Professor Tania Lewis

Tania Lewis is a Professor in the School of Media and Communication. She has a background in cultural studies and media studies and was a medical doctor in a former life. Over the past couple of decades, her research has been concerned with the politics of lifestyle, sustainability and consumption. Her current research is on the future of work and the digitisation of home life. She has conducted a wide range of empirical research including video ethnographic studies of household recycling, backyard permaculture and digital ethnographic research on people working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tania has published over 70 journal articles, book chapters and reports while her most recent book, Digital Food: From Paddock to Platform (Bloomsbury 2020), is the first monograph to engage with everyday digital practices and food culture.

Tania is also the author/co-author of a number of other books including Digital Ethnography: Principles and Practices (Sage); Smart Living: Lifestyle Media and Popular Expertise (Peter Lang), and Telemodernities: Television and Transforming Lives in Asia (Duke University Press).

Tania is on the editorial and advisory boards of: Cultural Studies, Media International Australia, Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia (Book Series, Routledge) and Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies

Websites: 

• worklifeecologies.org/about-project/
• rmit.academia.edu/TaniaLewis

Research

Tania's research interests include:

• Sustainability and urban futures
• Ethical consumption and sustainable lifestyles
• Urban farming
• Food cultures
• Food and media
• Digital and media methods
• South East Asian media cultures
• Sustainability and South East Asia
• Ordinary expertise
• Green citizenship
• Theories of individualization and life politics
• Class, gender and lifestyle
• Interdisciplinary creative projects

• PhD, Department of English with Cultural Studies, University of Melbourne, 2000 See the eprint of her PhD
• MA, with Distinction, American Studies/Sociology, University of Canterbury, NZ, 1995
• BA(Hons), First class (University Prize for Arts Faculty), American Studies, University of Canterbury, NZ, 1993
• MBBS (Bachelor of medicine/surgery), University of Otago, NZ, 1990

Tania has worked as a doctor in New Zealand and has held five competitive national and international Fellowships. She has worked and conducted research in a range of disciplinary contexts including media studies, sociology, cultural studies, public health, education, and American Studies.

Her previous positions include:

• Senior VC Fellow, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University
• Charles La Trobe Research Fellow, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne.
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Faculty of Education, Monash University.
• Visiting Scholar, Institute for Comparative Culture, Sophia University, Tokyo.
• R. D. Wright Fellow, Faculty of Medicine, University of Melbourne.
• Visiting Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies of the Humanities, University of Edinburgh.
• Lecturer, Media and Communications Program, University of Melbourne.
• House Surgeon working in medicine, surgery and psychiatry in NZ (1990-1994)

Editorial and advisory boards

Tania is on the editorial and advisory boards of:

• Critical Studies in Media Communication
• Media, Culture and Social Change in Asia (Book Series, Routledge)
• Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies
• Communication, Politics and Culture Journal
• [Sic]: A Journal of Literature, Culture and Literary Translation