Dr Anita Biressi

 

Job Title: Reader Qualifications: PG Dip Lib. PGCE (FE).MA.PhD. Telephone: +44 (0)20 8392 3396 Email Address: A.Biressi@roehampton.ac.uk

Biography and research Interests

Anita Biressi is Reader in Media Cultures. She has taught media and cultural studies since 1992. She is co-director of the Centre for Research in Sex, Gender and Sexuality at Roehampton and on the steering group of the Women's Media Studies Network (since 2002). Her research interests include discourses of crime and criminality and law and order in the media, media ethics, popular journalism and tabloid culture, media spectacle, reality programming, documentary and factual film and television. Anita is currently undertaking further research in the areas of class politics and reality television; media spectacle and documentary film. Her new book Class in Contemporary British Culture is forthcoming from Palgrave Macmillan.

Memberships etc

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Elected member of the national Executive for Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA UK) since December 2002.

Member of the International Communication Association

Member of the War and the Media Network, University of Surrey.

Member of the steering group for the Women’s Media Studies Network (MeCCSA).

Research student supervision


Irem Inceoglu ‘Coalition through the Internet: the networking of new anti-systemic movements as a contemporary case of radical democracy'. PhD Awarded 2010.

Amanda Wayling Yates –provisional title ‘Television presenters and the career aspirations of teenage girls’ Co-supervisor from September 2005.

Publications: Books

Crime, Fear and the Law in True Crime Storytelling (Palgrave/St Martin's Press: 2001).

Reality TV: Realism and Revelation (with H. Nunn) (Wallflower Press: 2005).

The Tabloid Culture Reader (ed. with H Nunn) (McGraw Hill/OU 2008.)

Publications: Chapters and articles

‘Telling Tales: Popular Storytelling and True Crime Entertainment’, in Cultural Studies and the Working Class, S. Munt (ed.), Cassell: 2000: 180-192.

‘True crime, medicine and corporeal horror’, in Femspec: A Journal of Feminist Speculations, 4:1: 2002: 68-81.

‘ “An Englishman’s Home…”: Reflections on the Tony Martin case’ (with H. Nunn) in Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture, Issue 20, Summer 2002: 37-45.

‘Silent Witness, detection and the postmortem body’ (with H. Nunn) in Feminist Media Studies, 3: 2: 2003:193-206.

‘Video Justice ?: crimes of violence in social/media space’ (with H. Nunn) in Space and Culture: An International Journal of Social Spaces 6: 3: 2003 :276-291.

‘The especially remarkable: celebrity and social mobility in Reality TV’ (with H. Nunn), in Mediactive: Celebrity Issue, Issue 2: Spring 2004: 44-58 (Lawrence and Wishart/Barefoot Publications).

‘In the shadow of monstrosities: violence, memory and guilt in Another World’ (with H. Nunn)in Critical Perspectives on Pat Barker, M. Jolly, S. Monteith, R. Paul and N Yousaf (eds.),University of Carolina Press: 2005.

‘Inside/ out: private trauma and public knowledge in true crime documentary’, Screen in ‘Trauma Dossier 2’ 45:5. Winter 2004: 401-412.

‘Above the below: traumatic spectacle in social/media space’, in Journal for Cultural Research special edition entitled ‘Trauma and ethics in the field of vision’, Winter 2004: 8: 3: 335-352.

'Man in a box' (2005)(with H.Nunn) in Vertigo, 2:8: 36-39.

‘After life: television and the politics of the paranormal’ (with H. Nunn) in Corpse Life: The Contemporary Preoccupation with Human Remains', S. Dauncey and T. Jenkins (eds.), Rodopi Press, forthcoming.


'The kidnapped body and precarious life: reflections on the Kenneth Bigley case'(with H. Nunn)in K. Randell and S. Redmond (eds.) The War Body on Screen, Continuum 2008: 222-38.

'Bad citizens: the class politics of lifestyle television'(with H. Nunn) in G. Palmer (ed.) Exposing Lifestyle Television: The Big Reveal, Ashgate, 2008: 15-24.

'Reflections on the "undeserving poor" '(with H. Nunn) discussion paper for the Soundings Class and Culture debate 2008 at http://www.lwbooks.co.uk/journals/soundings/class_and_culture/discussion.html

'The undeserving poor' (with H. Nunn) in Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture: Recession Blues, 2009 Issue 41: 107-116.

'Celebrity, social mobility and the future of reality TV' (with H. Nunn) reprinted from Reality TV (2005) in S. Thornham, C. Bassett and P. Marris (eds.) Media Studies: A Reader, 3rd edition, Edinburgh University Press 2009: 589-598.

'"A trust betrayed": celebrity and the work of emotion', (with H.Nunn) in Celebrity Studies, 2010, 1:1:49-64.

