Georg-Eckert-Institut

Faculty Member, Globalization

About

I am Research Fellow at the Georg Eckert Institute in Braunschweig, Germany, Principal Investigator in the Memory Studies project, and occasional lecturer in Cultural Studies at the European University Viadrina.

Current research interests include discourse analysis/theory, memory studies, political communication (especially in journalism, educational media and curriculum practice), ethnography.

In each of these fields, I’m interested in new ways of retooling critical analysis. What happens if, for instance, we start from the assumption of equality of power or equality of intelligence, rather than the assumption of inequality (Rancière)? Which kinds of empirical questions arise from each assumption? And what happens if we analyse fissures in the mediascape (Rodriguez), struggles over hegemony (Laclau/Mouffe) or semiotic practices as design (Kress) rather than the ways dominant discourse/knowledge/memory is stabilized?

My main research project at the moment is an ethnographic discourse analysis, exploring the practices of producing and using educational media such as textbooks and other curricular materials. The focus is on curriculum and memory practices; how do author teams engage with circulating discourse; what do they struggle over; how do particular knowledges and memories come to count as worthwhile; where do moments of the political arise?

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