Dr Robert Topinka

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Overview
Overview
Biography
My areas of expertise are in technology, the city, transnationalism, postcolonialism, and race. I examine the ways in which media and technology affect everyday life and urban governance.
My research spans disciplines and time periods, drawing on urban studies, media theory, rhetoric, and aesthetics to examine the history and present of media, race, and urban life. I would be happy to supervise PhD students researching topics related to any of these themes.
I was Co-Investigator on the AHRC-Funded project, 'Political Ideology, Rhetoric and Aesthetics in the Twenty-First Century: The Case of the "Alt-Right"'. We reported on the findings of the grant with the Reactionary Digital Politics podcast, which you can find here.
My monograph, Racing the Street: Race, Rhetoric and Technology in Metropolitan London, 1840-1900 was published in 2020 by University of California Press.
I’ve published research in Theory & Event, New Media & Society, Politics, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, Citizenship Studies, Foucault Studies, and elsewhere.
Qualifications
- PhD, Northwestern University, 2015
ORCID
0000-0001-9795-3999 -
Research
Research
Research projects
Political Ideology, Rhetoric and Aesthetics in the Twenty-First Century: The Case of the 'Alt-Right'
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Supervision and teaching
Supervision and teaching
Supervision
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who wish to pursue projects related digital media and culture, including on themes such as digital subcultures, reactionary politics and misinformation.
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Publications
Publications
Article
- Gallagher, R. and Topinka, Robert (2023) The politics of the NPC meme: reactionary subcultural practice and vernacular theory. Big Data & Society 10 (1), pp. 1-16. ISSN 2053-9517.
- Topinka, Robert (2022) The politics of anti-discourse: Copypasta, the Alt-Right, and the rhetoric of form. Theory and Event 25 (2), pp. 392-418. ISSN 1092-311X.
- Topinka, Robert and Finlayson, A. and Osborne-Carey, C. (2021) The trap of tracking: digital methods, surveillance, and the far right. Surveillance & Society 19 (3), ISSN 1477-7487.
- Topinka, Robert (2019) “Back to a Past that Was Futuristic”: The Alt-Right and the uncanny form of racism. b2o: an online journal ISSN 2639-7250.
- Topinka, Robert (2018) Politically incorrect participatory media: racist nationalism on r/ImGoingToHellForThis. New Media & Society 20 (5), pp. 2050-2069. ISSN 1461-4448.
- Topinka, Robert and Innes, A. (2017) The global politics of a ‘Poncy Pillowcase’: Coronation Street at the border. Politics 37 (3), pp. 273-287. ISSN 0263-3957.
- Topinka, Robert (2016) Terrorism, governmentality and the simulated city: the Boston Marathon bombing and the search for suspect two. Visual Communication 15 (3), pp. 351-370. ISSN 1470-3572.
- Topinka, Robert (2016) Race, circulation, and the city: the case of the Chicago city sticker controversy. Western Journal of Communication 80 (2), pp. 163-184. ISSN 1745-1027.
- Topinka, Robert (2016) ‘Wandering and settled tribes’: biopolitics, citizenship, and the racialized migrant. Citizenship Studies 20 (3-4), pp. 444-456. ISSN 1362-1025.
Book
- Topinka, Robert (2020) Racing the street: race, rhetoric, and technology in metropolitan London, 1840-1900. Rhetoric and Public Culture: History, Theory, Critique. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520343610. (In Press)