Adriana Amaral

Adriana Amaral is a professor at the School of Creative Industries at Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS) in Brazil. She is an expert on pop culture and fan studies in the context of digital culture and media. Amaral’s research examines online trends in popular culture in relation to media industries, influencers and fans around the world, and especially in Brazil.

Amaral is the coordinator of UNISINOS’ CULTPOP Research Laboratory, which is dedicated to the study of how popular culture, communications and technologies informing public policy. Amaral is also the key regional leader for Brazil and South America at the TikTok Cultures Research Network, where she facilitates an online community of qualitative scholars who study the cultures, economics and politics of TikTok.

Her research interests include music scenes, subcultures, science fiction, influencers, performance studies and digital methods of online communication. Her publications include papers in Participations: The International Journal of Audience and Reception Studies on Fan Activism and chapters in collections such as Brazilian Youth: Global Trends and Local Perspectives (2020) and The Politics of Laughter in the Social Media Age: Perspectives from the Global South (2021).

Amaral completed a post-doctorate in communication, media and culture at the University of Surrey. She has a Ph.D. in social communication from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul.