Dr. Alexandra Boutros

Assistant Professor - Cultural Studies Program Coordinator

Contact Information

Email: aboutros@wlu.ca
Phone: 519.884.0710 ext.2917
Fax: 519.884.8854
Office Location: 2-130 DAWB
Office Hours: Winter 2013: Thursdays 2:30-3:30 or by appointment

Languages Spoken

English
French

Academic Background

Postdoctoral Fellow: Center for Religion and Media, New York University (2006-2008)

PhD: Department of Art History and Communication Studies, McGill University (2001-2006)

MA: Interdisciplinary Studies, Concordia University (1998-2001)

BA: Religious Studies, Women's Studies, Concordia University (1994-1998)

Biography

I am cross-appointed in the Department of Communication Studies and the Cultural Studies Program, where I am currently Program Coordinator. My research is generally concerned with the intersection of media, technology and identity within the context of religious, social and cultural movements. My early research fell within the growing area of religion and media scholarship, an interdisciplinary field focusing on the mutable relationship between religious practice and forms of media. My own work in this field explored diasporic Haitian Vodou, new media and technology, and Vodou in popular culture. While I continue to be active in the field of religion and media, I am currently working on two new projects, one which explores ubiquitous computing, the other which looks at afrofuturism—focusing on social networking arising out of images of black technologized subjectivity.

Recent Publications:

Circulation and the City: Essays on Urban Mobility, William Straw and Alexandra Boutros, eds, Montreal, Kingston:McGill-Queens University Press, 2010.

"Gods on the Move: The Mediatization of Haitian Vodou," in Culture and Religion, 12:2, 2011. 185-201 (here)

"Media, Representation, Identity," in Intersections of Communications and Media: Concepts and Critical Frameworks, William Straw, Sandra Gabriel, and Ira Wagman (eds), Toronto, Edmond Montgomery Press, 2011. 289-308

Courses (F2011/W2012):

 CS100  - Introduction to Media History

 KS340I - Myths, Monsters, and Machines: The Fantastic in Popular Culture

 KS400  - Remix Culture

Additional Information

supervisory areas

• religion and media
• citizen/social/participatory media
• ubiquitous computing
  
• race and technology
• race and popular culture
  
• popular music
  
• media and diaspora/transnational media