Specific interest areas in which I research these questions include:
• Technopathologies: Diseases thought to be caused or worsened by technology, how this relates to the evolving identity category of "the user," and how it relates to other social identity categories
• Technology in popular culture and history, especially relations to gender, sexuality, race and other identities
• Medical science, history, pathologization, disease, and health, with an interest in food and food systems
• Feminism, postfeminism, masculinity, gender, sex, sexuality, queerishness, masculinity
• Studies of sound, media, film, visual culture, art, popular music
In terms of method, I employ a queer triangulation of methods that can include discourse analysis, focus groups, content analysis, online data, close readings, historical archives, textual analysis, critical listening, interviews, cultural studies, and political economy.
My book manuscript on pathological technoculture, Killer Apps—Sick Users: Pathological Technoculture in Old and New Media, is based on my dissertation, which examined discourses suggesting electric communication technologies cause or exacerbate illness. My advisor was Sarah Banet-Weiser, with Josh Kun, Anne Balsamo, and Doug Thomas rounding out my committee. One chapter of my dissertation deals with neurasthenia, electrosensitivity, and pathologized femininity.
My research has received funding from the Humanities Advancement Board of Clemson University, The Pearce Center for Communication, a Clemson Faculty Research Grant, a New Directions Fellowship from the Center for Feminist Research, a Dibner History of Science Research Fellowship from the Huntington Library, and Stark Family Foundation Fellowships for the Study of Popular Culture.
