Permanent Professor

Senior Lecturer and researcher at the Department of Social Communication and at the Postgraduate Program in Media and Everyday life of Fluminense Federal University. Postdoctoral researcher at Royal Holloway University of London – recipient of a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC, 2012). Ph.D. in Media Studies from the University of Westminster in London – recipient of an Overseas Research Scholarship (2010). Co-chair of the Community Communication and Alternative Media Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR). Co-editor of the Media and Everyday Life Journal (Revista Mídia e Cotidiano). Member of the Research Group EMERGE (Center for Research and Production in Communication and Emergence) and Mídias, Redes e Jovens (Media, Networks and Youth). She has also worked as a lecturer at various universities in the UK (Bournemouth University, Royal Holloway, London Metropolitan University, and University of Westminster – 2006-2013). Andrea has earned a Master’s degree in Communication and Society from the University of Oregon in the United States (2002 – 2004, Fulbright scholar) and a Bachelor’s in Social Communications with an emphasis on Advertising from the Catholic University of Salvador (1995 – 1999). In addition to her academic career, she has over ten years of experience as an advertising copywriter, having worked for various advertising agencies. She specializes in political advertising, having been responsible for devising advertising materials (online, TV and radio) for political campaigns all over Brazil (Recife, Goiania, Salvador, Sao Luis, Macapá e Santos).

Research Projects

Citizen and Political Communication in Times of Convergence

Community communication comes in all shapes and sizes. “Newer” platforms and technologies are constantly emerging. However, this does not imply that “older” ones, such as TV, radio or newspapers have lost their relevance, particularly in a world with stark inequalities in terms of access to and usage of information and communication technologies. Whether we see it through a positive or critical lens, we acknowledge that the times of convergence have raised a series of debates for community communication. Therefore, the goal of this research project is to tackle pressing issues and questions such as: has the spread of activist messages across multiple online spaces unintentionally contributed to a perception that, in some countries, the struggle for more effective community media policies has lost its momentum? What forms of new community communication uses have emerged and what are their implications for the sector? How are the relationships between the myriad of “new” and “old” community platforms changing? In which ways do these complement or contradict each other? What role do alternative and community communication play in the struggle against a surveillance society? What kinds of impact have the recent social movements known by their online mobilization had on community communication studies? In order to address this question, we draw from studies of citizen, community and political communication, analyzing the role that technologies might play in empowering disenfranchised people. We are also inspired by the media anthropology tradition, adopting a netnographic approach.

Lattes: http://lattes.cnpq.br/9397566409136116
e-mail: andreamedrado@id.uff.br