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Chiara Minestrelli

Profession
Course Leader, BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Cultures
College
London College of Communication
Person Type
Staff
Chiara  Minestrelli

Biography

Dr Chiara Minestrelli is Course Leader on BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Cultures. She is also a Visiting Fellow at the Menzies Australia Institute, King’s College London and in 2017 she was a Visiting Fellow at London South Bank University in the School of Arts and Creative Industries.

She holds a PhD from Monash University where she conducted research on Australian Indigenous Hip Hop, identity, culture, spirituality and the role of the media in identity formation.

Her book, Australian Indigenous Hip Hop: The Politics of Culture, Identity, and Spirituality (Routledge) is an ethnographic study that investigates the discursive and performative strategies employed by Australian Indigenous artists to make sense of the world and establish a position of authority over their identity and place in society.

From 2015 to 2016 she was a Visiting Professor in the Africana Studies and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Programs at Lehigh University (Bethlehem, PA, US), where she taught units on the Refugee Crisis, Popular Music, Globalisation and Cultural Studies. During that time, she also organised a seminar series on Ethnographic practices, as well as a mini conference called Dream Warriors: Creating Pathways through Poetry and Music (Humanities Centre Grant). This event saw the participation of Native American artists who performed and gave lectures on identity and history in North America.

Chiara is very passionate about social justice and her research interests range from Indigenous and cultural studies, decolonisation, identity and representation, media industries, social semiotics and multimodality.

Chiara is currently leading a series of workshops, Sonic Futures, that explore the connection between artistic practices, Critical Theory, Hip Hop music, the environment and local communities in South London. These workshops are ideal for both undergraduate and postgraduate students as they can help, support and guide students in their academic, personal and creative endeavours.

Related area

View the BA (Hons) Contemporary Media Cultures course page.