Emily Contois, Ph.D.

About

Emily Contois, Ph.D., researches media within consumer culture, focusing on how identities are formed at the vital intersection of food, the body, and ideas about health. She is the author of “Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture” (University of North Carolina Press, 2020) and co-editor of “Food Instagram: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation” (University of Illinois Press, 2022). Her current book project explores how ideas about elite athleticism have infiltrated everyday American life. A richly interdisciplinary scholar, her academic work has been published in Advertising & Society Quarterly, American Studies, Feminist Media Studies, Gastronomica, and Fat Studies, among others.

A public expert on a wide variety of topics, she has also written for NBC News, Jezebel, and Nursing Clio; been interviewed on podcasts, such as “The Sporkful,” “Gastropod,” “KCRW Good Food,” and “CNN Margins of Error;” and appeared on “CBS This Morning” and “Ugly Delicious” on Netflix. Her media mentions include the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vox, Slate, and more. Deeply committed to her students, she teaches an array of critical media studies courses, as well as Intro to Women’s and Gender Studies.

Awards and Honors

• 2024 – Outstanding Teacher Award, The University of Tulsa
• 2024 – The Paul Kurnit Award, Advertising & Society Quarterly, for “White Claw and Gender Neutrality: What Hard Seltzers Reveal About Alcohol Advertising’s Long Journey Toward Gender Inclusion”
• 2023 – Edited Collection Book Prize, Association for the Study of Food and Society, for “Food Instagram: Identity, Influence, and Negotiation”
• 2021 – Association for the Study of Food and Society Award for Food Studies Pedagogy
• 2021 – Most Valuable Professor, The University of Tulsa (also awarded 2020)