Ms Rachel Abreu

  • Lecturer in Cultural Industries (School of Culture & Creative Arts)

Research interests

My research interests lie in social and digital media and questions of diversity, representation, and identity. I am particularly interested in employing feminist, intersectional methodologies within my research and highlighting the experiences of marginalised groups. 

My PhD research, "Whose Ideal is it Anyway? Religious Women's Negotiations of Beauty and Multifaceted, Ethnic Identity on Instagram" was an interdisciplinary project that focused on the persisting effects of colonialism on identity formation and self-perception; the intersections between gender, race, and religion; and the role of social media in articulations of beauty and gender. 

Currently, I am contributing to a research project on EU aviation policy and lobbying on the climate emergency.  

My broader research interests include: 

  • Globalisation and cultural imperialism 
  • Participatory cultures
  • Platform capitalism and algorithmic oppression
  • Media and creative industries
  • Visual media and cultures

Publications

Prior publications

Conference item

Rachel Abreu (2024) “The Real or Ideal Me?” Self-representation, Self-surveillance, and Self-exclusion in Religious Women’s Expressions of Identity on Instagram Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media and Culture (BAMC) Rachel Abreu.

Rachel Abreu (2024) The Complexities of Giving Voice: Feminist Approaches to Articulating Multifaceted Identity in Research Media, Communications, and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) Postgraduate Network Conference Rachel Abreu.

Rachel Abreu (2024) Fashioning Identity: Using Instagram to Challenge Misconceptions of Religion, Modesty, and Beauty Joint European Conference on Arts and Humanities and Education (ECAH/ECE) Rachel Abreu.

Rachel Abreu (2023) Intense Curation: How Religious, Ethnic Minority Women Navigate Instagram’s Beauty Standards Barcelona Conference on Arts, Media and Culture (BAMC) Rachel Abreu.

Rachel Abreu (2023) The Myth of Diverse Representation: How Multiple Marginalisations Converge in the Online Sphere EnGender Academia Rachel Abreu.

Rachel Abreu (2023) The Role of Instagram in Religious Women’s Negotiations of Gender and Sexual Identity Sex in Contemporary Media Conference (SCMC) Rachel Abreu.

Rachel Abreu (2023) Instagram, Beauty and the Role of Religious, Ethnic Background University of Warwick Centre for the Study of Women and Gender (CSWG) Graduate Seminar Series Rachel Abreu.

Rachel Abreu (2022) (Kn)owing: Challenging Assumptions in Insider-Outsider Research London School of Economics (LSE) Research/er/ed Conference Rachel Abreu.

Rachel Abreu (2022) Instagram, Beauty, and Ethnic Minority Women EnGender Academia Rachel Abreu.

Rachel Abreu (2022) New Feminisms: Social Media as Mediator in Ethnic Minority Women’s Negotiations of Gender and Religious Identity University of Stirling Faculty of Arts and Humanities Postgraduate Conference Rachel Abreu.

Article

Rachel Abreu (2023) Negotiating Representation: Ethnic Minority Women’s Experiences of Beauty on Instagram En-Gender! Rachel Abreu.