Sean Smith

Bio

Dr. Sean P. Smith is Assistant Professor of Digital Discourse, Literacy, and Practice in the Department of Culture Studies. His research examines how mediated discourse shapes development, transforms relations, and generates inequalities. In taking an historical perspective to contemporary discourses, visual cultures, and frameworks of consumption, he is particularly interested in the frictions that produce counter-hegemonic discourses and practices.

He received his Ph.D. from the University of Hong Kong in 2021, and prior to coming to the DCU he was an FWO junior postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at KU Leuven. His current project investigates how concepts of nature (or, the more-than-human environment) are transformed through social media, with a focus on Oman and the Arabian Peninsula.

Courses

• Digital media and everyday life
• The Digital Individual
• Media Practices and Cultural Differences

Recent publications

1. "The trash is ruining the picture" Social media, sustainability, and …

   Smith, S. (2024). "The trash is ruining the picture" Social media, sustainability, and the semiotics of pristine nature. Social Semiotics, 1-21.

2. HOLLYWOOD - The political economy and global citation of an emblemati…

   Smith, S. P., Järlehed, J., & Jaworski, A. (2023). HOLLYWOOD: The political economy and global citation of an emblematic language object. Language in Society, 1-32.

3. The “untouched” frontier: an unsustainable imaginary in the anthropoc…

   Smith, S. P. (2023). The “untouched” frontier: an unsustainable imaginary in the anthropocene. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 1430-1466. Article 6.

4. Burmese women in the colonial imaginary - Gendered representations in…

   Smith, S. P. (2021). Burmese women in the colonial imaginary: Gendered representations in Kipling's “mandalay” and croker's the road to mandalay. Journal of Burma Studies, 25(1), 69-88.

5. Tourism and symbolic power - Leveraging social media with the stance …

   Smith, S. P. (2021). Tourism and symbolic power: Leveraging social media with the stance of disavowal. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 25(4), 578-595.