Media, Gender, and the Climate Debate: Climate Science and Global Warming in Historic Newspapers and Periodicals

Climate, history, science, media, environment

Research Mentor: Frank Amico, he/him
Department, College, Affiliation: History, Arts and Sciences
Contact Email: fta20@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: No, the project is remote
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-10, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Not participating in the Roundtable

Project Description

This project examines how climate science and policy were communicated and discussed in popular media from roughly 1950-1980. This period coincides with shifting perceptions towards earth’s climate and the natural world alongside scientific advances and the environmental movement.

In particular, this project looks at the role of gender in understanding the concepts of climate and global warming. Science has often reflected a culture of masculinity, mirroring societal ideas, and the natural world or environment has been gender coded as feminine through ideas such as “Mother Nature.” This study seeks to examine the disparity between the feminization of nature and the masculinity of scientific study. For instance, is the climate depicted as masculine or feminine? Are there different perspectives towards the climate between men and women? How is the masculinity of science reflected in how the climate is framed?

The research involves examining historic newspapers and periodicals that discuss climate science and policy. This includes national newspapers such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Chicago Tribune, as well as popular broad and science-focused periodicals such as Time, Popular Science, and Nature.

Research Tasks: Literature review; collection, analysis, and cataloging of articles from online databases available through FSU Library (newspapers and periodicals)

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: There are no required skills for this position, but it is recommended that assistants have an understanding of Microsoft Office applications and/or the Google suite as well as competency using online databases. Other training will be provided through the mentorship as needed.