I research digital media and social media. Specifically I use trauma, loss and grief to examine how digital and social media enable certain forms of coping and community formation. As such, my work touches on cultural studies, media studies, gender studies, disability studies and is interdisciplinary. My first book looks at Twitter, Instagram and other internet spaces to examine how communities form and mediate trauma at multiple levels, from direct trauma to what I call symbolic trauma. My current research looks at how loss and grief are mediated online, particularly during times of uncertainty. In addition, current research examines affect and embodiment for suffering bodies, specifically through studies of the language and representation used in digital fitness platforms.
keywords
Trauma and Digital Media, Social Media, Popular culture and health, Disability and Media, Gender Studies, Feminist Pedagogy, grief, ambiguous grief, digital fitness, health and fitness in media, social media and fitness, grief and movement
