Penelope Ironstone
Areas of Expertise
- History of Medicine and Science
- Media and Communication Theory
- Propaganda and Misinformation
- Race and Racism
Biography
I received my PhD in Social and Political Thought from York University in Toronto in 2001 and completed my MA in Comparative Literary Studies (1993) and BA in Directed Interdisciplinary Studies (1991) from Carleton University in Ottawa.
I am the current president of the Canadian Communication Association and the book review editor for the Canadian Journal of Communication. I am actively involved in a number of programs at Laurier, including being a past coordinator of the Cultural Studies Program, and past director of the MA in Cultural Analysis and Social Theory.
My current research includes the SSHRC-funded (2008-2011) research project called "From Seasonal Flu to Pandemic Influenza: The Cultural Life of a Virus." More recently, I have begun to study the cultural discourses surrounding the microbiome and microbial (bio)politics. My research interests span a wide variety of topics connected to cultural studies of health and medicine, risk cultures, cultural theory, and feminist and queer media studies.