I am a media & communication scholar. I have two broad interests that drive most of my work. While generally these can be viewed as separate interests, they do at times intersect.
Primarily, I teach and write about sports in contemporary culture. I do this by focusing on both the material and the symbolic aspects of sports mega-events, the evolving landscape of sports fandom, and the increasing role of technology in producing, performing, and engaging sport. Throughout much of my work, I consider sport as both a product, and producer, of cultural, social, political, economic, technological, and environmental dimensions of contemporary society.
A secondary area of interest for me is the production of place. I am particularly interested in how places are are mediated and discursively constructed. In focusing on place I examine how different voices play different roles in the construction of those places. I at times will focus on the role of sport in producing place, but, will also move beyond a focus on sport to understand other factors in how place is produced and encountered. For example, I have recently developed a research program on the role of place branding, tourism, and social media in producing urban imaginaries.
In the class room I aim to produce an active learning environment characterized by student led discussion, individually driven research, and theoretical engagement. I aim to help students explore the problems that are important to them, to prepare them for their life outside of academia, and inspire life-long learning.