Staff
Stacy E. Wood
Director of Research & Programs
Otis Noble III
Assistant Director of Community Engagement
Fellows
Magally ‘Maga’ Miranda Alcázar (she/her) is a writer, researcher, educator and organizer based in Los Angeles. She is a PhD candidate in Chicana/o and Central American Studies at UCLA. Her work lies at the intersection of race, gender, labor, immigration and technology studies. Her research has been supported by the the Center for Critical Internet Inquiry, the Eugene Cota-Robles Fellowship, the NASEM Ford Predoctoral Fellowship, and the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment.
Maga was born and raised in Boyle Heights to immigrant parents from Michoacán and CDMX. She attended Pasadena City College and earned a B.A. from UC Santa Cruz with a double major in Feminist Studies (law, policy and social change emphasis) and Community Studies (economic justice emphasis) where she graduated magna cum laude in 2015.
Maga has written for Aztlán, The Nation, Verso, and New Left Review and the International Journal of Communication.
Nashra Mahmood
Nashra Mahmood is a 4th year doctoral student whose current research interests lie in theories of Affect, feminist critiques of ethno-nationalism, and critical media studies. Their previous research focused on feminized labor and unionization in North India’s informal economy. Their dissertation project is studying how media manipulation and communalist [dis]information in Indian media post-October 2019 has reconstituted national belonging. Nashra holds a BA in Economics and Gender Studies and a MA in Gender Studies.
Krysten Stein (she/her/hers) is a first-generation PhD Candidate in Communication and Media Studies, with concentrations in Gender and Women’s Studies and Black Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her academic journey began with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication, complemented by double minors in Psychology and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati. She continued her educational pursuits by earning a Master of Arts in Communication and a graduate certificate in Film and Media Studies, also at the University of Cincinnati. Krysten’s research explores the intricate social and cultural dimensions of digital technologies, focusing on their intersections with health, identity, digital economies, labor, messaging, and representation. Her multidisciplinary approach aims to unveil the complex connections between identity, power dynamics, media, and socio-political contexts. She places a central emphasis on examining how media and technology intersect within existing power structures and narratives, particularly concerning identity, encompassing factors like gender, sexuality, race, and class in cultural production. Her critical evaluation assesses how media representations can either challenge or reinforce established power structures and narratives, all while investigating the impact of neoliberalism on media content and the economic dynamics of the industry. Currently, she is working on her dissertation, which explores the experiences of mental health practitioners on TikTok. This research delves into the influence of algorithmic power, the process of monetization, and identity performance in relation to gender, sexuality, race, and class. By delving into these critical aspects, she aims to uncover the meanings and implications of this popular form of entertainment within the context of a neoliberal era marked by elevated stress, anxiety, and inadequate mental health care and resources. Krysten’s research has been published in various esteemed academic journals such as Feminist Media Studies, Gender & Society, The International Journal of Communication, Queer Studies in Media & Popular Culture, The Popular Culture Studies Journal, and ACM CHI. Furthermore, her work has garnered attention in popular media outlets, including The Guardian and Feminist Book Club. She has also shared her research findings at both national and international conferences, such as The International Communication Association (ICA), The Association for Internet Researchers (AoIR), The Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS), and Console-ing Passions, demonstrating her expertise and unwavering passion within her field.
Zizi Li is an educator and researcher of media studies and digital cultures, with a special attention to (im)material labor and infrastructure via the study of influencer media. She inquires the relationships between media and extraction concerning the layered extraction of natural / human resources and racialized / gendered labor required by the operation of digital economy. Currently Zizi is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her dissertation on influencer ecosystem uses fashion/lifestyle influencers and related vernacular social media genre / content (such as closet declutter and unboxing videos) to elucidate the connections between digital/media industries and commodity chains/networks. Zizi is trained in film studies, cultural studies, critical digital studies, feminist media studies / praxis, and transnational media. Her research and pedagogy are committed to the unpacking of entangled colonialisms as well as the building of transnational solidarity praxis and abolitionist decolonial care.
I am a PhD candidate at the University of Washington’s Department of Communication. My research explores the power dynamics at play in the development of popular digital cultures. In particular, I focus on how groups historically marginalized by technologies and social structures participate in digital cultures for representation, as well as the challenges they face in being recognized as important contributors and participants of our digitalized cultural landscape. As an aficionado of global popular culture, I am also interested in the flow of digital/popular culture in our increasingly transnational media landscape and its implications on global cultural hierarchies. So far, my work has been published in communication journals such as the International Journal of Communication, Communication, Culture, & Critique, and Social Media + Society. I am currently working on my dissertation project, which examines how transnational Korean women content creators based in North America, Europe, and South Korea experience creating content for a global audience against the historical and technological backdrop in which Asian femininity is prized for its hyper sexuality and racial otherness. I am interested in examining how Asianness (Koreanness) becomes branded through and across platforms through their content creation and platform practices. My project has been awarded the UCLA Center for Critical Internet Inquiry Summer Dissertation Fellowship (2023-2024). At the University of Washington, I am also a member of the Center for Communication, Difference, and Equity (CCDE) and the co-leader of Constellation of Asian Racialization Research Group (CARRG). Prior to joining the Department of Communication at the University of Washington, I received both my B.A and M.A from Korea University, in Seoul, South Korea. While I am originally from South Korea, I also grew up in Ukraine, Russia, Germany, Uzbekistan, Canada, and the US. I am currently based in Seattle, Washington, the city of coffee and rain.
Breanna Escamilla (she/her/hers) is a Doctoral Candidate in Linguistic and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). She has also completed the graduate coursework requirements for the Graduate Minor in Latina/Latino/x Studies from the Department of Latina/o Studies and the Graduate Minor in Queer Studies from the Department of Gender and Women’s Studies. Prior to UIUC, Breanna was a first-generation college student at Michigan State University and earned her B.A in Anthropology with double minors in African American and African Studies and Chicanx/Latinx Studies in 2018. Her current research examines Twitter and Instagram as spaces wherein queer Latinas enact the self and notate their everyday lived experiences through the feminist technological practices of writing, documentation, and aesthetics.
Contia Prince
Contia is a doctoral student at UNC Hussman. Her research examines connections between descriptions of “ideal” female bodies centuries ago and the physical stereotypes still imposed on women today.