About
Rae's research spans media/cultural studies and digital/internet studies, broadly focusing on the complex relationships between media storytelling, technology, industries, and politics. Their questions are guided by a twin interest in 1) the changing digital environments in which users access, create, and circulate media stories, and 2) how media industries and platforms enable, support, marginalize, or repress different forms of stories and engagement. They are specifically interested in the cultural politics and political sensibilities that coalesce around these environments and relationships.
Their current work explores these topics specifically within the video game industry. These projects trace industry shifts, "gamer" culture(s), and the impact of internet distribution and sociality on the communicative and political dimensions of gaming, with an express interest in understanding proliferations of far-right ideologies in these spaces. They also study other sites where these interests in media storytelling, tech, industries, and politics intersect, including online activism, affective social media cultures, techno-optimism in VR technology, and innovative/solutionist principles in the "Femtech" industry.
Field(s) of Study:
- Media industry studies
- Digital/internet studies
- Game studies
- Media storytelling
- Cultural politics and political sentiment online
- Feminist and queer theory
