Caitlin Lawson

Assistant Professor of Communication & Media Studies

Caitlin E. Lawson has been an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Emmanuel College since 2020. She is a feminist media studies scholar whose work focuses on popular and digital cultures. Specifically, her research explores the ways in which pop culture and social media intersect to provide everyday opportunities to negotiate social justice and equity. Her first book, Just Like Us: Digital Debates on Feminism and Fame (2022), examines the rise of celebrity feminism, its intersections with digital culture, and its complicated relationships with race, sexuality, capitalism, and misogyny. Her current research program focuses on fundamentalist Evangelical content creators and their anti-fans.

You can find out more at her website, www.caitlin-lawson.com

What I Love About Emmanuel:

Although I'm just starting my journey at Emmanuel, I am so impressed by the students' eagerness to learn and challenge themselves. Already I sense in my students such a drive to grow intellectually, and I look forward to being a part of that process with them.

PhD in Communication and Media Studies: University of Michigan

MA in Film Studies: University of Central Oklahoma

BA in Literary and Cultural Studies: University of Oklahoma

COMM1502: Media & Society

COMM2515: Qualitative Research Methods

COMM3701: Media Theory

COMM3730: Feminist Media Studies

COMM4998: Senior Seminar

  • Lawson, C. E. (2022). Just Like Us: Digital Debates on Feminism and Fame. Rutgers University Press.

  • Lawson, C. E. (2021). Skin deep: Callout strategies, influencers, and racism in the online beauty community. New Media & Society, 23(3), 596-612.

  • Lawson, C. E., & Draper, J. (2021). Working the red carpet: a framework for analysing celebrities’ red carpet labour. Celebrity Studies, 12(4), 635-648.

  • Lawson, C. E. (2018). Platform vulnerabilities: harassment and misogynoir in the digital attack on Leslie Jones. Information, Communication & Society, 21(6), 818-833.

  • Lawson, C. E. (2022). Harnessing Your Feminist Rage: A Multimedia Assignment for Upper-Level Courses. Feminist Pedagogy, 2(4), 2.

My research centers on the following:

  • Feminist media studies
  • Digital culture
  • Celebrity/influencer studies