Dr. Hannah C . Gunderman
Carnegie Mellon University, University Libraries, Faculty Member
- I received my Bachelors of Science in Geography in May 2011 from the University of Wyoming in Laramie, with a concentration in Natural Resource Management/Recreation Resource Management and significant advanced coursework in Fisheries Sc... moreI received my Bachelors of Science in Geography in May 2011 from the University of Wyoming in Laramie, with a concentration in Natural Resource Management/Recreation Resource Management and significant advanced coursework in Fisheries Science. After a fisheries internship with the Department of Marine Resources in Maine, I decided to continue my education at UW, where I completed a Masters of Arts in Geography/Environment and Natural Resources in May 2014. It was during my Masters program where my work took more of a cultural turn: for my thesis research, I located businesses in the United States named after a reference to the Grateful Dead, geocoded their locations within ArcGIS, and performed spatial statistics on those locations relative to the band's tour patterns from 1965-1995. This research served to create discourse surrounding music and place, and the memorialization of a musical phenomenon on the visual landscape. I successfully defended my work after two years, but remained at UW an extra year to obtain a graduate Statistics minor and took advanced coursework in GIS and spatial statistics. I then moved to Knoxville, Tennessee in August 2014 to pursue a PhD in Geography from the University of Tennessee under the guidance of Dr. Derek Alderman. In my dissertation, I conducted a geopolitical survey of the BBC science fiction franchise Doctor Who, exploring questions including the following: How do fans (Whovians!) engage with popular geopolitics through a lens of the show? How (if at all) does the show influence empathy towards social issues through its plotlines? How does the show influence how Whovians see modern-day landscapes? I successfully defended this dissertation in January 2018 and received my Ph.D. in May 2018. I am constantly evolving as a researcher, but I am first-and-foremost a cultural geographer. My work intersects with topics in geopolitics, media circulation, historic preservation, science fiction, human and non-human rights, food justice, veganism, and empathy -- all connected by the thread of human enthusiasm. I dedicate my career to understanding how humans develop enthusiasm, and how this influences their movements across (and beyond) planet Earth. From 2018-2019, I was a postdoctoral researcher with the Center for Information and Communication Studies and the School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, and I am currently a Research Data Management Consultant and Faculty Librarian at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.edit
- Dr. Derek Alderman edit
There are relatively few media products that can compete with Star Trek in terms of longevity and cultural saturation . First introduced to audiences in 1966, the franchise now encompasses more than fifty years, six television series,... more
There are relatively few media products that can compete with Star Trek in terms of longevity and cultural saturation . First introduced to audiences in 1966, the franchise now encompasses more than fifty years, six television series, thirteen films, countless spin-off novels and ancillary books, multiple annual international fan conventions and an enduring place in the popular culture lexicon of the English language—a remarkable feat for a television show that almost never made it to the screen and, even when it did, was canceled for poor ratings after just three seasons . San Francisco served as both the site of the 2016 Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers and the fictional headquarters and charter site of Star Trek’s United Federation of Planets and Starfleet Headquarters. During the 2016 AAG meeting, geographers continued to expand the Society’s exploration of the integration of popular culture and geographical understanding. Star Trek can and has been utilized in many instances as a reflection of broader geographical problems, concepts, and trends, but there are also geographical implications of Star Trek and the spatial and philosophical impacts of the franchise’s broad reach . This special issue originated from a panel session which delved into these geographical concerns; the papers contained here reflect the breadth of knowledge of the contributors. The authors not only have an intimate knowledge of Star Trek, but apply that knowledge to their expertise in historical, cultural, political, and environmental geographies and an even wider breadth of theoretical perspectives. This special issue presents the possibilities of popular culture to be studied geographically and how popular culture, and Star Trek in particular, has itself had a significant impact upon geographical processes.
Research Interests:
Memorialization on the cultural landscape is a common method of celebrating the legacy of an event or person significant to the history of geographical location. The Grateful Dead is a band that continues to define the ideals of the... more
Memorialization on the cultural landscape is a common method of celebrating the legacy of an event or person significant to the history of geographical location. The Grateful Dead is a band that continues to define the ideals of the late-1960s San Francisco Sound through their music’s creative freedom and inclination toward experimentation. Although the original lineup of the Grateful Dead is no longer intact, the spirit of the music they created and their psychedelic appeal has been preserved on the cultural landscape. Despite differing reasons for naming their business after the band, hundreds of business owners in the United States have collectively preserved the Grateful Dead’s presence on the cultural landscape. In this paper we explore the distribution of businesses in the United States with Grateful Dead-related
names, and how the presence of these business names enriches the cultural landscape with the memory of the band’s music as a product of the iconic San Francisco Sound.
names, and how the presence of these business names enriches the cultural landscape with the memory of the band’s music as a product of the iconic San Francisco Sound.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
A book review of: George, S. A. (2013). Gendering science fiction films: Invaders from the suburbs. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
Research Interests:
A review of: Sea Monsters: A Voyage Around the World’s Most Beguiling Map. Joseph Nigg. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013. Pp. 168, maps, illustrations, glossary. $29.26 hardcover. ISBN 978-0226925165.
Research Interests:
A book review of: At home and in the field: ethnographic encounters in Asia and the Pacific Islands, by Suzanne S. Finney, Mary Mostafanezhad, Guido Carlo Pigliasco and Forrest Wade Young, Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 2015, xiii... more
A book review of: At home and in the field: ethnographic encounters in Asia and the Pacific Islands, by Suzanne S. Finney, Mary Mostafanezhad, Guido Carlo Pigliasco and Forrest Wade Young, Honolulu, University of Hawai’i Press, 2015, xiii + 331 pp., US$28.00 (paperback), ISBN: 978-0-8248-5379-2