Associate Professor in Media and Creative Industries Director: MA Global Media and Communication Centre for Cultural & Media Policy Studies Administrative roles Director of the MA in Global Media and Communication Director of Research Environment Co-Director of the Centre for Digital Inquiry

About

Carolina Bandinelli is Associate Professor in Media and Creative Industries. She joined the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies in 2019 and directs the MA in Global Media and Communication. In 2017, she completed a PhD in Media Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths College. Her research is concerned with emerging forms of subjectivity and sociality in the digital culture industries, which she investigates combining ethnographic methods with the analysis of discourses.

Research Interest

Currently, my research focuses on the digital culture of love. I am investigating digital technologies of love and the ways in which these shape emerging cultural tropes in the dimensions of romance, sexuality and intimacy. Initial findings of this ongoing project are published in articles for Psychoanalysis Culture and Society, Cultural Sociology, International Journal of Cultural Policy, and Sexualities. In 2021, I curated the series of events Summer of Love: dialogues on digital romance, hosted by Warwick's Centre for Digital Inquiry. My work on digital love has featured in prominent media outlets, including the NYT, El Pais, The Atlantic, and the BBC.

In recent years, I have published on the organisation and significance of work in the creative industries. In particular, I have contributed to the debates on self-branding, coworking and collaborative economies. My monograph Social Entrepreneurship and Neoliberalism: Making Money While Doing Good (Rowman and Littlefield International), offers an analysis of social entrepreneurs, which I interpret as a new generation of creative workers who express their values and virtues by means of a business. The close intertwinement between ethics and economy is also the focus of my article ‘The Production of Subjectivities in Neoliberal Culture Industries: The Case of Coworking Spaces’, published in The International Journal of Cultural Studies.

I participated as Senior Researcher for the AHRC project CREATe, as part of a team led by Prof. Angela McRobbie. Part of our findings can be found in a co-authored article on ‘Feminism and the Politics of Creative Labour: Fashion Micro-enterprises in London, Berlin and Milan’, in Australian Feminist Studies, and the book Fashion as Creative Economy, co-authored by McRobbie, Strutt and myself (Polity, 2022)

Selected publications

• Bandinelli, C., & Cossu, A. (2023). Bye bye romance, welcome reputation: An analysis of the digital enclosure of dating. Sexualities, 0(0).
• Bandinelli, C (2022) Dating apps: towards post-romantic love in digital societies, International Journal of Cultural Policy, 28:7
• McRobbie, Strutt, bandinelli (2022) Fashion as Creative Economy. London: Polity.
• Bandinelli C, & Gandini A. (2022) Dating Apps: The Uncertainty of Marketised Love. Cultural Sociology. 2022. doi:10.1177/17499755211051559
• Bandinelli, C., & Bandinelli, A. (2021) What does the app want? A psychoanalytic interpretation of dating apps’ libidinal economy. Psychoanalysis Culture and Society 26, 181–198. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41282-021-00217-5
• Bandinelli, C. (2020a) Social Entrepreneurship: Making Money While Doing Good. London: Rowman and Littlefield International.
• Bandinelli, C. (2020b) ‘The Production of Subjectivities in Neoliberal Culture Industries: The Case of Coworking Spaces, in International Journal of Cultural Studies. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367877919878449
• McRobbie, A., Strutt, D. and Bandinelli, C. (2019) ‘Feminism and the Politics of Creative Labour: Fashion Micro-Enterprises in London Berlin and Milan’, in Australian Feminist Studies 34:100, 131-148.
• Bandinelli, C. and Gandini, A. (2019) ‘Creative hubs versus creative networks’, in Gill, R. Pratt, A. Virani, T. (eds.) Creative Hubs. Palgrave, London.
• Gandini, A. Bandinelli, C. and Cossu, A. (2017) ‘Collaborating, Competing, Coalescing, Coworking’, in Graham, J. and Gandini, A. (eds.) Collaborative Production in the Creative Industries. University of Westminster Press, London.
• Ardvisson, A. Gandini, A. Bandinelli, C. (2016) ‘The Ethics of Self­ Branding Amongst Freelance Knowledge Workers’, in Crain, M. Poster, W. Cherry, M. (eds) Invisible Labor: Hidden Work in the Contemporary World. University of California Press, Oakland.
• McRobbie, A. Strutt, D. Bandinelli, C. Springer, B. (2016) Fashion Micro­ Enterprises in London Berlin Milan. CREATe Report Phase I. Goldsmiths and CREATe, Glasgow, London.
• Bandinelli, C. (2015) Il Miglior Lavoro del Mondo: Lo Strano Caso dell’Imprenditoria Sociale. [The best job in the word: the strange case of social entrepreneurship]. Doppiozero/Che­ Fare: Milan.
• Bandinelli, C. and Arvidsson, A. (2013) ‘Brand yourself a changemaker!’, in Journal of Macromarketing, 33(1).

Selected conference papers

•  Lacan in Scotland seminar series, Edinburgh Napier University

(2020)

• Invited presentation of the paper: ‘What does the app want? A psychoanalytic reading of dating apps’, with Arturo Bandinelli.

• Social and Political Studies Seminar, University of Milan

(2019)

Invited book presentation. Social entrepreneurship and neoliberalism: Making money while doing good (Rowman and Littlefield International).

• LOVE ETC., University of Southern Denmark.

(2019)

Presentation of the paper: ‘Love me, Tinder: an exploration of the digital culture of love’.  

• CAMEo Conference 2019, University of Leicester

(2019)

Presentation of the paper ‘Future After Future: The Ethical Turn of Creative Economies’.

• Realities and Fantasies, Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA).

(2019)

Presentation of the paper: ‘Tinder and the fantasy of the other’.

• Understanding the Social, University of East Anglia.

(2019)

Presentation of the paper ‘Trust in the age of dating apps’ with Alessandro Gandini.

• Digital Self - King's College, University of London.

(2018)

Presentation of the paper: 'Love me, Tinder: on the digital culture of romance'.

• MeCCSA 2018 – annual conference Creativity and Agency, London Southbank University.

(2018)

Chair of the session 'Creative Entrepreneurs'. Presentation of the paper: ‘Virtues at work? The ethical desire of creative entrepreneurs’.

• Working in the digital economy: an ‘industrious’ revolution? Centre for Digital Culture, King’s College, University of London.

(2017)

Discussant of Prof. Adam Arvidsson.

• Spaces of fashion: digital, technology and labour processes, University of Milan.

(2017)

Invited talk : 'Entrepreneurship and digital affect in e-fashion'.

• Fashion as Urban Creative Economy: start-ups, IP, and the rise of e-commerce Glasgow School of Arts.

(2016)

Invited talk: 'The subjective experience of e-commerce in fashion'. 

• Goldsmiths Creative Labour Process Group: Concepts and Methods in Cross-Sectoral Frame, Goldsmiths College.

(2016)

Invited talk: 'The affect of research in cultural entrepreneurs'.

• The Sociality of Sharing, Warwick University.

(2015)

Invited talk: 'Cooperative competition, a study on the sociality of social entrepreneurs', with Alessandro Gandini.

• Ephemera: Organizing for post-growth economy, Copenhagen Business School.

(2014)

Presentation of the paper: 'Challenging neoliberal economy through cooperative individualism: a case study in social entrepreneurship'.

 

Teaching I teach on the following modules: Technology Culture and Creativity (MA) Media Creative and Cultural Industries (BA) The Major Project (BA and MA)

Research supervision I would be interested in supervising postgraduate students who wish to research cultures of love and sexuality in digital societies, and emerging forms of work in the creative industries. I welcome projects that foster a gendered perspective and inventive methods.