Butter packaging and national identity

Professor Angela Smith has co-written an article with Helen Andersson (Örebro University, Sweden) on the topic of butter packaging. Researchers have shown that it is common to use nationalist appeals when marketing food products. Research has also shown that geographical places play an important role in creating feelings of national identity and national belonging. To a much lesser extent, research has shown how these “places” are represented and reproduced in the packaging of food products in specific national environments and to an even lesser extent, compared these representations and reproductions. In their article, Angela Smith and Helen Andersson use multimodal critical discourse analysis to examine how butter packaging in Sweden and the UK represents nature in ways that create associations that are linked to the national identity that exists in each country. They argue that commercial interests, through their choice of packaging design, not only exploit cultural and political ideas and values but also reinforce them by connecting to prevailing national sentiments. In times of political and social change, this can be used to strengthen national affiliation and thus ally with political interests.

Andersson, H. and Smith, A. 2021. Flags and fields: a comparative analysis of national identity in butter packaging in Sweden and the UK. Social Semiotics.

Women and the Politics of Civility/Incivility in Parliament and Public Life

Professor Angela Smith is giving a paper with Michael Higgins at an online roundtable and workshop organized by the Maison Française d'Oxford (MFO). The two-day event, to be held on May 6th and 7th 2021, is called ‘Women, and the Politics of Civility/Incivility in Parliament and Public Life’ and will reflect on the profoundly aggressive nature of recent discourse and actions associated with the Brexit debate, the responses to Covid-19, Black Lives Matter, and the consequences for parliamentary and public life. Angela's paper will be given in the panel called 'Women and the Language of Incivility'. Information about how to register for the event can be found here.

Gender equality in changing times

Professor Angela Smith has edited a collection of essays exploring issues of gender equality in the global context. Contributors to Gender Equality in Changing Times (Palgrave Macmillan 2020) acknowledge the advances brought about by the second-wave movement of feminism, but highlight the work which still needs to be done in the twenty-first century, including the changes in society that have resulted in shifts in masculinity. The book is divided into two parts. Part One looks at gender equality by exploring the 'experience' of being part of a group where gender boundaries still exist, drawing on auto-ethnographies of those in key groups that are central to this debate, as well as interviews with members of such groups. Part Two investigates wider representations of these groups, offering an insight into the geopolitical world of gender relations in Saudi Arabia and China. Ultimately, this collection shows how much has been achieved, yet how far is also left to go.

The sexy dad and caring father

Professor Angela Smith has contributed an entry on male stereotypes to the International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication. It explores how fatherhood can be articulated as both an opportunity for men to demonstrate their caring, nurturing side, while also being a site for sexual desirability, popularly referred to as the “DILF.” Angela shows how the “new man” masculinity that emerged in the 1990s came to be linked with the popularizing of female‐directed pornography around the same time, finally merging in the 21st century as the “sexy dad.” By drawing on various media texts relating to fatherhood, she shows how there is a self‐presentation of fatherhood that is largely in line with the caring, emotional “new man,” but at times wittily espousing a playful form of macho masculinity linked with gym culture. This is contrasted with the media interpretation of such fatherhood that seeks to sexualize the male body in the popular press. The discussion finds that the act of carrying or holding a child becomes a site for these two discourses to meet, both in the visual images used to illustrate stories and in the associated text.

Smith, A. 2020. Male Stereotypes: The Sexy Dad and Caring Father. In Ross, K. et al. (eds) The International Encyclopedia of Gender, Media, and Communication. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

A house through time

Professor Angela Smith's research into early 20th century social welfare has been used to inform the content of the popular BBC2 programme, A House Through Time.  Using extensive data - mostly gleaned from the National Archives - Angela's research was published in a 2012 book which examines the way in which British widows of servicemen who died in the First World War were represented in society and by themselves, exploring the intertwining discourses of social welfare, national identity, and morality that can be identified in these texts. The third series of A House Through Time focuses on a house in Bristol, and as the timeline reached the early part of the 20th century, researchers there found three sisters who were widowed as a result of the First World War.  Angela's research led to the development of this aspect the house's history being explored in a 20-minute section of the third episode of the series, and for the first time in the series, viewers were able to hear the testimony of a former resident of the house who revisited it, and was interviewed by host, David Olusoga. This programme attracts more than 3m viewers per episode, which makes it the most popular show on the channel.

