UC Communications Researchers to Present at National Conference

Members of the University of Cincinnati’s Department of Communication will present their research at the National Communication Association’s (NCA) annual conference in Las Vegas Nov. 19-22.

Faculty and graduate students will discuss research that focuses on topics that range from rhetorical and communication theory division to an analysis of truck drivers’ discourses around condom use for HIV/AIDS, to gentrification in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. 

The NCA’s convention, which is its 101st, is centered around the theme “Embracing Opportunities.” The association prides itself on advancing and advocating for “all forms, modes, media and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry,” according to its website. 

Gail T. Fairhurst, a professor of communication at UC and one of NCA’s distinguished scholars, will present as a part of the conference’s “Top Four Papers in Organizational Communication.” Her research, titled “Sourcing Paradoxical Tensions in Organizational Discourse,” examines the under-examined role of organizational discourse in paradoxical dynamics. It considers how conflicting discourses produce tensions and responses that look toward a new theory of paradoxical dynamics. The research is co-authored by Linda L. Putnam from the University of California.

 Zhuo Ban, assistant professor at the communication program, will present research titled “Religion, Corporate and Marginalized Labor: An Ethnographic Study of Discursive Tension and Identity of a Chinese House Church.” In the study, Ban considers how identity of a Christian church in China manifested itself through the interplay of competing discourses, concluding that discursive tensions were a routine part of the house church’s organizational process. Ban argues that two aspects were central to the church’s identity: the transparency of discursive tension and struggle and power distribution amid competing discourses. 

 Eric S. Jenkins, assistant professor at UC’s communication department, will present “The Affective Dimension of Identification: Manner, Rhythm, and Attunement.". Jenkins’ study challenges “the presumed scope of the cognitive view” by demonstrating the physical aspects of identification and contemplating the role of nonverbal gestures, behavior and vocality. His research, co-authored by J. David Cisneros of the University of Illinois, in part seeks to help explain why “many people today seemingly identify with subjects, courses of action or institutions against their own interests.” Jenkins will also serve as chair for a panel titled “Race, Social Media, and Affect: Exploring the Intense Aftermath of Recent Events of Police Brutality.” The panel will focus on the relationships between events and social media in the aftermath of the killings of John Crawford, Eric Garner and Michael Brown by police. 

 Shaunak Sastry, assistant professor at UC’s communication program, will discuss research titled “Questioning the common sense of condom use: A Gramscian analysis of truck drivers’ discourses around condom use for HIV/AIDS.” The study puts condom use in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in a social and cultural context, analyzing the discourse with which long-distance truck drivers use to challenge and support the hegemonic role of condoms for HIV/AIDS.

Research titled “Health Activism and Corporate Change: Strategic Implications for Public Policy and Movement Building” will be presented by Heather Zoller, professor and director of graduate studies at UC’s department of communication. At a time where interest is growing quickly in health activism and the health effects of corporations, Zoller’s research navigates a lack of understanding in activist tactics while also analyzing the implications of strategies activists employ to enact change from corporations. 

Jacqueline Hull, a graduate student in communication at UC, will present research titled “Material Rhetoric and Gentrification: Racial Politics as Enacted by the Material in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine.” The study investigates how gentrification in Over-the-Rhine reflects American racial politics through spatial and physical differences, concluding that the tangible materials in the neighborhood indicate who are cared about in the community. 

 Ronald L. Jackson II, professor of communication at UC and the 2nd vice president of the NCA, will be chair of a panel on Black Lives Matter, race and police violence titled “‘Scandal’ Goes Ferguson: Embracing ‘Black Lives Matter’ on TV and Social Media.” The panel, whose co-presenters include Kimberly R. Moffitt from the University of Maryland and Simone Puff from Syracuse University, interprets the intersections of politics, power, race and gender in the hit ABC show Scandal. The panel will also examine the viewing practices and social media interactions of the show’s viewership. 

The diversity of ideas represented in these presentations shows the range of UC’s communication program, and how willing its members are to embrace opportunity in the communication field. 

To find out more about the department of communication, visit their webpage. 

For more information on research from UC communication members, contact John Lynch at lynchjo@ucmail.uc.edu.