Antropodi: Researching UMK reaction videos - participatory aca-fan-research with Renata Lisowski

Antropodi-podcasts guest this week is a PhD researcher Reneta Lisowski, who combined her passion of making reaction videos and researching cultures in her doctoral research, where she takes a participatory position in online fan-culture producing UMK-reaction videos to her own Youtube-channel. Renata Lisowski is conducting her research at the University of Jyväskylä, in the Department of Music, Art and Culture studies.

Reaction videos are a niche of media-culture, where the content producer aims in immersing themselves in to a new experience, recording it and sharing it to the audience. The goal is to share first thoughts and display feelings that are authentic and emerging in time of the video recording. There is no script for reaction videos, and they function as a commentary on the media material the producer reacts to. These videos appeal to a specific kind of internet audience, and they can even be considered as a counterculture for highly stylized, preplanned and polished social media content dominating the field, as they offer something real – such as emotions – to relate to.

In her research Lisowski is using autoethnographic method, where a researcher connects their own experiences to a wider cultural context, The method allows the researcher to be an active participant in the study of their topic. Lisowski is collecting data of her own experiences in a field journal, and using the notes for systematical analysis of the cultural meaning of UMK-reaction videos. Autoethnography calls for open reflection on the researchers’ own identity and positionality. Lisowski has published an article on the topic in M/C (Media/Culture)-journal, where she reflects upon researchers positionality, and passion towards ones subject of study.

We will discuss these topics with Renata in this weeks Antropodi-podcast episode, that is hosted by Suvi Mononen, a PhD researcher in Social Anthropology at Tampere University.

The interview is recorded in two separate sessions.

More about Renatas research:

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-7808-864X

Linkedin: https://fi.linkedin.com/in/renatalisowski

Website: https://brokehip.com/renata

EUPOP conference: https://epcablog.wordpress.com/2026/01/07/eupop-2026-call-for-papers/

Master thesis website: https://renatalisowski.wixsite.com/monumentalmarketing

Article: Lisowski, R. (2025). “Reaction Videos, Researcher Positionality, and Falling Back in Love with Vlogging.” M/C Journal, 28(4). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.3200