'Shameless?: picturing the ‘underclass’ after Thatcherism' (with H. Nunn) in
L. Hadley and E. Ho (eds.) Thatcher and After: Margaret Thatcher and Her Afterlife in Contemporary Culture, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010


Book reviews

British Television Drama: Past, Present and Future by J. Bignell, S. Lacey and M. Macmurraugh-Kavanagh eds. (2000) in Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media Spring/Summer 2001.

Cracking the Morse Code: Semiotics and Television Drama by Adrian Page (2000) in Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media Autumn/Winter 2001.

Cultural Criminology and the Carnival of Crime by Mike Presdee (2000) in Sociology: Journal of the British Sociological Association 37:1: 2003.

Death’s Showcase: The Power of Image in Contemporary Democracy by Ariella Azoulay, (2001) in Scope Online Journal August 2003.

Shooting People: Adventures in Reality TV by Sam Brenton and Reuben Cohen, (2003) in New Formations, Spring 2004:52: 137-9.

Discipline and Liberty by Gareth Palmer (2003) in Soundings: A Journal of Politics and Culture 2004:28.

Staging the Real: Factual TV Programming in the Age of Big Brother by Richard Kilborn (2003) in The International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics, Vol 1, Issue 3 at http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/mcp/issue.htm December 1: 3: 2005.

Documentary in Practice: Filmmakers and Production Choices by Jane Chapman in European Journal of Communication :2007: 22: 504-506

Edited journals

Co-editor of special edition of the series Mediactive entitled Media War, Spring 2004, (Lawrence and Wishart/Barefoot Publications).

Co-editor of special edition of the Journal for Cultural Research (with C Bainbridge and H Nunn) entitled ‘Trauma and ethics in the field of vision’, Winter 2004: 8.3.

Conference, research papers and talks

‘Creating a legend: the story of Dennis Nilsen’ - Post Theory: An International Postgraduate Conference, School of English, University of Glasgow 4-6th July 1996.

‘The construction of the anti-hero in true crime stories’ - Murder in Bloomsbury! A Symposium, School of Advanced Study, University of London, 12-14 June 1996.

‘Popular thanatopses: spectacles of death and atrocity in true crime’ - Screen 30th June-2nd July 2000, University of Glasgow.

‘From transgression to cultural value: relocating violence in interdisciplinary work’ - Plenary Speaker - Representing Violence and the Violence of Representation 1-3rd September 2000, School of Critical Theory and Cultural Studies, University of Nottingham.

‘Viewing the dead: true crime and corporeal horror’ - The Social Context of Death, Dying and Disposal: 5th International Conference 7-10th September 2000, Department of Historical and Cultural Studies, Goldsmith’s College, University of London.

‘ “An Englishman’s home….”: defensive individualism and fantasies of retribution’ (with H Nunn) – Other(ing) England 9th June 2001, Dept. Arts and Media, BCUC.

‘Death and the maiden: femininity and the post-mortem body in Silent Witness’ (with H Nunn) – Console-ing Passions3: Television, Video, Feminism, 5-8th July 2001, University of Bristol.

‘Cultural studies comes home: interdisciplinary approaches to the Tony Martin case’ (with H Nunn) – MeCCSA Annual Conference 11-13th January 2002, University of Westminster.

‘Genre trauma: holocaust history in the TV drama Silent Witness’ (with H Nunn) – History/Fantasy , 23rd March 2002, Dept. Arts and Media, BCUC.

‘Video Justice: Public Horror and Private Trauma’ (with H Nunn) – University of Sussex Research Seminar Series, 12th February 2002.

‘Video Justice: public anxiety and private trauma’ (with H Nunn)– Media in Transition 2: Globalisation and Convergence, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 10-12th May 2002.


‘Video Justice: testament and spectacle in reality television’ (with H Nunn) – Crossroads in Cultural Studies, Tampere, Finland, 29th June-2nd July 2002.

‘Surveillance and the Ethics of Media Space’, Global Ethics and Civil Society, 2nd Annual Conference of the Global Studies Association, Roehampton, University of Surrey, 22-24th July 2002.

‘Imaginary subjects: trauma and atrocity in true crime documentary’, Screen Studies, University of Glasgow 4-6th July 2003.

‘Documentary futures: new documentary as psychic drama’(with H Nunn), (C/A) Media in Transition 3: Television, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 18-20thApril 2003.

‘Feel My Pain: the Trauma of Reality TV’, Reality TV: Contexts, Debates, Futures, 22nd May 2004, HACS, Roehampton.

‘Reality TV and the Spectacle of Suffering’, Console-ing Passions: International conference on Television, Video, New Media, Feminism , Tulane University, New Orleans, 30th May-2nd June 2004.

‘New Spectacles of Suffering on the Small Screen’, Screen Studies, University of Glasgow, 2nd-4th July 2005.

'Home and away: mediation and mourning in the Ken Bigley case' (with H Nunn), Globalisation and its Discontents: Globalisation and Representation, School of Critical Studies, University of Brighton, 12th-13th March 2005.

