Léa Andolfi — CELSA-Sorbonne Université (GRIPIC)
PhD Student and Teaching Fellow (ATER)
Communication and Media Studies
Currently in my fourth year, I am currently teaching at the Sorbonne Université-CELSA, affiliated with the GRIPIC. My upcoming dissertation on gender representations in costume dramas is provisionally called Gender in the past tense: nostalgic social representations in historical romance. This thesis is under the joint supervision of Virginie Julliard (GRIPIC, CELSA-Sorbonne Université) and Sarah Lécossais (LabSIC, Sorbonne Paris Nord).
You can usually find me talking about gender, pop culture, television, or fandom at the university of your choosing, but if that fails, you can contact me on my email at lea.andolfi@sorbonne-universite.fr.
Publications
Scientific articles
In English
Julie Tores et al. « Visual Objectification in Films: Towards a New AI Task for Video Interpretation », ArXiv. (2024).
« Digital Archives and Cultural Heritage: The Inathèque », American Journalism. DOI: 10.1080/08821127.2023.2200056. (2023).
Master’s thesis
In French
Fanfiction as digital folklore, research master’s thesis in media studies, CELSA-Sorbonne Université. (2022).
In French
« When (s)he was wicked : an analysis of fan discourses about the inclusion of a black queer female protagonist in Bridgerton« , Revue Française des Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication, numéro 19 (to be published).
« Gender in the past tense: the nostalgic gender representations of films and series about the past ». Actes des Vème Doctorales de la SFSIC. (To be published).
« Fan Communities as Digital Folklores: A Study of Online Fandom », Actes du XXIIIe congrès de la SFSIC. (2024).
News coverage
News articles
In French
Sassatelli, Lucile, and Andolfi, Léa. « La femme-objet au ciné : mythe ou réalité ? L’IA au service de la recherche sur les représentations » (Male gaze at the movies: myth or fact? How AI can help study social representations). Focus de l’Observatoire des images, n.31. (2024).
Bellaïche, E. “AI to Deconstruct Gender Stereotypes on Screen,” September 2, 2024, Chut! (online)
Radio
In French
Diao, Camille, and Bellaïche, Eitanite. « Un monde nouveau », August 19 2024. France Inter, produced by Camille Diao. Radio show, 47:08. Coverage of our research project starts at 21:30.
Exhibition
“Research Without Filters,” Pierre and Marie Curie Campus, Paris (2024).
Projects and associations
TRACTIVE
My PhD is funded by the TRACTIVE project, to which I am a contributor. TRACTIVE’s aim is to characterize and quantify gender representation and women objectification in films and visual media by designing an AI-driven multimodal discourse analysis.
Philomel
Philomel is a Sorbonne Université initiative aiming to bring together gender studies scholar and spread information concerning courses and research in the field. I served as a representative for the PhD students involved in Philomel in 2023-2024.
CERES
CERES is a Sorbonne Université service unit that supports researchers in social sciences and humanities who wish to integrate digital methods in their research projects. I frequently collaborate with the CERES, for instance to organize or participate in scientific events.
ADAGE
ADAGE is the GRIPIC PhD students association. It aims to encourage collaboration between early career academics and promote their research. I was the association’s vice president in 2022-2023.
Conferences and presentations
2025
“When (s)he was wicked: Authenticity in fan controversies surrounding historical fiction representations”, ICCA inIdEx Young Researchers Network Conference, “Intersectionality in cultural and creative industries: production, dissemination, and reception,” May 22, 2025.
“The solidification of historical verisimilitude in its representations,” CERES doctoral seminar, February 20, 2025.
2024
« Single man in want of a wife: the contradictory production of gender by historical romances in their re-enchantment of heterosexuality », GRIPIC doctoral seminar, 2024, October 10, 2024.
« Tattoovi – Towards collaborative video annotation? ». Workshop: Penser l’Eurovision par la communication, July 3 2023.
« Gender in the past tense: the nostalgic gender representations of films and series about the past ». SFSIC Doctorales 2024, June 7 2024.
« Video analysis in digital spaces: comparing methods to study short web videos and movie corpora ». With Edouard Bouté, Virginie Julliard, HN-CANEVAS consortium’s symposium: Des corpus visuels en Humanités : méthodes, expériences, résultats, May 30 2023.
« The eroticization of gender-based violence on television: annotation, contextualization, interpretation with computational tools », with Thierry Devars, Virginie Julliard, LIRCES Seminar: Genre, Médias, Pouvoir, April 12 2024.
« Computational video annotation’s new methods and questions » with Thierry Devars, GRIPIC seminar: Espace public, genre et politique, March 21 2024.
2023
Round table participation: « Methodological questions raised by group analysis of long videos and by video annotation apparatus », CERES-TRACTIVE symposium: Travailler avec les images en mouvement, December 21 2023.
