Michael High Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Michael D. High received his Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from San Diego State University in 2005. He completed his doctorate in Comparative Literature at Stony Brook University in 2014. His dissertation on portrayals of piracy in cinema, anti-piracy campaigns, and the Swedish Pirate Movement is titled, Piratical Designations: Power and Possibility in Representations of Piracy. His chapter, “Taxi Driver and Veteran Trauma,” appears in Wiley-Blackwell’s A Companion to Martin Scorsese, and he has published articles in Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media and in The International Journal of Communication.


  • Ph.D. , Stony Brook University, - 2014
  • M.A. , Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York - 2011
  • M.F.A., San Diego State University, San Diego, California - 2005
  • B.A. , San Diego State University, San Diego, California - 2002


  • Lecturer, Fordham University - 2013 to 2017
  • Adjunct Instructor, College of Staten Island - 2011 to 2012
  • Adjunct Instructor, Kean University - 2009 to 2013


  • Media piracy. Hollywood Cinema. American popular culture.


  • High, M.D. (2014-2015). Pirates without Piracy: Criminals, Rebels, and Anarcho-Libertarians in the Pirate Film. Jump Cut: A Review of Contemporary Media, 56. http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc56.2014-2015/HighPirates/index.html
  • High, M. (2015). Dialogic comedy in pirate rhetoric. International Journal of Communication, 9(16). https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3761
  • High, M.D. (2022). Cultural Mediaries on Anitube: Between Fans and Social Media Entertainers. Transformative Works and Cultures, 38. https://doi.org/10.3983/twc.2022.2251


  • Briel, H., High, M.D., & Heidingsfelder, M. (Eds.). (2023). The Piracy Years: Internet File Sharing in a Global Context. XJTLU Imprint. https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781802070545


  • Talmacs, N., & High, M.D. (2023). The American Other and China’s big screens. In N. Talmacs & Y. Peng (Eds), Orchestrated Thinking in China (pp. 41-55). Routledge. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781003399124-4/american-china-big-screens-nicole-talmacs-michael-high
  • High, M. D. (2014). Taxi Driver and veteran trauma. In Aaron Baker (Ed.), A Companion to Martin Scorsese (pp. 373-395). Wiley-Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118585344.ch19
  • High, M. D. (2023). The Perils and Potential Benefits of Machine Translation in Transnational Higher Education. In G. Morris, & L. Li (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Developments and Future Trends in Transnational Higher Education (pp. 115-135). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-5226-4.ch006


  • EDULearn23 - Mallorca, Spain. July 3rd, 2023. "Student and Instructor Views of Machine Translation in Transnational Higher Education."
  • XJTLU Annual Transforming Education Conference – Online. June 1st, 2022. “The Challenges and Possibilities of Machine Translation for Transnational Higher Education.”
  • Futures of Media, 3rd Conference – Suzhou, China. November 8th, 2019. “The Territorial Relations of Piracy.”
  • Supernatural Cities: Magical Cities Conference – Portsmouth, United Kingdom. June 15th, 2019. “Marvel and Netflix’s Right to the City.”
  • Mid Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association Conference – Atlantic City. Nov. 4, 2106. “Pornography’s New Interactivity.”
  • Society for Cinema and Media Studies Annual Conference- Atlanta. April 1, 2016. “Computer Heroes: Masculinity and Tech in the Spy Action Hero Film.”
  • New York State Communication Association Annual Conference. Discussant - “Keeping Communication Curricula Current: What's In? What's Out?” October 2015.
  • Humanities Education and Research Association Conference: Intersections: Mind, Body, Time, Space. March 12, 2010. “The Pirate as Parasite: Relations of the Maritime and the Digital.”
  • Yale University Film Studies Graduate Symposium: Re-Negotiating the Super-Hero in Post 9/11 Cinema. January 30, 2009. “The Superhero Film: 9/11, Melodrama, and Justice.”


  • Exam Officer - Dept. of Media and Communication. Fall 2022 - Present.
  • E-Learning Coordinator - Dept. of Media and Communication - Fall 2019 - Spring 2022.


  • COM267 Hollywood Cinema
  • COM151 Global Media Industries


  • COM202 Global Media and Entertainment
  • COM125 Introduction to Film and TV
  • COM101 Analysing Communication


  • Higher Education Academy Fellow
  • Society of Cinema and Media Studies


  • Department of Media and Communication Teaching Award 2021-2022
Michael High