Department of Media and Communication

Jennifer Smith Maguire

BA Arts & Science Honours, McMaster University (Canada), 1995 MA Sociology, McMaster University (Canada), 1997 PhD Sociology, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, 2002   Course Director, BSc Communications, Media & Society   Telephone : 0116 252 2889 e-mail : jbs7@le.ac.uk

Career Experience

In July 2003, I was appointed as a lecturer in the Centre for Mass Communication Research (now part of the Department of Media and Communication). During my time in the Department, I have taught on both the undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, served as undergraduate admissions tutor, and (currently) as the Course Director of the BSc Communications, Media & Society programme. I am an active member of several research groups, including two based at the University of Leicester: the Marketing, Consumption and Cultural Identity (MCCi) group, and IDeoGRAMS, the Inter-Departmental Group for Research into the Arts, Media and Society.

During the second half of the 2006/07 academic year, I was granted a period of study leave, the highlights of which were the completion of a book on my research on consumer fitness (Fit for Consumption: Sociology and the Business of Fitness, Routledge), and a Faculty of Media, Culture and Society visiting fellowship at Curtin University (Perth, Australia), which facilitated the start of a new research project on cultural intermediaries in the wine industry.

Prior to my move to the University of Leicester, I was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), at McMaster University. My postdoc days were spent doing research on body culture and the service economy (using a case study of personal fitness trainers), and teaching in the area of the Sociology of Consumption.

I received my PhD in Sociology from the City University of New York in 2002. My doctoral research, funded by SSHRC and the City University of New York, focused on the cultural field of fitness and involved a multi-tiered case study of the commercial fitness industry in New York City.

Research Interests

I am a sociologist of culture, with a wide-ranging interest in how different producers, consumers, sites, and media intertwine in specific fields of consumption. My empirical research includes examinations of consumer fitness in New York and around the world; the role of cultural intermediaries in the global and local construction of wine markets; the production of aesthetic expertise for interior designers; and the ways in which consumption is used in the identity projects of young adults.

Publications

I have published on a variety of subjects, including consumer fitness culture; consumption, leisure and the process of self-production; the current state of research on consumers and consumption; and the pedagogical advantages of inquiry-based learning for Media Studies.

• Full list of my publications

Teaching and Supervision

Since 2001, I have taught in the Higher Education sector in the United States, Canada and the UK. I currently teach the following modules in the Department of Media and Communication:

• MS 3012 Advertising, Culture and Communication (BSc option)
• MS 3013 Media and the Body (BSc option)
• MS 7000 Contemporary Issues in Media and Cultural Studies (MA core module)*
• MS 7030 Advertising and Cultural Consumption (MA option)*

* Co-taught.

I am interested to hear from prospective research students who wish to undertake research related to my Research Interests .

Professional Activities

I regularly present research findings at international conferences and invited lectures and seminars at universities in different countries. I review manuscript proposals and article submissions for several academic publishers and peer-reviewed journals in the areas of the media, consumption, the body and sport. I am an Associate Registered Practitioner of the UK Higher Education Academy.