« Fan Communities as Digital Folklores: A Study of Online Fandom », SFSIC’s XXIIIe Congress : La numérisation des sociétés, June 15 2023.
« Gender in the past tense: costume dramas’ nostalgic gender representations », Ve Philomel PhD workshop : La représentation du genre à l’écran, April 17 2023.
« Costume dramas, spectators, and the gaze: producing gender throughout time in cinema », GRIPIC PhD seminar, January 25 2023.
2022
« A Fandom of One’s Own: Fanfiction as a Bedroom Ritual During COVID-19 », FSNNA 2022, Inside Voices, October 13 2022.
« ‘Me? I Live on the Internet’: Online Fan Communities as a Digital Folklore », VICFA 2022, The Global Fantastic, October 8 2022.
Teaching experience
Since beginning my thesis in 2022, I have taught at several levels on a variety of topics, including:
- Digital technology and cultures with a focus on artificial intelligence, for instance:
- The semiology of online media, CELSA-Sorbonne M2 Media and Digital Management and INSPE M2 PIF, 5×3 hours;
- AI, Media and Society, M2 Media and Digital Management at CELSA-Sorbonne, 5×2 hours.
- Mass media, for instance:
- Introduction to the Study of News Media, L1 Information and Communication at Sorbonne Paris Nord, 6×3 hours;
- Cultural theories on television and film, M2 Media and Creation at CELSA-Sorbonne, 5×2 hours;
- An introduction to daily press, L3 Media at CELSA-Sorbonne, 5×2 hours.
- Gender studies, for instance:
- Gender, AI, and Fiction, M2 Media and Digital Management at CELSA-Sorbonne, 4×2 hours;
- Research methods, for instance:
- Research protocols, M2 Media and Digital Management at CELSA-Sorbonne, 4×3 hours;
- Master’s thesis methodology, M2 Media and Creation at CELSA-Sorbonne, 4×2 hours.
- Media companies and practices, for instance:
- Digital marketing, M2 Media and Digital Management at CELSA-Sorbonne, 2×3 hours and 1×2 hours;
- History of information and communication systems, M1 Documentation at INSPE, 6×2 hours.
- Semiology, for instance:
- Semiology of textual and visual media, M1 Documentation at INSPE, 5×2 hours, tutorials & lectures;
- Introduction to the semiology of media, CELSA-Sorbonne M1 Media and Digital Management, 6×2 hours, tutorials.
My teaching responsibilities include participating in admissions panels, supervising master’s theses, and administering and grading midterm exams.
Scientific event organization
Symposiums
Organization of the international symposium “Cultural industries through the lens of « diversity »: actors, issues, practices” with Céline Charrier, Maxime Cervulle, Sarah Lécossais, Inés Picaud-Larrandart, and Anna Tible, on November 20 and 21, 2025.
Organization of the CERES-TRACTIVE symposium with Edouard Bouté, Thibault Grison, Virginie Julliard: Travailler avec les images en mouvement, December 12 2023.
Organization of the CERES-TRACTIVE symposium with Edouard Bouté, Virginie Julliard: Travailler avec les images, June 8 2023.
Workshops and seminars
2023-2024 Philomel PhD seminar with Hannah Victoria Johnson:
Gender through postcolonial theory with Sarah Moudoub (CELLF, CIEF) and Essodina Bamaze N’Gani (SND), February 19 2023.
Gendered violence with Eléonore Paré (CURAPP-ESS, CIRCEM) and Mathilde Castanié (Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne), March 25 2024.
Gender on screen and ear avec Talitha Piggott et Seraphina Paisey (independant researchers) and Domitille Bes (IReMus), April 29 2024.
Speaking gender today avec Zoé Théval (GRIPIC) and Elise Schramm-Hsia (REMELICE), May 27 2024.
Queer readings with Kameron Johnson (VALE), Adélaïde Pilloux (ENS) and Jeanne Jacob (SU), June 14 2024.
2022-2023 CERES PhD seminar with Clara Bordier, Rimane Karam, Julien Bezançon
Methodological itineraries and computational writing, Aurélie Sansen (Sorbonne Université) and Victor Ecrement (ENSCI), April 25 2023.
How to work with computational tools when their inner workings are beyond our current understanding?, Marie-Lise Buisson (Sorbonne Université), May 30 2023.
06/13/2023. Can we model literary life in Cicero’s correspondence?, Ivanne Hermant (Sorbonne Université), June 13 2023.
2022-2023 ADAGE PhD workshop with Clara Bordier, Joachim Fischer et Coline Reille
Using Zotero with Romain Vindevoghel (GRIPIC), April 24 2023.
Writing and publishing in English, with Lisa Bolz (GRIPIC), May 22 2023.
What they don’t say about teaching, GRIPIC-CELSA PhD students roundtable, June 20 2023.
Léa Andolfi 