Research Cluster | Place-Making
Department | Screen Arts and Cultures
Subfields | digital media studies, documentary studies
Honors & Affiliations | Rackham Merit Fellow, Digital Studies Workshop co-coordinator
Origin Cities | Lansing, Michigan; Leslie, Michigan
Research Key Words | built environment; media/art activism; documentary film; underground press
Research Statement |
I research the histories and cultures of media activism in the post-industrial city, focusing primarily on Detroit since the 1960s. I am motivated to address historically the problematic depiction of Detroit’s blight that has emerged within the photographic genre of “ruin porn.” I engage with the effects of capitalism on the built environment of Detroit and local responses to urban blight across a range of media texts and platforms. I seek to answer questions concerning global capitalism’s effects on cities, ecologies, and communities of color in the United States.