Tal-El Rubner

PhD Members

Tal-El (T.) has a background in fashion design and marketing and currently is a PhD candidate and sessional tutor at RMIT’s School of Media and Communication.

T.’s research interests lay at the intersection of appearance, gender, and interpersonal communication. Her PhD focuses on middle-class, white-collar, Chinese, working women, examining their dress strategies for work. The research explores through a Peircean semiotic approach the meaning of dress in the public sphere and how women use those meanings to construct their professional identity. T.’s interest in Chinese culture, gender power dynamics, and Confucian ethics, began while living and working in China between 2009-2013.

T. is the Confucius institute 2020 PhD fellowship winner and is currently co-authoring with Prof. Haiqing Yu a book chapter for the Routledge Handbook of Chinese Gender and Sexuality (forthcoming). T. is a curious child at heart, so has a variety of research interests and is always looking for opportunities to collaborate and expand her horizons.