Dr Maximillian W Guarini

My research interests are in the fields of visual politics, the relationship between traditional and social media, discourse analysis and power. I am interested in how images are playing an increasingly important role in shaping how politics is understood and experienced in a media environment which sees the logics of legacy media and social media coexist, clash and coevolve.

My PhD thesis applies this interest in the visual aspect of politics to the imagery used to depict Jeremy Corbyn during his tenure as leader of the UK Labour Party.  I use discourse analysis to show how meaning is constructed through the use of images accompanying headline text in traditional media formats, as well as through social media with the creation of image macros and memes, which also make use of text and image to construct meaning. More specifically, my research is focused on showing how imagery was employed, alongside text, to construct Corbyn as a threat to the UK during his four years as Labour leader and how these constructions were reinforced or resisted through social media.  

I am fully funded by the ESRC and on the 1+3 pathway.