CMST Event Focuses on Influencer Culture
The Department of Communication Studies welcomed to Vanderbilt two renowned scholars to discuss the impact of influencers on contemporary American culture. Dr. Sarah Banet-Weiser, the Walter H. Annenberg Dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Grant Bollmer, an Associate Research Professor of Communication at the University of Maryland, took part in the event. Over 100 students were present for the conversation, which was moderated by Vanderbilt professor Sasha Crawford-Holland.
The discussion focused on numerous topics pertinent to influencer cultures. Professor Holland-Crawford asked the panelists to define what, exactly, an influencer is. He also prompted our visitors to discuss the role of the humanities in studying the phenomenon of influencers. Perhaps most intriguing, the roundtable discussed the aspiration of many young people to become influencers. According to one study, there are over 10 million full-time influencers in the U.S. And yet, despite this seeming cultural ubiquity, influencers’ presence remains muted in the traditional circuits of mass media such as film and television. This led Dr. Crawford-Holland to ask: What makes influencers distinct from traditional celebrities? How might we account for their relative absence from the more established culture industries?
Dr. Banet-Weiser is the author or co-author of six books including, most recently, Believability: Sexual Violence, Media, and the Politics of Doubt with Dr. Kathryn Claire Higgins. She is currently doing research on so-called “tradwives.” Dr. Bollmer is the author or co-author of five books including, most recently, The Influencer Factory: A Marxist Theory of Corporate Personhood on YouTube with Dr. Katherine Guinness. He is currently studying conceptions of feudalism in American political culture.