African Studies Alumni

Dr. Yonatan Tewelde wins Broadcast Education Association's (BEA) 2021 Harwood Outstanding Award

University of Asmara alumnus and Ohio University Ph.D. graduate Dr. Yonatan Tewelde has been awarded the Broadcast Education Association's (BEA) 2021 Harwood Outstanding Dissertation Award. The Broadcast Education Association awards this prestigious academic prize each year for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of broadcasting and electronic media.

Dr. Tewelde's dissertation titled "Chatroom Nation: an Eritrean Case study of a Diaspora PalTalk Public" explores how Eritrean migrants have been using a lesser-known chat application called PalTalk for assembling as a public to debate ways of driving political change, memorializing human rights violations, and for searching paths for peace and reconciliation in the home country they left behind.

The dissertation was directed by Professor Steve Howard, the former director of the African Studies program at Ohio University, and guided by his committee members Dr. Wolfgang Suetzl, Professor Devika Chawla, and Professor Ghirmai Negash.