Discourses Surrounding British Widows of the First World War (Bloomsbury, 2012). 

Trump's tweets

Angela Smith has co-written an article with Michael Higgins (Strathclyde University) which looks at discourses of masculinity in the social media performance of US President Donald Trump. The authors discuss the implications of these for the normalisation of regressive forms of masculinity in public discourse, where normalisation is the process of co-opting otherwise deviant behaviours by integrating them into institutional practice. The article begins by exploring ways in which Trump’s social media performance exhibits the characteristics of “hypermasculinity”. The analysis then turns to the everyday expression of traditionally macho masculinity by Trump by conducting a search for tokens of the masculine gendered nouns “man” and “guy”, and using critical discourse analysis to reveal the use of these in exercising gendered forms of judgement. Of particular importance is the informal “guy”, through which Trump defines challengers within power-based masculine oppositions. Overall, the authors find that while the concept of hypermasculinity is useful in describing provocative displays of “bad behaviour” oriented-towards a populist style of leadership, Trump routinely produces more banal types of masculine performance that objectify allies and opponents within a gendered hierarchy, and may be said to normalise regressive forms of masculinity within the prevailing political culture.

Smith, A. and Higgins, M. 2020. Tough guys and little rocket men: @Realdonaldtrump’s Twitter feed and the normalisation of banal masculinity. Social Semiotics.

Clean eating

Angela Smith has published an article about 'clean eating'. The clean eating dietary fad has grown in popularity in the last decade. Angela's research explores how it has come to be associated with certain ingredients and a general discourse of well-being. Whilst being largely discredited as pseudo-science, many of these ingredients have found their way into recipes in the cookery books of those who declare a clear opposition to clean eating. In particular, Angela explores the cookery books of Nigella Lawson, as she states a preference for new ingredients that are typically associated with clean eating.

Smith, A. (2020) 'Clean eating’s surprising normalisation: The case of Nigella Lawson'. Discourse, Context & Media 35.

Just call me Dave

In a special edition of the Journal of Language and Politics which she guest-edited, Professor Angela Smith has published an article which shows how male politicians can draw on performances of masculinity to appeal to voters. Angela uses former UK Prime Minister David Cameron as an example of how performances of masculinity interact with the opportunistic use of populist forms of political engagement. She argues that while Cameron’s performances of populism are often situated in compatible policy initiatives such as the “big society”, we can also identify a more sustained deployment of masculine discourse in “performances” of alignment with the people. Angela shows how these gendered performances of political leaders mirror changes in society, while exploring how they can also be politically hazardous.

'Just call me Dave': David Cameron’s perilous populist status.' Journal of Language and Politics (Published online: 15 Jan 2020), 1–20.

The semiotics of British butter in the context of Brexit

Professor Angela Smith has recently given a paper at the 6th FoodKom seminar in Stockholm. She considered the semiotics of butter packaging in the British context, to explore how national identity is represented. Angela argued that since 2016 national identity has become a central theme in the packing of British butter, whether this is a supermarket own brand, or a leading dairy producer.  The absence of cows in this packaging is part of a long-running semiotic practice that seems to relate to the industrialisation of the dairy industry in Britain, but the raising of national symbols seems triggered by the threat to the UK dairy industry that Brexit embodies.  Through the exploration of the changes made to one specific brand, Anchor, Angela showed how both of these strands have lead to the redesigned packaging we find now.

Angela Smith on British widows of the First World War

Angela Smith recently presented a talk based on her research relating to British widows of the First World War to the University of the Third Age (U3A), Newcastle.  This research is also being drawn on by the producers of the social history television programme, A House Through Time. Angela has been helping to explain more of the lives and social context of some of the residents of an old house in Bristol for the third series of the show, which is due to be broadcast in spring 2020.

