DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION

Two graduate students and two assistant professors from the Psychology and Communication Department participated in the academic conference Global Fusion this past Oct. 21-23 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Stuart Davis, Director of the Border and Latin American Media Studies track, Dr. Ju Oak (Jade) Kim, assistant professor of Communication, as well as graduate students Ana Luisa Ramirez and Melissa Santillana collaborated in different panels to present their research on Media Studies.

Dr. Davis along with Dr. Joseph Straubhaar from the University of Texas, and Dr. Isabel Ferin Cunha, from the University of Coimbra, Portugal presented “The Construction of a Transnational Lusophone Media Space: A Historiographical Analysis”. The paper examined the historical construction of a Lusophone cultural-linguistic media market and its expansion in Europe, Africa, and South America. The authors explained the political-economical and ideological factors that connect Portugal, Brazil and the Portuguese-speaking colonies in Africa; and media products that are consumed in most Portuguese-speaking countries.

Dr. Davis also presented “‘Where is Amarildo?’: Personalized Action Frames, Transnational Advocacy Networks, and the Battle Against Police Brutality in Rio de Janeiro’s Favelas,” a study into the social and political factors that led to national and international protest against police brutality in Brazil during the panel Violence, Conflict and Surveillance.

Dr. Kim presented “City Hall Square as a Global Public Sphere in South Korea”, a research that explores the nexus of public space, collective memory, and public sphere using the City Hall Square in Soul. The square has been employed as a symbolic space for political protests and cultural festivals over the past century. Dr. Kim’s study was heard in the panel Transnational Writ Large.

Graduate students Ana Luis Ramirez and Melissa Santillana presented “Perceptions of Border Residents and Media Consumption: A Survey Analysis”, a research conducted with college students to study the relation between TV consumption preferences and their perceptions about border residents. Likewise, Santillana also presented “’Las Morras’: A Case Study of Women Confronting Everyday Misogyny Through Radical Alternative Media in Mexico City,” a research conducted on a feminist activist group based in Mexico City. The focus of the study was to look at the use of tactical and radical media to create interventionist movements.

The theme of the conference was Media and the Global City and was hosted by the School of Media and Communication of Temple University. Temple along with Southern Illinois University, Ohio University, the University of Texas at Austin, Texas A&M University and the University of Virginia are part of a consortium dedicated to advance research and teaching on global communication.