Generate a tailored SOP for Dr. Sandra Becker. Improve your application with a focused, well-structured draft.
Sandra Becker is an Assistant Professor at Utrecht University in the Department of Media and Culture Studies. She holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of Groningen. Her research interests lie at the intersections of Cultural Studies, TV and Film Studies, and Gender Studies. Currently, her research focuses on the on- and off-screen representation of gender diversity in audiovisual fiction production, particularly in the context of Video on Demand streaming services. She has designed and taught seminars on U.S. television and film, as well as Mexico’s audiovisual landscape, and has given guest lectures on gender representation in television fiction production, masculinity studies, and U.S. popular culture. Her interdisciplinary PhD project, titled ‘Fathers Nation: U.S. Gender History, Racial Capitalism, and White Fatherhood in Contemporary TV Series (2001–2016)’, approaches early-2000s TV series like Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Mad Men as cultural-historic artifacts. This research analyses the depiction of white father protagonists against the backdrop of socio-economic and political events and gendered discourses at the beginning of the twenty-first century. She has published works on gender representation in historical dramas, gender dynamics in (post-)apocalyptic dramas, and the reception of Latino/a portrayals in early-2000s U.S. crime series among Mexican young adult audiences.
Department of Psychology