R.L. (Rachel Lara) van der Merwe, PhD

Rachel Lara van der Merwe (she/her) is an assistant professor in the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and a Research Fellow at the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of Free State. She received a Ph.D. in Media Research and Practice from the University of Colorado Boulder. Prior to graduate school, Rachel studied film/TV/radio production. Her first feature film “Cicada” was shot in Japan and won awards at the Heartland Film Festival, LA Asian Pacific Festival, and Guam International Film Festival. She has also produced several music videos that have premiered on SPIN, Pitchfork, and mtvU.

Rachel’s research explores the intersection of digital screen media, national identity, ecopolitics, and coloniality—particularly within South Africa and the Global South. Her upcoming monograph,  “We are not South African”, is a critique of the nation as an ongoing medium of coloniality by which communities and individuals make sense of their belonging in the world. This project reflects her larger interest in how various processes of mediation, through technology (especially digital), language, or the body, reveal deep human anxieties over identity and belonging.

Her current project, "Gaming the Nation" explores the role that video games play in national identity formation, with a focus on the South African video game industry.