Kavita Nayar Jablonka, Ph.D., is an independent researcher, writer, and educator based in the Hampton Roads area, Virginia, USA.
Kavita Nayar Jablonka, Ph.D., is an independent researcher, writer, and educator based in the Hampton Roads area, Virginia, USA. She earned her Ph.D. from the Department of Communication at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 2022. Kavita’s dissertation, “Productive Women: Gender, Sex, and Labor in the Digital Cultural Economy,” draws upon research with women who participate in adult webcam modeling and sugar dating to explore the culture and politics of digital sexual labor.
Trained in the critical cultural tradition within the field of communication, Kavita’s research interests include:
Gender, culture, and society
Media and domestic life
Promotional and consumer culture
Sociology of intimacy
Her research has been published as chapters in anthologies, most recently The Gig Economy: Workers and Media in the Age of Convergence, and articles in academic journals such as Feminist Media Studies, the Journal of Gender Studies, the Communication Review, and the Journal of Popular Culture. Additionally, her research or commentary has appeared in The New York Times, Bitch Magazine, and the BBC.
Since 2013, Kavita has taught undergraduate courses in media studies and communication programs at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (2013-2016), Emerson College (2017-2019), and New York University (2018-present). She has taught courses on media theory and criticism; writing; the social impact of media; consumer culture; video games; reality television; and social media. See Teaching for more information and example syllabi.
In addition to her Ph.D., Kavita holds an M.A. from Temple University and B.A. from the University of Michigan.