Dr Víctor Ávila Torres
Lecturer

Profile

Biography

• PhD in Sociology, University of York
• Masters in Communication, Universidad Iberoamericana
• BA in Communication Sciences, Fundación Universidad de las Américas Puebla

I joined the Department of Sociology in 2020 as Associate Lecturer in Social Media and Society after finishing a PhD in the same Department. My thesis is entitled: ‘How Music Matters: Exploring the Musical Experience, its attachments and its technologies’. I have also researched on media technologies and music for my Masters, as well as blogs as platforms for political communication in Mexico.

I have worked professionally for media production as well as public relations for public institutions in Mexico. I have also participated twice as analyst in one of the biggest media monitoring projects conducted around local elections in Mexico City with the purpose of ensuring equality in coverage for all the candidates and parties. That project was commissioned by Mexico City’s Electoral Council (IEDF) to Universidad Iberoamericana, and was led by Professor Manuel Alejandro Guerrero.

My main interest of research is in the intersection between technologies and culture, particularly from the perspective of the subjective experience. For that, I work in the intersections between Science and Technology Studies, Digital Media Studies, Cultural Studies and Material Culture.

I have also worked as Research Intern for the project Voices in Partnership –Interactional practices of decision-making during childbirth, led by professor Ellen Annandale, and for the Science and Technology Studies Unit (SATSU) as convenor for events, seminars and PhD students.

I am a book review editor for the journal, Information, Communication and Society, as well as Tapuya: Latin American Science, Technology and Society.

Publications

Selected publications

Book chapters

• Ávila Torres, V. (2016) Making Sense of Acquiring Music in Mexico City, In R. Nowak & A. Whelan (Eds.), Networked Music Cultures. Contemporary Approaches, Emerging Issues. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Journal

• Ávila Torres, V. (2017) Mediaciones: pensar la música como tecnología y la comunicación como música. Revista Iberoamericana de Comunicación (32), 123-151.
• Guerrero, M. A., Ávila Torres, V., & Palacios, M. (2016) ¿Afectó la cobertura mediática el resultado electoral de 2015 en el Distrito Federal? Revista Iberoamericana de Comunicación, 28.
• Enríquez Mier, T., & Avila Torres, V. (2016) Género, elecciones y cobertura mediática. Análisis de la elección intermedia de 2015 en el Distrito Federal Revista Iberoamericana de Comunicación, 28.

Book reviews

• Ávila Torres, V. (2019). Book Review: Streaming music: Practices, media, cultures. New Media & Society, Online.
• Ávila Torres, V. (2019). Selling digital music, formatting culture. Information, Communication & Society, Online First.
• Ávila Torres, V. (2017). Book Review: The Practice of Eating. Cultural Sociology, 11(4), 537-539.
• Avila-Torres, V. (2016). Governed through choice: autonomy, technology and the politics of reproduction. Gender Place and Culture, 23(10), 1515-1516.
• Ávila Torres, V. (2016). When technocultures collide: innovation from below and the struggle for autonomy. Information, Communication & Society, 19(12), 1706-1707.
• Ávila Torres, V. (2015). Paula Sibilia – La intimidad como espectáculo (Book Review). Revista Iberoamericana de Comunicación.

Published BA dissertation

• Ávila Torres, V. (2008). La utopía de los medios alternativos radicales en Internet: El blog Sendero del Peje.

Teaching

Undergraduate

I have been teaching both in Mexico and the UK. I have experience teaching video and audio production, script writing and voice performance. On the other hand, I have taught on modules around Digital Media, Media History, New Media Theories and Communication Technology. More in the Sociology side I have taught on modules such as Cultivating a Sociological Imagination, Popular Culture, Quantitative Methods for History and Research Methods for Social Sciences.

As part of the Social Media PGT programmes I currently teach at the modules Understanding Social Media as well as Social Media, Data & Society. I also supervise dissertation students for those programmes.