Gender(ed) Matters in Communication/Media Studies: Integrating Curricular Innovation and Social Change in the Spanish Model

Abstract

This article investigates the benefits of making gender-related issues more central to the Communication Studies curriculum in the Spanish system of higher education. The shift to "valueimpact criteria" as the standard of success of today's curricula in Europe is one of the strongest critiques that higher education is facing in that context. This article focuses on the state of affairs in Spain, showcases why Communication Studies is a particularly relevant field for these changes, outlines how a multi-platform approach to learning (combination of teaching, research, and social activism) pays special attention to the ways gender, racial, ethnic, and economic parameters interface with each other, and details the value of introducing more interdisciplinary and gender-based cognitive paradigms into the curriculum for making our campuses sites of innovation, better learning, and forces for social change.