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King’s People

Biography

Dr Zeena Feldman’s research explores intersections between digital communication technologies and everyday life.

Her work is especially interested in how digital technologies impact understandings and performances of traditionally analogue concepts – for instance, belonging, identity, wellbeing and power. She currently runs the Quitting Social Media project, which explores digital detox and disconnection.

Zeena has published widely, including in Information, Communication & Society; the European Journal of Cultural Studies; Feminist Media Studies; Celebrity Studies; TripleC; and Cultural Policy, Criticism & Management Research.

She has also written for The Independent, OpenDemocracy and The Conversation. She is the editor of Art & the Politics of Visibility (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2017) and co-editor with Deborah Lupton of Digital Food Cultures (Routledge, 2020).

Her monograph, Belonging in the Sharing Economy, is due out later this year. Zeena enjoys speaking with journalists about her work, and is a frequent speaker at conferences and other events around the world.

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

  • Digital detox and disconnection
  • The sharing economy
  • Online communities
  • Work and labour in the digital age
  • Wellbeing and the digital
  • Belonging and identity
  • Digital food cultures.

Zeena is not currently accepting new PhD applications. 

Teaching

Zeena Feldman teaches on the Department of Digital Humanities' postgraduate programmes. She is interested in critical approaches to social media and smartphone use and other digitally-mediated practices. 

Expertise and Public Engagement

Expertise:

  • The sharing economy (e.g. Uber, Airbnb, TaskRabbit)
  • Digital detox
  • Social media and smartphone addiction
  • Digital food cultures
  • Work and labour in the digital economy
  • Online conflict
  • Mental health, wellbeing and self-care apps
  • Belonging and identity

Recent media appearances:

  • Late Night Woman’s Hour (2017), BBC Radio 4, ‘Work and Rest’ episode.
  • Music Matters (2017) BBC Radio 3, ‘Music in the Time of Our Lives’ episode.

Projects:

  • Quitting Social Media: Zeena leads this project, which explores how people negotiate the pleasures and pressures of today’s connectivity culture.  
  • Internet Rights & Principles Coalition: The IRPC is a network based at the UN Internet Governance Forum (IGF). Zeena has worked with the IRPC for several years on the design and production of its Charter booklet series, currently available in 6 languages. More at http://internetrightsandprinciples.org/site/charter
  • Global Internet Governance Academic Network: GigaNet is a global network of scholars working on issues of internet governance. Zeena led the network’s visual rebranding campaign in 2016-17. 

Zeena is a frequent speaker at conferences, workshops and other events around the world.