Political offensiveness

In a chapter co-authored with Martin Montgomery (University of Macau) and Michael Higgins (Strathclyde University) entitled 'Political offensiveness in the mediated public sphere: the performative play of alignments', Professor Angela Smith explores developing concerns about the rise of offensiveness in the political public sphere and more especially in social media. The authors argue that current iterations of purposeful political offence should be considered in the context of a number of factors.  One is the ascendency of short-form social media such as Twitter and Instagram, which disperse and fragment the discourse of political elites, enabling multi-articulated tactics of address that are subject to processes of remediation.  A second factor is the rise of “post-truth” politics (Montgomery, 2017), in which impressions of personal authenticity take the place of facts, and truth becomes less important than ‘speaking your mind’. The chapter shows that several significant cases of political offence take form and shape along an axis between ’authentic' expression (or ‘speaking your mind’) and submission to political correctness.

'Political offensiveness in the mediated public sphere: the performative play of alignments' can be found in Anne Graefer (ed) Media and the Politics of Offence. Palgrave, 2019.

Naked dating shows

Professor Angela Smith has published an article about the Channel 4 show Naked Attraction. This programme involves clothed participants viewing and commenting on six potential 'dates' as they stand naked in plastic pods designed to gradually reveal their bodies from the feet upwards. Angela explores how the shock of graphic nudity is ameliorated by the linguistic strategies of positive politeness with which all participants seem to collude and engage. Such amelioration, she argues, would appear to be a defence against accusations of voyeuristic and pornographic content on mainstream TV.

Smith, A. 2019. ‘How the hell did this get on tv?’: Naked dating shows as the final taboo on mainstream TV. European Journal of Cultural Studies. 

Keynote address in Sweden

Professor Angela Smith

Professor Angela Smith will be giving a keynote address at the annual conference of the Swedish association of Media and Communication Studies (FSMK) at Örebro University (16th-17th May 2019). The conference topic is "The critical challenge" and Angela's keynote will focus on the challenges and rewards of teaching media theory to non-media students.

Angela Smith on the BBC

Following the recent paperback publication of her book, Belligerent Broadcasting, Angela Smith has appeared on BBC Radio Newcastle to talk about the spread of conflict talk across the media. As Angela’s book has explored, conflict talk is now so widespread it is generally not noticed.  However, as Angela points out, this is something that media regulators are now taking notice of.  She is working with Ofcom to explore public perceptions of such conflict talk in the media, and is currently running  focus groups in Sunderland and Glasgow. 

Slow tv

Professor Angela Smith has given a paper at the 26th Ross Priory International Seminar on Broadcast Talk 2018. Entitled 'Slow tv: the mesmerising antidote to political maelstroms', her talk traced the emergence of 'slow TV' as the antithesis of the fast-edited, fast-paced television that has developed as the dominant concept of the medium in the twenty-first century.  More recently, it has been heralded as the antidote to the rise of right-wing populist noise. 

Whilst the early cable channels showed ambient images of burning fires or tropic fish tanks, slow tv is slightly more dynamic and deliberately edited to be relaxing as well as informative.  Many of the visual tropes in slow tv come from arthouse cinema, particularly the lingering shots and sense of stillness. Unlike ambient tv, it has a narrative but not all of them have a narrator.  The narrative is sometimes left to the viewer to work out, such as the original slow tv show, Train Ride: Bergen to Oslo (2009).  Others have on-screen captions, such as The Ghan (2013).  Where voice-over narrative does exist, it is descriptive and lacking in the usual tropes of drama.  Angela's paper argued that the defining feature of slow tv is the narrative, but that this takes many different forms.

