Rachel E. Dubrofsky

Biography

Rachel E. Dubrofsky is professor and chair of the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies.

Prior to joining Syracuse University, Dubrofsky served as professor in the University of South Florida’s Department of Communication, chair of the department’s Equity, Social Justice and Accountability Committee, and co-chair of the University’s Faculty Senate Council on Racial Justice.

Dubrofsky’s research—rooted in a critical/cultural studies tradition and attuned to popular culture (reality TV, television, social media, film, selfies, music videos, news)—emphasizes issues of race and gender with a focus on surveillance, whiteness and authenticity. A few of the topics she has written about are Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, MeToo, “The Bachelor,” Karens and “The Hunger Games.”

She is the author of “The Surveillance of Women on Reality Television: Watching ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘The Bachelorette,’’’ the co-editor of the collection “Feminist Surveillance Studies,” and the author of “Authenticating Whiteness: Karens, Selfies and Pop Stars.”

A sought-after expert on popular culture, Dubrofsky has been quoted in The Atlantic, Glamour, Rolling Stone, Time, The Guardian and The Washington Post, to name a few.

Dubrofsky holds a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; an M.A. from York University; and a B.A. from Concordia University.

Education

• Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
• M.A., York University
• B.A., Concordia University

Select Publications

• Dubrofsky, Rachel E. & Marina Levina. (2020), “The Labor of Consent: Affect, Agency and Whiteness in the Age of #metoo,” Critical Studies in Media Communication, 37(5), 409-423.
• Dubrofsky, Rachel E. (2019), “Authentic Trump: Monstrous Whiteness,” in Interrogating the Communicative Power of Whiteness, D. M. McIntosh, D. G. Moon, & T. K. Nakayama (Eds.).
• Dubrofsky, Rachel E. & Emily Ryalls (2014), “‘The Hunger Games’: Authenticating Whiteness and Femininity under Surveillance,” Critical Studies in Media Communication, 31(5), 395-409.
• Dubrofsky, Rachel E. (2013), “Singing to the tune of postracism: Jewishness, blackness, and whiteness on ‘Glee,’” Communication, Culture & Critique, 6(1), 82-102.
• Dubrofsky, Rachel E. (2006), “‘The Bachelor’: Whiteness in the Harem,” Critical Studies in Media Communication, 23(1), 39-56.

Select Media Appearances

• “I Didn't Realize How Much of a Machine It Is,” The Atlantic
• “Matt James Is the First Black Bachelor. But He Alone Can’t Solve the Franchise’s Issues with Race,” Time magazine
• “‘90 Day Fiancé’: A look at the soft xenophobia of TLC’s hit reality show,” Yahoo Entertainment
• “Racism is rampant on reality tv and Netflix’s Million Dollar Beach House is just the tip of the iceberg,” Glamour Magazine
• “Why No Sex Is the New Sex on Reality TV,” Rolling Stone
• “There’s a dark side to women’s health apps: ‘Menstrual surveillance,’” The Guardian
• “Formal and casual White House photos show distance between Trump and increasingly diverse nation,” The Washington Post
• “Is Lena Dunham’s ‘hipster racism’ just old-fashioned prejudice,” The Guardian
• “What Would It Mean to Have A ‘Hapa’ Bachelorette?” NPR
• “How Hate-Watching ‘The Bachelor’ Became A Competitive Sport,” The Washington Post
• “The Hipster Racism of Reality TV,” Salon.com
• “Audio interview with Dr. Dubrofsky,” The Critical Lede
• “On ‘The Bachelor,’” The Daily Beast
• “Freefall tackles dark side of reality TV with ‘American Monkey,’” Tampa Bay Times