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Dr Barbara Bush
Name:
Dr Barbara Ann Bush
Job title:
Tenure Track Professor
Place of work / study:
Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, WA in the Department of Communication, USA
Area of Research:
Nationalism, nostalgia, identity, and memory
How is your work funded?
I am not primarily a researcher, I am a professor, and so my work is not funded.
Tell us a little about yourself:
I have my PhD in Communication Studies and my dissertation was on the role of materiality, nostalgia, and memory in right wing nationalism in Switzerland. I started my PhD program in 2008 and finished in 2017. During this time, I worked part-time to full-time at various jobs. Initially I worked in retail and then, starting in 2009, I began working at the university as a teaching assistant, and eventually as a part-time lecturer. Nearly throughout my time as a PhD student I also taught at a local community college. Though I enjoy research, I absolutely love teaching. Once I left the R1 world I realized my calling was primarily in the classroom. Currently I act as a peer review editor for Frontier Communication and just began research on the relationship between democracy and social life in the United States. I am currently a tenure track professor in Communication Studies as well as the head of that department at Big Bend Community College in Moses Lake, Washington in the United States.
Tell us a fun fact about yourself:
I am a jack of all trades and master of none kind of person. I love scuba diving, running, horseback riding, traveling, gardening, listening to music, spending time with family and friends, hiking, camping, and kayaking. Though I speak without an accent that would alert somebody to the fact English is my second language, it is in fact my second language. My first language is Swiss-German. I also use principals of natural horsemanship horse training in teaching my students!
Why did you choose to work in dementia?
My field is actually Communication Studies. I initially chose this field because I have always loved the stories people tell about themselves, and I love hearing them. I am fascinated by identity, language, social formations, and the way that institutions and power shape our lives, and the way our lives shape these things. Communication Studies is eclectic in what it covers, and in the methodologies employed in research, which also spoke to me.