'"Pitiless evil and a misbegotten war": the media spectacle of global terrorism' (with H Nunn), Communicating War: Strategies, Implications, Ethics; War and the Media Network, University of Surrey, 13th May 2005.

'Unofficial voices: Political communication, media participation and the Ken Bigley case' (with H Nunn) Media Change and Social Theory, CRESC, Oxford, 6-8th September 2006.

'War body on the screen' (with H Nunn) Centre for Media and Film Studies Research Seminars, SOAS, 13th December 2006.

'The media and politics of the Kenneth Bigley case: some reflections' (with H Nunn), Seminars in Communications, Cultural and Media Studies, London Metropolitan University, 18th April 2007.

Plenary speaker'Lifestyle citizenship', First International Conference of Lifestyle Television: The Big Reveal: Style, Class and Industry, University of Salford, 25-27th April 2007.

Debate Chair: The future of Screen Heritage in the UK: A Symposium on Strategy, CRFAC/MeCCSA Symposium, Roehampton University, 22nd September 2007.

'Looking at common people?: the class politics of reality TV' (with H Nunn), Channel 4: the First 25 years, British Film Institute, 17-18th November 2007.

Keynote for 'Class and Culture Now': launch of the Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies, Falmer, Sussex, UK, 13th February 2008.

Participant in discussion panel 'Screening Emotions' at Waterstones bookshop, Picadilly Circus, 29th February 2008.

‘Class redux: images of the “undeserving poor” ’: invited speaker at ESRC Symposium ‘Media, class and value’ at De Montfort University 20th June 2008.

‘Under-privileged, under-class, un-productive: mapping keywords in the media’ (with H. Nunn) Monday 11th November 2008, Bournemouth University, Research Seminar Series.

'Postructuralism and class politics', at SEGS The Turn from Postructuralism, 18th March 2009, School of Arts, Roehampton University.

‘ "Unmarried mothers, delinquents, denizens of our borstals": picturing the "underclass" after Thatcherism' at Thatcher and After Symposium hosted by University of West of England at the Arnolfini Bristol 8th May 2009.

'Making do: class and work in reality TV' (with H. Nunn) at The Politics of Work and the Changing Culture of Capitalism Symposium
Goldsmiths College, University of London,Thursday 28 -Friday 29 May 2009.

‘Faring well in the reality Tv economy? Television and social enterprise’ (with H. Nunn) at
The Future for British Television:
A One Day Symposium, Brunel University, May 27 2010.

'"There's something in my house": television and the politics of the paranomal' (with H. Nunn) Keynote, at The Sussex Centre for Cultural Studies conference on
Paranormal Cultures, 4th June 2010.










Conference and event planning

Other(ing) England one day conference 9th June 2001, Dept. Arts and Media, BCUC.

Co-convenor, Women in Public Life, MeCCSA Women’s Media Studies Network, Roehampton, University of Surrey, 6th June 2003.

Reality TV: Contexts, Debates, Futures, 22nd May 2004, CRFAC Symposium, HACS, Roehampton.

Media War: Covering conflicts after Iraq, 24th November 2004. held at the Guardian Newsroom.

Co-convener (with H Nunn) Signs of the Times Crime and Punishment: the politics of policing in the 21st century, series of six seminars March-April 2003, London.

MeCCSA UK Annual Conference, Sussex University, 19-21st December 2004.

Tabloid Culture and Media Spectacle, May 2005 CRFAC Symposium, Roehampton University, London.

MeCCSA with AMPE UK Annual Lincoln University Conference 5-7th January 2005.

MeCCSA with AMPE UK Annual Conference, Leeds Metropolitan University, 13-15th January 2006

MeCCSA with AMPE UK Annual Conference, Coventry University, 10-12th January 2007

TV Futures, 12th May 2007, CRFAC Symposium, School of Arts, Roehampton University.

Co-convener 'The terrible girls' WMSN panel at MeCCSA, Bradford University 15th January 2009.

Co-organiser of 'My Brilliant Career?: Women and the Academy'a WMSN symposium at ULU 30 October 2009.

Co-organiser of The Public Intellectual: Gender, Power Celebrity at the British Library, 25th May 2010.

Membership of professional bodies

Elected member of the Executive Committee of the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association from 2002.

Member of the International Communication Association

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Qualification Details

PhD Cultural Studies, University of East London.

MA Cultural Studies, Thames Valley University.

PGCE (FE)Thames College.

PG Dip. Lib, Polytechnic of North London.

BA(Hons) English 1st Class, Polytechnic of North London.

Research Expertise

True crime entertainment

Law and order and crime in the news

Documentary and factual programming including reality tv

Popular journalism

Media spectacle

Class difference in contemporary British culture

Undergraduate courses taught at Roehampton:

Journalism and News Media
Media and Culture

Postgraduate courses taught at Roehampton:

Cultural Studies
Journalism
Media & Cultural Studies