2022 IJRA Project Descriptions

2022 UChicago-Sussex IJRA Project Descriptions

In order to submit your UChicago-USussex IJRA Scholar program application, please identify which research project/mentor you would like to work with from the projects listed below. If you are interested and qualified for more than one, please rank your top choice, followed by your second and third in your application. 

2022 UChicago-Sussex IJRA Project #1: Draw the Line: Figuring anti-Fascism in postwar US Art and Visual cultures 1960-1985, Research Supervisor: Dr. Joanna Pawlik, Senior Lecturer in Art History, School of Media, Arts and Humanities

General description: How do we recognise fascism? With the march of right-wing populism across the globe, this question besets the contemporary moment, but it equally preoccupied politically engaged American artists in the postwar decades. As the left and liberal centre currently interrogate what analogies or equivalences are ethically appropriate to make between fascism and, for instance, the January 6th assault on the Capitol, without evacuating the term of meaning or specificity, this project asks what can be learned from turning to politicised art of the immediate postwar years in America. America and the Allies defeated European fascism in 1945 and until the rise of the New Right in the 1980s, the intervening decades in America were putatively defined by a liberal consensus. And yet, many American artists during this time mobilised the trope and iconography of 'fascism' to describe and oppose what were perceived to be a variety of authoritarian regimes of white supremacy, male dominance, militarism, and state violence. The part of the project to be completed this summer is the section using the campus press, radical publishing and underground newspapers germane to the counterculture and New Left during the 1960s and early 70s.

2022 UChicago-Sussex IJRA Project #2: Media Analysis and Science Communication: Human Genetic Engineering, Research Supervisors: Dr Sandra Nelson, Research Fellow (Media and Film), School of Media, Arts and Humanities, and Professor Kate O’Riordan, Dean of Media, Arts & Humanities (Media and Film), Professor Of Digital Culture (School of Media, Arts and Humanities)

General description: Human genetic engineering has gained new significance in the past decade as it has shifted from fiction and policy concerns into scientific practice. Underpinning this popularity and relevance as a new public science is CRISPR. As its central line of inquiry, this project addresses the question: how is human genetic engineering legitimised and popularised? How has CRISPR become the vehicle for this legitimacy? The project addresses these questions through a visual lens:

  • What role does visual culture play in the public understanding and reception of CRISPR? 
  • How do the narratives surrounding this technology differ in the UK, US, and Chinese media? 
  • How can knowledge about the visual themes and ideologies surrounding CRISPR impact the ways in which mainstream media, scientific publications, social media users, and health care providers communicate information about this technology to their target audiences? 

By examining the relationship between science news, national press, and social media materials, we establish an extensive scope for this project that allows us to analyse perceptions of the technology are conveyed through diverse channels. This would be a good fit for students interested in Media Analysis, Linguistics, Rhetoric, Science Communication, Science Studies, Visual Culture and Digital Humanities. 

2022 UChicago-Sussex IJRA Project #3: Datafication of Sexuality: Critical and Creative Approaches to the Genomics of LGBTQ+ Identities, Research Supervisors: Dr Sandra Nelson, Research Fellow (Media and Film), School of Media, Arts and Humanities, and Professor Kate O’Riordan, Dean of Media, Arts & Humanities (Media and Film), Professor Of Digital Culture (School of Media, Arts and Humanities)

General description: What are the implications of genomic sexuality research for LGBTQ+ identities and publics? This project provides a timely and collaborative intervention as genomics moves into sexuality research globally. While scholarship has engaged with the emergence of direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing in relation to race (Mittos et al., 2018; Scodari, 2017) and disability rights (De Paor and Blanck, 2016; Schlauderaff, 2019), little work has been conducted regarding more recent forays into the genetics of sexual identity. This project seeks to address this gap and examine the implications of these genomic sexuality studies for UK-based and global intersectional LGBTQ+ publics. It interrogates the companies and researchers who conduct genetics of sexual identity studies, analyses the individuals and publics who participate in these studies, and engages publics in developing outputs that examine the implications and narratives that emerge because of these studies.  The role of Research Associate in this project would be to create a critical annotated bibliography of contemporary literature on DIY genetic testing and sexuality research, and to examine social media sites where people discuss their use of such tests. This would be a good fit for students with an interest in LGBTQ+ culture, politics and identities from a range of disciplinary backgrounds in media, arts and humanities.

2022 UChicago-Sussex IJRA Project #4: Coding Bias: The Metanarrative of Technology-Focused Social Platforms, Research Supervisors: Dr Sharon Webb (History & Sussex Humanities Lab), Dr Irene Fubara-Manuel (Digital Media Practice & Sussex Humanities Lab) and Dr Cécile Chevalier (Digital Media Practice & Sussex Humanities Lab).

In the past decade, coding has become a coveted skill. With the wealth of free resources online, anyone can learn to code—or so the endless promise of technology purports. This project interrogates the aforementioned promise through an analysis of online technology-focused social platforms and their media content. The aim is to investigate learning communities, questioning how platforms democratise access to knowledge (such as coding and technical skills) or not. In what ways do technology-focused social platforms such as YouTube, Reddit, and GitHub fulfil or break the promise of democratising technical knowledge? Which learners or teachers are prioritised on the platforms? How accessible are the learning communities? What community identities are created, solidified and/or challenged? The project is transdisciplinary and therefore welcomes candidates from Media Studies, Computer Science and Engineering, Gender Studies, Education, and History. As such you are free to develop a specific area of research based on the broad description provided above. We are particularly interested by investigations into these platforms, which identify coded bias, however that may manifest. ‘Full Stack Feminism in Digital Humanities’ is a collaborative UK-Ireland project which aims to embed intersectional feminist thinking and practices within and across the broad discipline of digital humanities. Broadly, the research project recognises that biases and stereotypes can manifest in digital culture, its tools and community-based environments. For more info http://ifte.network/full-stack-feminism/.