Staff Profile

I am a lecturer in Human Geography.

Prior to this lectureship, I was a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, here at the Geography, Politics and Sociology School at Newcastle University from 2019 to 2023.

Previously I worked as a p/t lecturer and seminar tutor at Media, Culture, Heritage, teaching on a range of topics at the intersection of media, culture, discourse and qualitative research methods. I was also the module leader of the department’s PG core module of Media Analysis while teaching on a number of other modules in 2018-19. I supervise dissertations in Media and Journalism, Media and PR at Newcastle University.

Prior to Newcastle University, I was a Lecturing Associate at Lancaster University for some years while doing my PhD in Critical Discourse Studies. I have also been involved with Northampton University Business School, teaching professional communication and EAP to UG/PG in Business, Marketing and PR on top of many years of teaching in the Middle East. I am certified as an Associate Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and working towards becoming a Senior Fellow.

Currently contributions to teaching:

Social Geographies (GEO2110)

Geographies of Race and Nation (GEO3153)

Concepts in Action (GEO8017)

Key Methods for Human Geographers (GEO2043)

Media Analysis (MCH 8057)

Politics, Power & Communication (MCH3077/8177)

Digital Discourses & Identity (MCH3085)

Previous teachings:

Critical Discourse Analysis

Dissertation in Media and Journalism

Dissertation in Media and PR

Methodologies

 Language of Media

Language of Advertising

Corporate Communication and English

English for Academic Purposes

• Articles

  • Ghaffari S. Discourses of celebrities on Instagram: digital femininity, self-representation and hate speech. Critical Discourse Studies 2022, 19(2), 161-178.
  • Ghaffari S. Religious discursive practices and identity in Iran; New trends in cultural religious performances among the youth. Critical Discourse Studies 2020, 17(5), 527-544.
  • Ghaffari S. From religious performances to marshal themes: discourses of Shi'a musical eulogies, war and politics in Iran. Journal of Language and Politics 2019, 18(4), 617-633.
  • Ghaffari S. The discourse analysis of Eulogies as religious texts (in Persian). Linguistics and Interdisciplinary Studies 2010, 1, 181-201.

• Book Chapters

  • Ghaffari S. Identity, Social Media and Religion: (De)Legitimization of identity construction through the language of religion. In: Andrew S. Ross and Damian J. Rivers, ed. Discourses of (De)legitimization; Participatory culture in digital contexts. New York and London: Routledge, 2018, pp.326-344.
  • Ghaffari S. The discourse analysis of War Eulogies (in Persian). In: Kamari, A, ed. The Iran-Iraq War Semiotics. Tehran: Soureye Mehr, 2011, pp.193-218.