Graduate students in the School of Communication will be presenting their scholarly work at the National Communication Association’s (NCA) 108th Annual Convention. The convention will be held November 17–20, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana.
COM graduate students presenting their work at the convention are Taylor Newsander, Henrique Villela, and Maddie Wilson. Presenting at the NCA Convention offers graduate students opportunities for recognition, networking, and resume-building. COM faculty and other graduate students will also be in attendance.
Newsander and Wilson will be presenting their paper, “Gaming Minorities: Analyzing the Experiences of Non-Males in eSports Gaming,” which won a student “Top Paper” award in the Game Studies Division. Newsander and Wilson’s paper analyzes the experiences of non-males in eSports gaming by understanding their experiences and the treatment they receive from their male counterparts. Seven non-male participants were interviewed for the study of future gaming and genderqueer research. Interview topics included the culture in gaming, communal support, friendship building, males as entry points to the gaming world, accommodation, representation, and empowerment.
Villela will be presenting his paper, “Framing Refugees: An Analysis of the Media Coverage of M.I.A.’s Borders Music Video.” M.I.A. is a British rapper and singer whose music video, “Borders,” was released in 2015 and streamed over 27 million times. The music video, which features hundreds of men emigrating to seek refuge, was covered in the news cycle for about nine months. Villela compared the framing in the news of the “Borders” music video with past international coverage of refugees. Villela found that M.I.A.’s artistic portrayal of politics influenced the media’s framing of the topic.
Samantha Schultz, a former ISU M.A. student, will also be presenting her paper, “Communication Between Adult Daughters and Their Mothers Regarding Childcare and Unsolicited Advice.” Schultz’s paper studies the relationship between mothers and their daughters who become mothers themselves. Grandparents are known to positively influence and benefit their grandchildren, although the relationship between the grandmother and adult daughter can struggle with its newfound and challenging power dynamics. Schultz analyzes the tension, communication, and general contentment between grandmothers and their daughters.
In addition to these students, the following students, who encompass the full range of degree pursuits in COM, are presenting their scholarly work at the NCA 2022 Convention:
- Doniven Hill-Bush, current undergraduate student, panelist
- Nick Steinmetz, current M.A. student, panelist
- Jillian Joyce, current doc student, panelist
- Jennifer Zhang, former M.A. student, paper presentation
