- Archives, promises, values: forensic infrastructures in times of austerity Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; and Posocco, S. 2021. Archives, promises, values: forensic infrastructures in times of austerity. Critique of Anthropology, 41(1), pp. 3-20. ISSN 0308-275X
- Arquivos, promessas, valores: Infraestruturas forenses em tempos de austeridade. Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; and Posocco, S. 2021. Arquivos, promessas, valores: Infraestruturas forenses em tempos de austeridade. Lugar Comun: Estudos de midia, cultura e democracia, 59, pp. 122-166.
- Flexible industrial work in the European periphery: factory regimes and changing working class cultures in the Spanish steel industry Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; and Sabate, Irene. 2019. Flexible industrial work in the European periphery: factory regimes and changing working class cultures in the Spanish steel industry. Anthropology of Work Review, 40(1), pp. 15-24. ISSN 0883-024X
- Can Digital Health Save Democracy? Meeting the Cosmopolitical Challenge of Digital Worlds Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ . 2018. Can Digital Health Save Democracy? Meeting the Cosmopolitical Challenge of Digital Worlds. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 6(2), pp. 631-643. ISSN 2195-3325
- A commitment to difference: An interview with Esther Newton Boyce, P; Engebretsen, E; Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; Posocco, S; Newton, E; and Lewin, E. 2018. A commitment to difference: An interview with Esther Newton. Sexualities, 21(5-6), pp. 951-969. ISSN 1363-4607
- Beyond the binaries: Reshaping pain communication through arts workshops Tarr, JS; Cornish, F; and Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ . 2018. Beyond the binaries: Reshaping pain communication through arts workshops. Sociology of Health & Illness, 40(3), pp. 577-592. ISSN 0141-9889
- On liveness: using arts workshops as a research method Tarr, JS; and Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ . 2017. On liveness: using arts workshops as a research method. Qualitative Research, 18(1), pp. 36-52. ISSN 1468-7941
- The thing about pain: The remaking of illness narratives in chronic pain expressions on social media Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; and Tarr, JS. 2016. The thing about pain: The remaking of illness narratives in chronic pain expressions on social media. New Media & Society, 18(8), pp. 1455-1472. ISSN 1461-4448
- Chronic media worlds: Social media and the problem of pain communication on Tumblr Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ . 2016. Chronic media worlds: Social media and the problem of pain communication on Tumblr. Social Media + Society, 2(1), pp. 1-11. ISSN 2056-3051
- Anthropologists Are Talking about Queer Anthropology Boyce, P; Engebretsen, E; Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; Hendricks, T; Hossain, A; Posocco, S; Riley, T; Tucker, H; and Graham, M. 2015. Anthropologists Are Talking about Queer Anthropology. Ethnos, 81(2), ISSN 0014-1844
Dr Elena Gonzalez-Polledo FHEA
Staff details
I am a social anthropologist, but my work crosses boundaries between academic disciplines.
I am a social anthropologist specialising in gender theory, science and technology studies, and digital anthropology. I have conducted research in the United Kingdom, North America and Europe.
I am currently working on two projects - an ethnography of everyday biotechnological experimentation, and a global anthropology of bioinformation.
Teaching and supervision
Research interests
Data Worlds and Futures: Archives, Bio information and Evidence (Wellcome Trust funded)
Communicating Chronic Pain - Interdisciplinary methods for non-verbal data (NCRM funded)
MEDEA - Models and their effects on development paths: an ethnographic and comparative approach (EU FP7)
I co-edit the book series Theorizing Ethnography: Concept, Context, Critique, published with Routledge Anthropology.
Publications and research outputs
Book
- Worlding Biodata: Rendering Life in Complex Systems Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; and Posocco, S. 2025. Worlding Biodata: Rendering Life in Complex Systems. Bristol: Bristol University Press. ISBN 9781529253054
- Queer and Trans Life: Anthropological Futures Posocco, S; Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; AAberg, Lars; and Altay, Tunay. 2025. Queer and Trans Life: Anthropological Futures. New York: Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781805398585
- Bioinformation Worlds and Futures Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; and Posocco, S. 2021. Bioinformation Worlds and Futures. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780367409456
Book Section
- Queer and Trans Life: Anthropological Futures Posocco, S; Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; Aaberg, L; and Altay, T. 2025. Queer and Trans Life: Anthropological Futures. In: S Posocco; EJ Gonzalez-Polledo; L Aaberg and T Altay, eds. Queer and Trans Life: Anthropological Futures. New York: Berghahn Books, pp. 1-26. ISBN 9781805398585
- Bioinformation Worlds and Futures: Introduction Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; and Posocco, S. 2021. Bioinformation Worlds and Futures: Introduction. In: EJ Gonzalez-Polledo and S Posocco, eds. Bioinformation Worlds and Futures. Abingdon: Routledge. ISBN 9780367409456
- Queering Knowledge: An Introduction Boyce, Paul; Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; and Posocco, Silvia. 2019. Queering Knowledge: An Introduction. In: P Boyce; EJ Gonzalez-Polledo and S Posocco, eds. Queering Knowledge: Analytics, Devices and Investments after Marilyn Strathern. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781138230989
Article
- Genital Modifications in Prepubescent Minors: When May Clinicians Ethically Proceed? Brussels Collaboration on Bodily Integrity . 2025. Genital Modifications in Prepubescent Minors: When May Clinicians Ethically Proceed? The American Journal of Bioethics, 25(7), pp. 53-102. ISSN 1526-5161
- #ChronicPain: Automated Building of a Chronic Pain Cohort from Twitter Using Machine Learning Sarker, A; Lakamana, S; Guo, Y; Ge, Y; Leslie, A; Okunromade, O; Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; Perrone, J; and Mackenzie-Brown, AM. 2023. #ChronicPain: Automated Building of a Chronic Pain Cohort from Twitter Using Machine Learning. Health Data Science, 3, 0078. ISSN 2765-8783
- Forensic Apophenia: Sensing the Bioinformation Archive Gonzalez-Polledo, EJ ; and Posocco, S. 2022. Forensic Apophenia: Sensing the Bioinformation Archive. Anthropological Quarterly, 95(1), pp. 97-123. ISSN 0003-5491
Thesis
- From Transition To Transitioning: An Anthropological Study of Female To Male Transsexuality Gonzalez-Polledo Bermudez, Elena . 2010. From Transition To Transitioning: An Anthropological Study of Female To Male Transsexuality. Doctoral thesis, Goldsmiths, University of London
Teaching
I joined Goldsmiths as a lecturer in September 2017, having completed a PhD in the department of anthropology in 2010. In the meantime, I was a post-doc researcher in the FP7 funded project MEDEA - Models and their effects on development paths: an ethnographic and comparative approach. I also held an LSE Fellowship (2012-2014) and a Course Tutor position (2014-2016) at the London School of Economics. Before joining the department, I worked as a Lecturer in the University of Sheffield’s Faculty of Social Sciences.