Joseph Malherek

I'm a second-year PhD student at GW. I am interested in the culture of American consumerism, materialism, and mass-media marketing. Employing a Marxian critique, I examine consumerism as a site of class identity formation and articulation. Much of the research I've done so far has been at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, which has extensive advertising archives. There, I have looked at the Marlboro Man, Cover Girl, and Maidenform collections, and I have carefully examined the papers of Estelle Ellis, consultant to beauty and fashion magazines such as Seventeen and Glamour.

Also, generally, I'm interested in American cultural and political history, particularly in the 20th century. I am intrigued by the history of modernization, imperialism, and what is often called "globalization" in today's parlance, and the relationship between labor, capital, and the state in the context of the global economy.

I graduated from the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota in 2002 with a BA in political science and cultural studies. Before coming to GW, I worked as a policy analyst at several Washington, DC consumer advocacy organizations.

malherek@gwu.edu