formerly Matheson)
Assistant Professor of History
Tamara Chaplin specializes in the cultural and intellectual history of modern France, the history of gender, and sexuality, and the history of the media. Her book manuscript, French Philosophers on Television, 1951-1999, argues that the history of the televising of philosophy in France is crucial to understanding the struggle over French national identity in the postwar period. Linking this history to the pressures of decolonization, modernization and globalization that have reshaped contemporary life since the 1950s, Chaplin’s work encourages us to rethink philosophy itself—asserting that the content of the discipline is indivisible from the new media forms in which it has found expression.
The recipient of both the Charlotte B. Newcombe and Chateaubriand fellowships, Dr. Chaplin's article “From Text to Image: French Philosophy and the Television Book Show, 1953-1968,” recently appeared in French Historical Studies, Vol. 28:4 (Fall 2005). She has forthcoming publications in the Journal of the History of Ideas (April 2006) and PhiloMag (January 2006). The transcript of her invited talk at the Sorbonne, given in honor of the twentieth anniversary of Michel Foucault’s death in 2004, will appear in Foucault Aujourd’hui: IXes Rencontres INA-Sorbonne (Paris: INA/Sorbonne, 2006).
Dr. Chaplin is interested in the influence of mass media and globalization on the construction of national identities, on the links between high and popular culture, and on the relationship between intellectuals, public education and the social institution of moral values. Future projects (including an article on Derrida the film and intellectual celebrity, and a book project on the sexual revolution in postwar France) extend these interests to new domains. Dr. Chaplin teaches survey and special topics courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels on modern Europe, France, gender, sexuality, the body and popular culture. Her courses reflect her commitment to the historical analysis of multiple media forms and often employ sources from film, music, art and television.
A former professional ballet dancer, trained actor, and member of both the Screen Actor’s Guild and Canadian Actor’s Equity, Professor Chaplin received her doctorate in Modern European History from Rutgers University in 2002.