Dr Ana Tominc (PhD) is a Reader in the Media, Communication and Performing Arts division at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.
- Overview
- Research Overview
- Research Publications
- Funded Projects
- Teaching & Learning
- Activities & Awards
My background is in social anthropology and cultural studies, with a PhD in Linguistics (critical discourse analysis) from Lancaster University (ESRC-funded, 2012). I specialise in media and communication focusing on food; in particular, I am interested in how food media is engaged in questions around national identity/nationalisms, social class and taste, and populism through food in UK as a whole, Scotland and the regions of former Yugoslavia in (post)socialism.
Between 2014-2023, I was part of the team on the interdisciplinary degree MSc Gastronomy, both as a programme leader and as teaching staff (media, communications, food). I have taught topics related to food, culture, politics, media, communication and qualitative research methods as part of various degrees across QMU, and have developed food-related modules for QMU partners in India.
Since 2019, I am also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SF HEA). My research interests are focused on food and communication broadly. I have published in the areas of food media, lifestyle and class; anti-Semitism, national identity, and populism; early food television in Europe; and especially focusing on food media in socialist and post-socialist Yugoslavia.
My recent edited collection (Routledge, 2022) explores food and cooking on early TV in Europe, presenting nine European contexts of the 1950s and 1960 through genres such as travelog, cooking show and TV food competition, and, for the first time, demonstrating the role of early television in development of the European post-war foodways. The book is shortlisted for the 2023 MeCCSA Outstanding Achievement Award in the category Edited books.
I am the founder and chair of the Biennial Conference on Food and Communication, which was first organized in Edinburgh in 2018, and, currently also the President of the Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS).
Affiliations/Memberships to Other Organisations:
- Scottish Alliance for Food (SCAF)
- Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS)
- British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES)
- Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA)
- European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)
- Food Researchers in Edinburgh Network (FRIEDinburgh)
- Higher Education Academy (HEA) - Senior Fellow
- Linguistics of Food Network
- FoodKom Network
Professional Social Media:
Research/Knowledge Exchange Centre membership:
My research interest lies at the intersection between discourse analysis, and media, cultural and food studies. I am interested in contemporary discourse on food media, and how they related to identity, such as class and nation, as well as how food relates to politics and popular culture. I am also keen on historical topics that address representation of food diachronically, especially on television, and in the context of socialist Yugoslavia.
Active research interests:
- Food media, language, and discourse
- Food media and racism/stereotypes/anti-Semitism
- Food media, lifestyle, social class, and nationalism
- Food, the media, populism and Brexit
- Food and early television in Europe
- Food media in Socialist Central and South-eastern Europe
Research Methods:
- (Critical) Discourse analysis
- Corpus-assisted discourse analysis
- Narrative analysis
- Diaries
- Interviews
- 2022 Scottish Graduate School of Humanities/Social Sciences - funding for Spring into Methods workshop (2,000 GBP) (co-I)
- 2020 – Carnegie Trust Research Incentive Grant (GBP 14,270.00) - Representing food in UK media during the Brexit campaign: Policy, regulation and national food myths
- 2020 – QMU School Award for Research Support (GBP 1,992.00) – Early Food Television in Europe
- 2020 – QMU BeaM ERC Researcher Development Fund (GBP 992.00) – COVID19 Diaries Project
- 2018 – Association for the Study of Food and Society – 1 st Biennial Food and Communication Conference grant ($2,000 – maximum available)
- 2016 Santander Universities – Research Grant
I have been teaching in UK higher education for more than a decade. At Queen Margaret University Edinburgh I have taught and developed postgraduate and undergraduate modules on a range of modules to do with food, culture, politics, communication and the media, as well as research methods.
I have also supervised students of all levels, including PhD. During 2014-17, I was a programme co-leader for MSc Gastronomy.
Since 2019, I am a Senior Fellow of Higher Education Academy (SF HEA). I currently teach undergraduate and postgraduate modules to do with introduction to media and communication, media and politics, food, media and communication, and media and policy.
Courses I teach on:
- Studying Media and Communications
- Politics, Media and Culture
- Food in Film and Media
- Dissertation
2023 - Shortlisted for the Outstanding Achievements Award 2023 for edited collection Food and Cooking on Early Television in Europe by Media, Cultural and Communication Studies Association (MeCCSA)
2020 - June “Researcher of the Month” - QMU School of Social Sciences, Arts and Management
