Dr. Wendy Willems

Biography

Wendy Willems is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her current research project, Racialised Publics, examines the material infrastructuring and discursive constitution of digital publics within the longer transnational histories of colonialism and racialisation. Willems’ work has appeared in several prominent journals including Communication Theory and Communication, Culture & Critique. She is a co-editor of books such as Civic Agency in Africa and Everyday Media Culture in Africa. Willems is also a founding editor of the Journal of African Media Studies, established in 2009. She holds a PhD in Media and Film Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and degrees in Economics and Cultural Studies from the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands. Prior to joining academia, she was involved in the Dutch anti-apartheid movement and worked with various organizations in southern Africa. Her expertise spans postcolonial and decolonial approaches to media and communication, as well as urban communication and digital public histories. Willems' research critically interrogates the politics of knowledge production in media studies, particularly focusing on the erasure of African scholars in hegemonic disciplinary histories.

Research Interests

Experience