Scripps Scholars Explore Pressing Communication Issues at ICA
Scripps Scholars Explore Pressing Communication Issues at ICA
Scripps College of Communication scholars presented their research at the prestigious International Communication Association’s 76th Annual Conference, held in Cape Town, South Africa, in June 2026.
A group of 14 faculty and graduate students embraced roles as research chairs, discussants, or presenters, sharing their insights and original research at the flagship event for the ICA, which also publishes five peer-reviewed academic journals. Many of them took on multiple roles, participating in more than 21 different capacities across various divisions and committees, showcasing their passion and dedication to the field.
They explored a wide range of topics, from better understanding marginalized communities and feminist storytelling to sexual politics, digital fertility concerns, algorithmic governance, inequality, reproductive rights, and economic empowerment.
“It’s exciting to see our college represented so well at the international level,” said interim dean Aimee Edmondson. “We tackle today’s problems and build knowledge to share with others as we face future challenges. This is what we do.”
Scripps Presenters and Themes at ICA – 2026
SACA - South Asia Communication Association Research Session
Aazadi Fateh Muhammad, doctoral student in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, presented “Speaking from the Margins: Indigenous Women’s Lived Knowledge and the Rearticulation of Standpoint Theory in South Asia.”
Advancing Sexual Politics: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies
Eva Liu, doctoral student in the School of Media Arts and Studies, presented “We Can Cultivate Our Love for Women: Heteropessimism, Gender Separatism, and Lesbian Desire in Contemporary China." and received Top Student Paper recognition.
Feminist Methods, Auto-Ethnography, and Knowledge from the Margins: Feminist Scholarship
Jessie Gongolo, doctoral student in the School of Communication Studies, presented “Reclaiming the Body: Fibroids, Autoethnography, and Feminist Theory as Collective Testimony.”
Annual Digital Asia Post-Conference Participation
Siyuan Xiang, doctoral student in the School of Communication Studies, presented “Digital Fertility Anxieties: County-Level Chinese Women’s Narratives on Short-Video Platforms.”
Xiang also presented “Voicing Inequality: Inland Accents and Digital Stereotypes on Chinese Short-Video Platforms.”
Meditating Intimacy, Panic, and Community Monday Popular Media & Culture: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies
Eva Liu, doctoral student in the School of Communication Studies, presented “Click to Feel Loved: How Fictive-Parent Influencers Construct and Monetize Digital Intimacy on Chinese Social Media Xiaohongshu (RedNote).”
Power, Inequality, and Resistance in Intercultural Communication: Intercultural Communication
Benjamin Bates, Professor in the School of Communication Studies, presented “Listening to Cariamanga: Migration Motivations and the Culture-Centered Approach.”
Political Perception and Attitudes: Political Communication
Hafiz Zain Itrat, doctoral student in the School of Media Arts and Studies, presented “Relationship between Donald Trump and Elon Musk: The Perception of the U.S. Audience.”
Resilience Enactment and Risk Management in Challenging Situations: Interpersonal Communication
Lyzbeth King, doctoral student in Communication Studies, presented “Bouncing Back in Unequal Systems: Communication, Resilience, and Maternity Leave Policy.”
Feminism, Leadership, and Institutional Power: Feminist Scholarship
Lyzbeth King, doctoral student of Communication Studies, presented “Digital Inequalities and Women’s Techno-Agency: Ghanaian Online Spaces and the Assertion of Agency in Digital Media Spaces.”
Voices of Agency: Feminist Storytelling and Transformative Practices: Saturday Feminist Scholarship
Organizer
Aazadi Fateh Muhammad
Participants
Saumya Pant, Associate Professor in the School of Media Arts and Studies presented “Surrogacy as a Form of Reproductive Autonomy and Economic Empowerment: Contesting Legal and Political Exclusion of Reproductive Rights and Feminist Care Work in India.”
Zoya Muhammad, former M.A. student in the School of Communication Studies, presented “Dialogues of Agency: Feminist Storytelling and Marital Decision-Making among Pakistani Women in Diaspora.”
Aazadi Fateh Muhammad, doctoral student at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, presented “From the Margins to the Digital: Bell Hooks and the Epistemology of Inclusion.”
Doing Intercultural Care: Dialogue, Empathy, and Community across Difference: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies
Lyzbeth King, doctoral student in Communication Studies, presented “It’s Our Duty to End the Shame and Stigma of Periods:” Mother-Daughter Menstruation Communication in Kenya.”
Queer(ing) Motherhood in East and Southeast Asian Popular Media Cultures: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Studies
Chair
Eva Liu, Doctoral Student at the School of Communication Studies
Participant
Eva Liu presented “Queer Motherhood and (Non-)Reproductive Futurism in Squid Game (2021–2025)
Practising Decolonisation in Global Communication: Global Communication and Social Change
Dominic Asitanga, doctoral student in the School of Communication Studies, presented “Entangled in the Struggle: An Autoethnographic Journey Toward Decolonization.”
GATO-verned Gig Economies: Platform Noncompliance, Nomadism Barriers, and Creative Labor Affordances: Communication and Technology
Nikhil Reddy Kondam, doctoral student in the Media Arts and Studies Program at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, presented “Labor, Likes, and Livelihoods: The Role of Content Creation among Gig Workers in India.”
Inequalities in Newsrooms and across Audiences: Sunday Journalism Studies
Benjamin Tetteh, Assistant Professor in the E.W. Scripps School of Communication, presented “Social Inequalities in Ghanaian Journalism and a Resort to Self-Censorship: Centering Voices from the Global South.”