Research for TLP and Matt Shepard: Comm, Journalism and Soc. Sci.

Due to the nonfictional nature of The Laramie Project and its engagement with both the underlying historical event (Matt's murder) and the social issues surrounding it, I've come across a lot of scholarly work regarding the play, the movies and the historical event in other disciplines.  The media onslaught has naturally piqued some curiosity in the Communications discipline, but I was surprised at some of the others-- psychotherapy, for instance, and education.  I've compiled a list of the more interesting ones for you below. 

A couple of the trends are quite interesting.  Note, for instance, that five of the articles are psychoanalytic approaches to the play that attempt to understand the nature of forgiveness; one of the authors in that list is Stephen Wangh, one of the authors of The Laramie Project.  Two others are looking at the play as a tool to foster LGBTQ acceptance in a social setting, and one tracks the impact of such violence on communities.  The Pace article is pretty neat-- it tracks a small handful of Matthew Shepard Scholarship winners in their college careers. 

And, my favorite topic-- the unhinged media coverage of Shepard's murder and the aftermath-- also makes a showing here in the bibliography.  The complete list is just after the jump! 

Working Bibliography:

Elsbree, Anne René, and Penelope Wong. "The Laramie Project as a Homophobic Disruption: How the Play Impacts Pre-Service Teachers' Preparation to Create Anti-Homophobic Schools." Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues In Education 4.4 (2007): 97-117.

Frommer, Martin Stephen. "Thinking Relationally About Forgiveness." Psychoanalytic Dialogues 15.1 (2005): 33-45.

Kiersky, Sandra.  "Revenge and Forgiveness in Psychoanalysis: Commentary on Stephen Wangh's 'Revenge and Forgiveness in Laramie, Wyoming.'"Psychoanalytic Dialogues 15.5 (2005): 771-78.  

Lynch, John. Memory and Matthew Shepard.  Journal of Communication Inquiry 31.3 (2007): 222-238.

Mulvey, Anne, and Charlotte Mandell. "Using the Arts to Challenge Hate, Create Community: Laramie Lives in Lowell." Journal of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy 11.3/4 (2007): 121.

Noelle, Monique. "The Ripple Effect of the Matthew Shepard Murder: Impact on the Assumptive Worlds of Members of the Targeted Group." American Behavioral Scientist 46.1 (2002): 27.

Ott, Brian L., and Eric Aoki. "The Politics of Negotiating Public Tragedy: Media Framing of the Matthew Shepard Murder." Rhetoric & Public Affairs 5.3 (2002): 483-505.

Pace, Nicholas J. "I've Completely Changed: The Transforming Impact of the Matthew Shepard Scholarship." Journal of Advanced Academics 18.3 (2007): 344-371.

Petersen, Jennifer. "Media as Sentimental Education: The Political Lessons of HBO's The Laramie Project and PBS's Two Towns of Jasper." Critical Studies in Media Communication 26.3 (2009): 255-274.

Quist, Ryan M., and Douglas M. Wiegand. "Attributions of Hate: The Media's Causal Attributions of a Homophobic Murder." American Behavioral Scientist 46.1 (2002): 93.

Sandage, Steven J.  "Intersubjectivity and the Many Faces of Forgiveness: Commentary on Paper by Stephen Wangh." Psychoanalytic Dialogues 15.1 (2005): 17-32.

Wangh, Stephen. "Reply to Commentaries."  Psychoanalytic Dialogues 15.1(2005): 47-56. 

---."Revenge and Forgiveness in Laramie, Wyoming." Psychoanalytic Dialogues 15.1 (2005): 1-16.