Research
My research is defined by critical perspectives on popular culture, with a special focus on television fiction, reality TV, animation, and cultural journalism. My current research interests revolve around television geographies, representations of mobilities, as well as questions of (un)ethical entertainment. I have authored a number of articles and book chapters which have been published in international peer-reviewed journals and edited anthologies, addressing diverse topics, such as labor pedagogies, feminist/queer nostalgia, noir television, the production context of commercial television, and representations of societal crises, among others.
My doctoral dissertation entitled ‘The private life of a nation in crisis: A study on the politics in/of Greek television fiction’ offered in-depth studies of the fictional reconstruction and negotiation of moments of heightened societal tension in Greek television fiction since 1989 and highlighted the importance of studying “introvert” television cultures. It was nominated for the award of best dissertation within Media and Communication Studies by the Swedish Association for Media and Communication Research (FSMK).
I currently serve as a substitute member of the management team of the Centre for Geomedia Studies at Karlstad University. In the past I have served as Managing Editor for VIEW: Journal of European Television History & Culture.
Bio
Originally from Greece, I moved to Sweden in 2013 to start my PhD at the University of Gothenburg. Before that, I completed a MA in Film & Television Studies at the University of Glasgow and an MLitt in Literary & Cultural Studies at the University of Groningen. After I defended my PhD thesis, I worked as a Lecturer at Gothenburg University, Örebro University, Stockholm University and Jönköping University. I got a position as Senior Lecturer in Media and Communication Studies at Karlstad University in February 2022.
Selected publications
PhD Thesis
2018 The private life of a nation in crisis: A study on the politics in/of Greek television fiction, Doctoral dissertation, Department of Journalism, Media and Communication, University of Gothenburg, ISBN: 978-91-88212-75-7
Recent peer-reviewed articles
2021 Aitaki, G. & Carlsson, N. ‘Farmer Wants a (Swedish) Wife: White mobilities in the reality romance show Bonde söker fru – Jorden runt’, VIEW: Journal of European Television History and Culture, 10 (20), pp. 64–82, http://doi.org/10.18146/view.270
2020 ‘In search of the Greek television author: The social dramas of Manousos Manousakis’, Screen, 61 (3), pp. 403–422, https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/hjaa040
2020 ‘Making television fiction in a commercial context: Commercialization, ideology and entertainment in a production study of Greek private television’, Journal of Greek Media & Culture, 6 (2), pp. 219–240, https://doi.org/10.1386/jgmc_00014_1
2019 ‘Laughing with / at the national self: Greek television satire and the politics of self-disparagement’, Social Semiotics, 29 (1), pp. 68–82 [Online First, 2017], DOI: 10.1080/10350330.2017.1408893
2018 ‘Domesticating pathogenies, evaluating change: The Eurozone crisis as a ‘hot moment’ in Greek television fiction’, Media, Culture & Society, 40 (7), pp. 957–972 [Online First, 2017], DOI: 10.1177/0163443717734403
Recent book chapters
2023 Chairetis, S. & Aitaki, G., ‘Repackaging the Past: Commodification, Nostalgia and Feminist/Queer Pleasures in Netflix Originals GLOW (2017-2019) and Hollywood (2020)’, in C. Adamou and S. Petridis (eds.) Television by Stream: Essays on Marketing, Content and Audience Worldwide, Jefferson: McFarland & Company, pp. 175-191.
2023 Aitaki, G., ‘Television anniversaries: Private television, collective memory and national television history’ [original Greek title: Τηλεοπτικές επέτειοι: Ιδιωτική τηλεόραση, συλλογική μνήμη και εθνική τηλεοπτική ιστορία], in V. Vamvakas & G. Paschalidis (eds.) The Box: Images of modern Greece in private television [original Greek title: Το Κουτί: Εικόνες της σύγχρονης Ελλάδας στην ιδιωτική τηλεόραση], Athens: Brainfood, pp. 24-38.
2022 ‘Hormone Monsters and Animal Antagonists: Animating Teen Horrors and Promoting Eudaimonia in Big Mouth (Netflix, 2017-)’, in Karin Beeler and Stan Beeler (eds.) Animal Heroes, Villains and Others: The Narrative Functions of Strange and Familiar Creatures in Film and Television, Lanham, MA: Lexington Books
2022 Aitaki, G. & Chairetis, S., ‘Greek Sleuths and Tough Cops: Noir Masculinities in Television Crime Shows (1992-2020)’, in Anna Poupou, Nikitas Fessas, and Maria Chalkou (eds.), A Darker Greece: Film Noir and Greek Cinema, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press
2021 Aitaki, G., Papadimitriou, L., and Tzioumakis, Y., ‘Locating and Localizing Media Industry Studies: The Case of Greece’, in Paul McDonald (ed.), Routledge Companion to Media Industries, London & New York: Routledge, pp. 107-116.
Recent conference papers
2023 On the importance of becoming a ‘Netflix nation’. Exportabiilty, extroversion and visibility through a case study of 'Maestro in Blue' (MEGA TV/Netflix, 2022-), Locating Media Industries: Cities, Spaces, Places, London, UK, 19-21 June 2023.
2023 “I have fire and they have water”. Mediating the (love) migrant experience in Scandinavian romance-based reality TV, Media Imaginaries, Lund, 16 March, 2023.
2022 Everybody Hurts? Race, Class and Mediated Suffering in Reality TV Show Sweatshop: Dead Cheap Fashion (with Vladimir Cotal San Martin). ECREA – 9th European Communication Conference ‘Rethink Impact’, Aarhus, October 2022.
2019 Television revivals: On recycling and reusing television fiction in Europe. ECREA Television Studies Section Conference ‘The Youthification of Television in the age of Screen Culture’, Groningen, 24-25 October, 2019.
2017 Private television through the eyes of its storytellers: Production logic and ideologies in Greek television fiction. 67th International Communication Association (ICA) conference. San Diego, 20-25 May 2017.