Dr Abigail Loxham

Research Overview

Mediating Feminism in Spanish Popular Culture

This project analyses popular culture in Spain as a site where feminist discourses are made visible and argues that its transmedial nature is key to this visibility. Deploying theories from media studies, postfeminism and popular feminism to analyse films, comics, podcasts, television and celebrity culture, it scrutinises the the relationship between popular culture and the changing social and political context in Spain where feminism is newly visible. This analysis of the mediation of female subjectivities in contemporary Spanish culture addresses an urgent need for this comparative and transnational work, developing debates on popular culture and feminism beyond the anglophone context.

Femininity and Feminism in Spanish TV Dramas (co-authored monograph with Prof. Anja Louis, Sheffield Hallam. Under contract with Pagrave Macmillan)

Recent Social and political events in Spain have prompted a resurgence of feminism in the Spanish public sphere. Popular culture intervenes in these debates and television does so specifically through its prolific drama series in Spain, and, more recently, successful Spanish dramas available transnationally on streaming services. The dramas we analyse foreground female stories, female subjects, and, in many cases redefine and interpret key moments in the development of national gender politics. This pioneering study maps these developing concerns in a selection of TV dramas which centre on feminisms and female identities, and as such, are key interlocutors in social change. Our intention is to mainstream Spanish television studies and demonstrate its innovative and varied approach to gender politcs.

Gender and Television in Iberia and Latin America (Co-edited with Prof. Anja Louis, Sheffield Hallam. Under contract with Bloomsbury)

This edited book fills a significant gap in Transnational Popular Culture. Ground-breaking in its interdisciplinarity (Television, Modern Languages, Gender and Queer Studies) and the first of its kind in English, this collection compiles original scholarship on TV from Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. It connects it to exciting research on gendered identities with a particular focus on the national and the transnational. Formats discussed range from the telenovela, melodrama, historical drama, heist narratives and the thriller to hybridisation of genres, and reality TV. The creative process is analysed in chapters with a focus on female scriptwriters, showrunners and directors. This variety and range interpret key moments in transnational gender politics through a selection of TV dramas which centre on gendered identities and social change. Key to the book’s approach is inclusivity and intersectionality and gender is examined alongside other identities as part of a network of innovative practices that address and interrogate representational practices through this medium. There is a focus on close textual analysis and critical theories of media and gender as well as exploration of recent industrial changes and interviews with those working in this industry, this represents a rigorous and wide-ranging approach.