Dr Hanna Klien-Thomas
Small Group Project 2021-22
Carnival in in digitalscapes: the mediatisation of public cultural events in and beyond the pandemic
With Maica Gugolati
This research proposal aims to provide a qualitative, in-depth investigation into current digitalisation of Caribbean Carnival culture. The focus is on how participants experience the rapid changes and the transfer of Carnival events to online sites due to the COVID19 pandemic. Festivals such as Notting Hill Carnival have been cancelled and substituted by a variety of events such as recorded performances or live Zoom parties, reinforcing existing trends towards digital practices. Drawing on interviews and ethnographic methods, the role of sensorial and embodied memories for online events will be documented.
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Biography
Dr Hanna Klien-Thomas is a research fellow in Creative Industries and her research is situated in transnational screen studies, visual and popular cultures. Based on a digital ethnographic approach, her current research project explores media practices and notions of public culture in the context of Caribbean Carnival in the UK. Her PhD project focused on Bollywood audiences in the Anglophone Caribbean and was funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences.
In 2012, she spent a year as an affiliate scholar at the Institute of Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies, working on intersectional perspectives on gender, ethnicity and youth. Hanna obtained an MA in Anglophone Literatures and Cultures, an integrated BA/MA in Spanish as well as Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna. Previous work includes an ethnography of the 'second generation' in the Cuban Hip Hop movement, various publications on Hindi cinema and stardom, and exploratory research on Caribbean feminist hashtag campaigns.
In 2012, she spent a year as an affiliate scholar at the Institute of Gender and Development Studies at the University of the West Indies, working on intersectional perspectives on gender, ethnicity and youth. Hanna obtained an MA in Anglophone Literatures and Cultures, an integrated BA/MA in Spanish as well as Cultural and Social Anthropology at the University of Vienna. Previous work includes an ethnography of the 'second generation' in the Cuban Hip Hop movement, various publications on Hindi cinema and stardom, and exploratory research on Caribbean feminist hashtag campaigns.
Biographical details correct as of 24.04.26