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Locations Of Possibility: Reengaging Embodied Pedagogy As An Act Of Resistance, Molly Wiant Cummins
Locations Of Possibility: Reengaging Embodied Pedagogy As An Act Of Resistance, Molly Wiant Cummins
Communication Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
To Withdraw - Never Time To Do Anything Well: Mothers Reported Constraints During A Pandemic, Grace Ellen Brannon, Molly Wiant Cummins
To Withdraw - Never Time To Do Anything Well: Mothers Reported Constraints During A Pandemic, Grace Ellen Brannon, Molly Wiant Cummins
Communication Faculty Publications
Mothers’ perceptions of mothering could potentially influence several aspects of their home and work commitments. This study explores how mothers perceive their mothering experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic via 18 in-depth interviews. The authors use constraint theory and negotiation frameworks to discuss how family communication processes and perceptions of mothering are related within the context of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Findings demonstrated how working from home increased perceptions of family tensions, especially with the lack of home/work separation. Throughout the narratives, participants describe specific constraints at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural levels, as …
Is It Because I'M International: Unpacking Experiences Of International Instructors? Via Critical Communication Pedagogy As Aligned With Cultural Wealth, Yea-Wen Chen, Molly Wiant Cummins
Is It Because I'M International: Unpacking Experiences Of International Instructors? Via Critical Communication Pedagogy As Aligned With Cultural Wealth, Yea-Wen Chen, Molly Wiant Cummins
Communication Faculty Publications
Given the relatively invisible yet growing presence of international academics on U.S. campuses, this study investigates the lived negotiations of “international instructors” across disciplines via critical communication pedagogy (CCP) as aligned with a pedagogy of cultural wealth. We place “international instructors” within quotation marks to challenge a territorial linear logic of the world, and also to facilitate a new space for rethinking academic labors and capitals. Aligned with a pedagogy of cultural wealth, CCP with key commitments to identity, power, culture, and language in the context of pedagogy is an appropriate lens to examine the lived experiences of “international instructors” …
Mothering In A Pandemic: Navigating Care Work, Intensive Motherhood, And Covid-19, Molly Wiant Cummins, Grace Ellen Brannon
Mothering In A Pandemic: Navigating Care Work, Intensive Motherhood, And Covid-19, Molly Wiant Cummins, