Ruth Sanz Sabido

Ruth is Reader in Media and Social Inequality at Canterbury Christ Church University (UK). She previously taught at University of Leicester and De Montfort University. She is the author of Memories of the Spanish Civil War: Conflict and Community in Rural Spain (2016), editor of Representing Communities: Discourse and Contexts (2017), and co-editor of Sites of Protest (2016), Contemporary Protest and the Legacy of Dissent (2015) and three journal special issues (in Critical Discourse Studies, Catalan Journal of Communication and Cultural Studies, and Networking Knowledge). She is also author of several book chapters and journal articles on memory and the Spanish Civil War, media discourse and conflic, gender and social movements. Ruth's PhD (2013) examined the postcolonial representations of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the British press, and has a forthcoming monograph on the Palestinian conflict.

Supervision

Ruth welcomes MA and PhD applications in the areas of memory studies, legacies of the Spanish Civil War, social movements, representations of gender, class and ethnicity, and conflict reporting. She has also examined PhDs in the area of media and communications.

Research projects

Ruth is currently conducting:

BA/Leverhulme-funded Project: ‘Remembering what we have not lived: Postmemory Analysis of Franco's Violence in Spain’

This new study takes an innovative look at the concept of postmemory, which describes how new generations relate to historic events that took place before they were born. As the number of survivors of events such as the Holocaust, the partition of Ireland, or the Second World War, has become more limited, the media have acquired a more significant role in the representation and dissemination of messages about these contentious pasts.

Therefore, as the era of direct testimony comes to an end, it is of paramount importance that we understand the dynamic interplay between media texts (such as films, news stories, songs) and audience reception in the development of postmemories.

Based on Spain’s post-Civil War context, this project focuses on a rich area that is worth exploring: the development of a method of postmemory analysis that simultaneously takes into account both the media texts and their reception. The ultimate goal is to formulate a methodological approach that can be applied to other post-conflict societies and contexts of collective trauma.

Herencias del 36: A map of testimonies. www.herencias1936.com
'Representations of rape and sexual violence in the media'
News Values and the Postcolonial'
HEIF-Funded Knowledge Exchange Creative Business Award, ‘The work of Memory Associations in Spain’

PhD supervisions

Smallfilms (2018-present)
News discourses of VR (2017-present)
The use of social media in the favelas (2014-present)
The Growth of China’s Indie Music Scene and its Subcultural Community in the Contemporary age of Social Media (2014-2018)
Media coverage of mental health issues in the Nigerian context (2014-2018)

Research Projects

'An Algerian Musical Mosaic': an ethnographic 'interpretation' of Algerian female survival in a conservative society - a case study of live and online music events and wedding ceremonies.. Researcher(s): Miss Radia Kasdi. Supervisor(s): Professor Shane Blackman, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
A comparative study on the differences in content producing, narrating and communication effects of propaganda main-melody films from 2000 between China and the west. Researcher(s): Ms Shuchang Dai. Supervisor(s): Professor Agnes Gulyas, Dr Nicholas Furze, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project]
A critical evaluation of how mental health is communicated through Pixar and Disney animations from 1990 - 2023.. Researcher(s): Miss Josephine Schembri. Supervisor(s): Professor Agnes Gulyas, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Doctoral Research Project. Researcher(s): Dr Mengyao Jiang. Supervisor(s): Professor Shane Blackman, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
Life of the Lady Launchers: A sociocultural study into the history of the RNLI women volunteers of Dungeness.. Researcher(s): Miss Rachel Hancock. Supervisor(s): Professor Shane Blackman, Dr Rob McPherson, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Media through the lens of environmentalism; How has screen media shaped our understanding of the environment?. Researcher(s): Miss Megan Dobson. Supervisor(s): Dr Magz Hall, Dr Nicholas Furze, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Research on Gender Culture in China’s Game Industry: An analysis of game characters, player experience and game development from a gender perspective. Researcher(s): Mrs Shanshan Liu. Supervisor(s): Professor Agnes Gulyas, Dr Nicholas Furze, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Tattoos and Feminism: Understanding the influence of feminism within tattoo cultures; collecting and exploring feminist symbols and motivations within historical and current tattoo practices and subcultures.. Researcher(s): Miss Rebecca Glendining. Supervisor(s): Dr Kate McLean, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project (past)]
The sober self, sisterhood and non-drinking practices: a feminist ethnography of women’s recovery culture within online sobriety communities.. Researcher(s): Ms Claire Davey. Supervisor(s): Professor Shane Blackman, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project]
They need to think this through.. Researcher(s): Mr Karl Pearce. Supervisor(s): Mr Eddie McMillan, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project]
UK News Coverage of Extended Reality Technologies: Analysing extended reality news discourse and its relation to product marketing. Researcher(s): Miss Emma Graves. Supervisor(s): Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido, Dr Andrew Butler. [Postgraduate Research Project]
Unveiling the Tapestry of Maya Women’s Contemporary Representation: Decolonial Narratives, Cultural Resistance and the Health System in Guatemala. Researcher(s): Mrs M MIRALLES TERÁN DE WILKIN. Supervisor(s): Professor Shane Blackman, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project]
What is “Inspiration Porn” on social media and how does it affect deaf people and communities?. Researcher(s): Miss Alicia Beels. Supervisor(s): Professor Chris Pallant, Dr Ruth Sanz Sabido. [Postgraduate Research Project]

She is Chair and founder of the MeCCSA Social Movements Network (2013-Present). She previously chaired the MeCCSA Postgraduate Network (2011-2013) and was part of the MeCCSA Executive during that period. She also coordinated the IAMCR Mentorship Programme (2012-2015).

She is co-editor of the book series 'Protest, Media and Culture' (Rowman and Littlefield), and convenes the Canterbury Media Discourse Group. Ruth is also Director of International in the School of Media, Art and Design at CCCU, and Programme Director for Media and Communications. She became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2014.

Keynotes and invited talks

"The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the British press: A postcolonial discourse analysis”, Journalism Research Seminar Series, University of Kent, 5 October 2016
“The Spanish Civil War 80 Years On”, II Seminari Postmemòries de la Guerra Civil i el franquisme, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, 9 June 2016
“(Re)Asserting the Past: the Memory Movement vs. Spain’s politics of oblivion”, De Montfort University, 27 October 2015
“Until when? The Memory Movement in Spain”, Activism Research Transformation Inaugural Conference, 15 June 2015
Opening Plenary, MeCCSA Annual Conference, Northumbria University, 7-9 January 2015
“Selective memories: Memory and Anti-Austerity Protests in Spain”, University of London, 27 November 2014
“To Live in Times of Trouble”, Anti-Fascism on Film, DMU, 20 February 2014
“The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the British press: A postcolonial discourse analysis”, University of East London, 28 October 2013
“Comparing the representation of the Madrid and London bombings”, Coventry University, 15 May 2013
“A Land of Promises: Tracing the representations of terrorism in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by the British Press”, University of Seville, 3-5 April 2013
“Representations of Terrorism in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Postcolonial Critical Discourse Analysis of the British press (1948-2009)”, Loughborough University, 28 February 2013
“A Historical Analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict in the British Press (1948-2009)”, University of Liverpool, 26 February 2013

Public events

Various screenings of Herencias del 36 in Spain
Memoria de la Guerra Civil Española: Conflicto y Comunidad en la España Rural, I Jornadas de Memoria Histórica, Arroyomolinos de León, 10 Abril 2017
Memory and Ideology in the Spanish Civil War, Cultural Exchanges, DMU, 19 February 2014