Associate Professor Julie Cupples
Position
Associate Professor in Human Geography and Cultural Studies
Research and teaching interests: Media and cultural studies, development studies, cultural geography, Latin America
Qualifications
BA Hons (Bradford), MA (Newcastle upon Tyne), PhD (Canterbury)
Contact Details
Room:404
Phone: +64 3 364 2987 ext 8116
Fax: +64 3 364 2907
julie.cupples@canterbury.ac.nz
Postal address:
Department of Geography
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch
New Zealand
Research
I am a cultural geographer working at the intersection between development studies and media and cultural studies.
1. Geographies of development
My main research interest is directed towards the cultural dimensions of development/postdevelopment, with an emphasis on Nicaragua. I am working closely with the Instituto de Investigaciones y Gestión Social (INGES), based in Managua, Nicaragua. Current overlapping research projects in this area include the construction of citizenship, electoral geographies, the biopolitics of climate change, the struggle for electricity, community forestry and resistance to the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).
2. Media culture, citizenship and spaces of democracy
This project explores the relationship between political cultural and popular culture in an age of media convergence. In particular, it seeks to understand how mediatised forms of popular culture can contribute to the construction of democratic citizenship. It involves the empirical exploration of a series of media texts and practices which can be understood as negotiations of hegemonic projects. At present, my main focus is on indigenous media production including BilwiVision and Canal 7 on Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast and Māori Television in Aotearoa, and on the popular geopolitics of prime time TV drama.
Teaching
- CULT 110: Introduction to Cultural Studies and the Media
- GEOG 212 Geographies of Development
- GEOG 305 Environmental Hazards and Management
- GEOG 320 Space, Place and Power
- GEOG 411/CULT 401: Cultural Studies, Globalization and New Technologies
- EURO 401: The Idea of Europe
Publications
Please see Julie's UC Research Profile for a full list of publications.