Professor Bart Cammaerts

Through his research Professor Bart Cammaerts has established a world leading reputation in the field of media and communication studies, and more specifically in the specialist sub-fields of alternative media, representation of resistance, activist communication strategies and anti-fascism. His research is interdisciplinary and it is informed by his commitment to building intellectual bridges between the discipline of political science and the field of media and communication studies. He achieved this, on the one hand, by introducing political and democratic theory into media and communication studies, and, on the other, by introducing theoretical approaches within the media and communications field to research in the sub-field concerned with the study of social movements and political contention.

A recurrent theme in his research considers the dialectic interplay between dichotomies and analytical categories such as public/private, alternative/mainstream, symbolic/material, production/reception, scarcity/abundance, control/freedom and virtual/real, which were developed in his most recent book. His empirical and theoretical contributions situate themselves in five main areas: 1) media and communication policies at the national and international level and the role of civil society actors in shaping these policies, 2) alternative media as a space of resistance, which can be progressive, but also reactionary 3) the various roles media and communications play for social movements and contentious politics, 4) social change, politics and hegemony, and 5) exposing and contesting the normalisation of neo-fascism in public and political discourse. Regarding research methodologies, he has consistently combined quantitative methods, such as surveys and content analysis, with qualitative methods, such as interviews, focus groups and critical discourse analysis.

In terms of future research, Professor Bart Cammaerts intends to deepen his analysis of the relationships between media, communication and social change through historical research into the role of media and communications for social and rebellious movements of the past. He will also continue his anti-fascist struggle through exposing and critiquing fascist and anti-democratic values, discourses, and policies.

Postgraduate teaching

Professor Cammaerts has convened and taught on the popular postgraduate courses Mediated Resistance and Activism and Political Communication in Democracies and Modern Campaigning Politics. He has also contributed lectures to team-taught postgraduate Media and Communications courses relating to theories and concepts (MC408/MC418) and research methodologies (MC4M1/MC4M2).

Doctoral supervision

Professor Cammaerts supervises doctoral researchers and welcomes applications from prospective students relating to his areas of research. He currently supervises Jessica Kong and has successfully supervised Dr Jessica Baines, Dr Brooks DeCillia and Dr Cornelia Reyes Acosta to completion.