Profile
Roles:
Biography:
Zafeirenia Brokalaki is a cultural scholar working at the intersections of marketing and consumer research, cultural studies and performance studies. She joined the School of Business and Management as Lecturer in Marketing in 2022. Prior to this, she held positions at the University of Leicester (School of Business), King’s College London (Department of Culture, Media and Cultural Studies and the Digital Humanities Department), University of Arkansas (Walton Business School) and the University of Peloponnese (School of Theatre Studies).
Her broad research areas coalesce around the aesthetic, ethical and political dimensions of cultural consumption as well as the historical, sociocultural and transformative dynamics of the cultural market system.
She holds a PhD in Culture, Media and Creative Industries from King's College London, a PGCert in Philosophy (Hons) from the University of Cambridge, an MA in Cultural Policy and Management from Warwick University, an MA in Communication (Hons) from the American College of Greece, a BSc in Marketing and Communication from Athens University of Economics and Business, and a BA in Dance, Choreography and Dance Education from the Higher Professional Dance Academy of Greece (D. Gregoriadou).
Zafeirenia acts as the Editor for the Arts and The Market Journal (AAM, Emerald) and sits in the Reviewer Board of the Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal (QMR, Emerald).
She is a Higher Education Academy (HEA) Fellow (Hons) and a Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts (RSA).
Teaching
Postgraduate
- BUSM241 - Backstage: Global Marketing Strategies for the Creative Industries
- BUSM240 - Marketing Arts and Culture for Social Change
- BUSM206 - Global Marketing and Communications
- BUSM213 - Social Marketing for Social Justice
- Dissertation Supervision
Administrative responsibilities
In her previous posts, Zafeirenia taught: (1) Consumption in the Creative Industries, (2) Strategies for Creative Marketing and Innovation, (3) Consumption, Brands and Communication, (4) Marketing Strategy and Innovation, (5) Research Methods for Marketing, (6) Dissertation, (7) Business Project and (8) MBA International Marketing, Brands and Consumption at the University of Leicester; (9) Digital Economies and Audiences, (10) Digital Representations of Cultural Heritage, (11) Management in the Digital Domain, (12) Critical Approaches to Research, (13) Creative Industries and (14) Research Methods at King’s College London; (15) Global Marketing at the University of Arkansas; (16) Cultural Management and Marketing and (17) Principles of Entrepreneurship for the Creative Industries at the University of Peloponnese. She has also delivered independent workshops, seminars and intensive classes in (18) Arts Management, (19) Arts Marketing and (20) Arts Fundraising.
Research
Research Interests:
Zafeirenia’s research interests broadly concentrate on the aesthetics, politics and ethics of markets and consumption. In particular, she studies the politics of culture, the social orientation of aesthetics and the ethical dimension of consumption with a focus on participatory art, non-institutional creativity and their contribution to societal change. She also works on topics that concern creative epistemologies, dramaturgical marketing techniques and the historical constitution of the arts/cultural market. Recently, Zafeirenia turned her attention to the sociology and marketability of the body. In her future research, she aims to look at the genealogy of the performing body and the historical interrelationships between the body and the market, as well as the formation of illegal arts markets.
Typically, her research is theory or phenomenon driven and aims at extending conceptualisations that originate from philosophy, social theory, cultural theory, politics and theories of aesthetics. Methodologically, she follows an interpretive / hermeneutic (qualitative) approach with the aspiration to critically examine contemporary cultural marketplace phenomena, market structures and systemic market transformations. In her work she tends to amalgamate literature from marketing and consumer research, cultural studies, art history, theatre and performance studies to contribute to theory development for marketing, consumer and cultural scholarship. In brief, her work lies in the nexus of contemporary progressive interpretive, cultural and critical branches of marketing, such as interpretive consumer research, consumer culture theory (CCT), transformative consumer research (TCR), critical marketing and macromarketing. In the future, Zafeirenia wishes to focus her efforts on placing the philosophy of aesthetics, ethics and politics at the heart of marketing / business research, practice and education.
Zafeirenia has published in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Management, Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, City, Journal of Customer Behaviour, Journal of Promotional Communications and in edited marketing textbooks. She has presented at and reviewed for leading cultural, marketing and arts conferences including the Association for Consumer Research Conference (ACRC), the International Conference on Arts and Cultural Management (AIMAC), the Consumer Culture Theory Conference (CCTC), the European Marketing Academy Conference (EMAC), the Transformative Consumer Research Conference (TCR), the Academy of Marketing Conference (AM), the Gender, Markets and Consumer Conference (GENMAC), the Royal Geographical Society Conference (RGS), the Dance Studies Association Conference (CORD + SDHS), the Place Management and Branding Conference (IPBA), the International Visual and Performing Arts Conference (ATINER), the International Conference on Contemporary Marketing Issues (ICCMI), the European Urban Research Association Conference (EURA) and more.
She is the Co-Editor of the Arts and the Market Journal (AAM, Emerald), sits in the Reviewer Board of the Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal (QMR, Emerald), and reviews papers submitted in the Social Enterprise Journal, the Arts Journal, the Sustainability Journal, the Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, the Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing and the Journal of Consumer Research (Trainee Reviewer).
Research networks/paradigms
- Cultural studies, media and creative industries
- Interpretive consumer research
- Consumer culture theory (CCT)
- Transformative consumer research (TCR)
- Critical marketing and macromarketing
- Cultural policy and management
- Art history, dance, theatre and performance studies
- Critical theory
- Social theory
- Philosophy of aesthetics, politics and ethics
Supervision
Zafeirenia welcomes new PhD students that are interested in the following research areas:
- Market aesthetics, ethics and politics
- The creative market, art consumption and spectatorship (participatory art, grassroots creativity, pop culture)
- Art and space
- The sociology and marketability of the body
- Performance, dramaturgy and storytelling
- Participatory/collaborative consumption
- Embodied epistemologies and arts-based research methods
- Cultural/arts marketing, branding and fundraising
- Social enterprise and markets/social marketing
- Politics, activism and social/cultural movements
- Experiential and symbolic marketing and consumption
- Market systems
- Market/marketing history
Current PhD students
-
Adele Howes: Understanding the evolution and platformisation of domestic practice (AHRC London Arts and Humanities Partnership - LAHP Award).
-
Fozan Alfarshouty: Exploring slow tourism
-
Xiang Li: Sustainability Communication on Social Media and Stakeholder Engagement
-
Xinwei Jian: AI-generated visual storytelling, inclusion, and audience engagement
Public Engagement
Zafeirenia is a QMUL Impact Fellow leading the research project "Impact Stories" in collaboration with creative enterprises in East/South-East London.
In the past, Zafeirenia has been involved in a range of funded research projects supported by several grants from universities, public institutions and cultural organisations, such as Nesta, the Arts Council England (ACE), the Victoria and Albert Museum, CreativeWorks London, The Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, UCL, King’s Cultural Institute, Tima Foundation, University of Leicester, UL Innovation Hub, Cameo Research Institute for Cultural and Media Economies.
In addition, she has served as a researcher, marketing and business development consultant and fundraiser for numerous cultural and not-for-profit organisations, social enterprises, charities and creative SMEs in the UK, USA and Greece, including Dance Umbrella, Opera Holland Park, East London Dance, Royal Ballet of Birmingham, London School of Business and Finance, King’s College London, Emergency Exit Arts, Associated Studios, artFix London, Sinthesis Company, Athens Fringe Network, International Athens Film Festival, Rokka Festival, DemandforSupply and Metaxoto amongst others.