Hypermasculinity, Twitter and #MAGA

Professor Angela Smith has recently given a paper at the 'Approaches to Discourse' conference at Georgetown University (Washington DC). She spoke on the concept of hypermasculinity, which was first theorised in the early 1980s. At that time masculinity was often perceived as being under threat from the great advances in gender equality made following the arrival of Second Wave Feminism.  Angela argued that in the last five years we have seen a rise in the performance of hypermasculinity on the national stage, often aligned with right wing politics and a heightened sense of national identity in face of a perceived over-reaching of liberalism.  Angela's paper explored how some politicians use social media to promote their messages, side-stepping the otherwise regulating voice of the mainstream media. She looked at tweets from the personal account of Donald Trump to offer an explanation for at least part of the appeal of the ‘Make America Great Again’ hashtag, and argued that resurgent hypermasculinity can be used to explore such data.

Gender in 'crisis', everyday sexism and the Twittersphere

A new volume of essays entitled Crisis and the Media features a chapter by Professor Angela Smith. In it, she explores how rejections of claims for equality are represented in the technology of the twenty-first century, but at the same time embody the language of a pre-feminist world and can thus be seen to at once empower and restrict feminist discourse. In this way, the crisis in gender relations is one that emerges in the 1990s in Westernised contexts and continues to develop into the twenty-first century, contributing to the emergence of a Fourth Wave of feminist action. As such, 'crisis' is employed to explore how various small events, seemingly insignificant in isolation, have been raised to public notice through social media to enhance the emergence of Fourth Wave Feminism in the last ten years.

Smith, A. 2018. 'Gender in "crisis", everyday sexism and the Twittersphere.' In Patrona, M. (ed) Crisis and the Media. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp.231-260. 

School of Culture Research Seminar

Professor Angela Smith will be giving a talk in the School of Culture research seminar series. Her focus is Channel 4’s Naked Attraction. This is a show that opens with the assertion that ‘Online dating has been a complete nightmare […] with the status symbols we wear getting in the way of finding our perfect mate.’  With full nudity, lingering close-ups and graphic descriptions, many viewers took to Twitter to express dismay that the show had made it to mainstream television, and led to the Guardian referring to it as symptomatic of the dystopian media landscape of 2016. Angela's paper will explore how the shock of graphic nudity is ameliorated by the linguistic strategies of positive politeness that all participants seem to collude with. Such amelioration would appear to be a defence against accusations of voyeuristic and pornographic content on mainstream television.

Wednesday 21 March 2018

Reg Vardy 104A, 4pm-5pm

Light refreshments and Q&A after the talk

The language of European food labelling regulations

Professor Angela Smith recently attended the 4th FoodKom Seminar at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.  Her paper, 'Tiny Print and Traffic Light Chaos', looked at how European food labelling regulations are applied in the British context to front of packaging.  Angela showed how the non-mandatory nature of the system has led to potentially confusing food labelling, exploring the semiotic properties of the packaging.  She concluded that the lack of standardisation and the non-mandatory nature of the system is often unhelpful and even confusing (particularly to those of declining eye sight), but that it could nevertheless be of use to the knowing consumer and so is of limited help.

Re-reading Spare Rib

Professor Angela Smith has edited a collection of essays about Spare Rib, one of the most iconic symbols of Second Wave Feminism, whose influence has far out-lived the span of its publication (1972-1993).  Re-Reading Spare Rib (Palgrave Macmillan 2017) examines various aspects of the magazine - based on the digitised publication by the British Library in 2015 - in order to explore the ways in which it has influenced society in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as well as the lives of individual readers. By analysing several articles from a modern, post-feminist perspective, and using cross-generational interviews of Spare Rib readers and reflective accounts of reading the publication, the significance and endurance of the publication is demonstrated. Written by academics, experienced researchers and independent scholars alike, the inter-disciplinary nature of the text results in a multi-dimensional reading of Spare Rib suitable for both an academic and general readership interested in cultural and media studies.

In addition to Angela, two other members of the School of Culture have contributed chapters: Dr Kath Kerr-Koch, and PhD student Maria Fotiadou. Other Sunderland contributions come from Professor Catherine Donovan, Professor Donna Chambers, Professor Bridget Cooper, Dr Sheila Quaid,  Dr Rob Worrall, Dr Paul-Alan Armstrong, Trish Bryans, and Helen Fraser.