Gail Zuckerwise

PhD Candidate

Gail is currently studying for a PhD in the Dutch department with research that focuses on the cultural image and identity of Amsterdam.

Her thesis addresses the contemporary context of Amsterdam’s city center, and research focuses on policies and reforms that are affecting the areas surrounding the red light district. This project responds to current trends in cultural policy, planning and development and the increasing interest in the cultural and creative industries. The intention is to theorize the concept of culture in relation to contemporary discourses on culture, cultural policy and cultural reform in Amsterdam.
The project begin with a conceptualization of culture as something that exists through multiple discourses, which can be analyzed from different perspectives and through social and spatial practices that represent and reflect everyday life in the city. Research includes case studies that address different manifestations of reform in Amsterdam, and the objective is to address the interplay between local and global perspectives and processes that inform and influence culture, particularly in contexts where culture is explicitly part of reform and development strategies, even if this “culture” may be seen to differ in policy and praxis.

Areas of Academic Interest

  • Theories on socio-spatial governmentality and specifically Foucault’s dispositif in the context of the city: Institutions, relations and discourses of power
  • Contemporary urban spaces and (re-)development
  • Imagining and theorizing cities in transition
  • The phenomena of city branding
  • The representation/experience of culture and identity
  • Gender and sexuality studies:Particularly in relation to Judith Butler’s works on performativity, discourses on gender, sexuality and identity, as well as theories that focus on masculinity

Publications and Presentations

Gail M. Zuckerwise (2012): "Governmentality in Amsterdam's Red Light District" , City: analysis of urban trends, culture, theory, policy, action, 16:1-2, 146-157. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13604813.2012.662365

2009, November 19–21. "I Amster ‘brand’: XXX Factor or Sex Factor", Conference paper presented at Imagining Amsterdam: Visions and Revisions". Department of English and the Institute of Culture and History, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Page last modified on 11 jun 12 09:36 by Gail M Zuckerwise