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Dr. Julia Sonnevend | The Smart Family Institute

Dr. Julia Sonnevend

Julia  Sonnevend
Dr.
Julia
Sonnevend

Julia Sonnevend is an Assistant Professor in Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. She has been named a Lady Davis Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smart Family Institute of Communications at the Hebrew University and an Associate Postdoctoral Fellow at the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace. She will be in Jerusalem from December 2013 until September 2014. Her postdoctoral advisor will be Paul Frosh.

Sonnevend's research examines the cultural aspects of global media, with a special focus on media events, rituals, performances, symbols and icons. Her research interests also include cultural history, political communication, cultural sociology, visual culture, and the intellectual history of communication research.

 

In Jerusalem Sonnevend will complete a book project that will build on and substantially extend her doctoral work. Her dissertation, Global Iconic Events: How News Stories Travel Through Time, Space and Media is inspired by Daniel Dayan’s and Elihu Katz’s Media Events: The Live Broadcasting of History and explores the ways in which a news event may become a global social myth. Focusing on the fall of the Berlin Wall as central case study, Sonnevend shows how the confusing events of November 9, 1989 gradually condensed into a simple phrase (“fall of the Berlin Wall”), a short emotional narrative of freedom, and a recognizable visual scene. Sonnevend argues that this “package” of phrase, narrative and image now travels across multiple media platforms and has currency from China to Israel to the United States, providing us with a contemporary myth.

Julia Sonnevend received her Ph.D. in Communications from Columbia University, her Master of Laws degree from Yale Law School and her Juris Doctorate and Master of Arts degrees in German Studies and Aesthetics from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.

 

Publications

Articles in Scholarly Journals and Edited Volumes

  • Greenhow, C., Sonnevend J., & Agur, C. (Eds.). (forthcoming). Education and social media: Facing the digital future, anticipated for inclusion in the Information Society Series of MIT Press.
  • Balkin, J. M., & Sonnevend, J. (forthcoming). The digital schoolhouse. In Greenhow, C., Sonnevend J., & Agur, C. (Eds.), Education and social media: Facing the digital future, anticipated for inclusion in the Information Society Series of MIT Press.
  • Sonnevend, J. (2013). Iconoclash, or how to become “friends of interpretable objects?” Read Bruno Latour! In J. Elkins, K. McGuire, M. Burns, A. Chester, & J. Kuennen (Eds.), Theorizing Visual Studies: Writing Through the Discipline (pp. 131-34). New York, London: Routledge.
  • Sonnevend, J. (2012). Counterrevolutionary icons: The representation of the 1956 ‘counterrevolution’ in the Hungarian communist press. Journalism Studies, 14(3), online published: July 11, 2012. doi:10.1080/1461670X.2012.701913.
  • Sonnevend, J. (2012). Iconic rituals: Towards a social theory of encountering images. In J. C. Alexander, D. Bartmanski & B. Giesen (Eds.), Iconic power: Materiality and meaning in social life (pp. 219-233). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Sonnevend, J. (2010). Remembering through sharing. The New Everyday, 1(3) [online journal publication].

Select Reviews

  • Schudson, M., & Sonnevend, J. (2011). The climate for science reporting. Columbia Journalism Review (July/August): 63.
  • Schudson, M., & Sonnevend, J. (2011). The public screen. Columbia Journalism Review (March/April): 63.
  • Schudson, M., & Sonnevend, J. (2011). Any questions? Sociolinguists study the changes in presidential press conferences over decades. Columbia Journalism Review (January/February): 63.
  • Schudson, M., & Sonnevend, J. (2010). Snapshots of war: Wikileaks isn’t the first site to publish controversial material from a war zone. Columbia Journalism Review (September/October): 63.
  • Schudson, M., & Sonnevend, J. (2010). French connections: What do different press styles have to do with distinct political cultures?” Columbia Journalism Review (May/June): 63.
  • Schudson, M., & Sonnevend, J. (2010). Beyond transparency. Columbia Journalism Review (January/February): 63.
  • Schudson, M., & Sonnevend, J. (2009). Mourning becomes electric. Columbia Journalism Review (November/December): 71.
  • Schudson, M., & Sonnevend, J. (2009). Opening minds: Can the media persuade audiences to embrace a fresh outlook? Columbia Journalism Review (September/October): 63.

Other Publications and Journalism

  • Sonnevend, J. (2004-2012). Seventeen essays on European politics and culture in Hungarian journals and weeklies. Links to all essays are available at http://julia-sonnevend.com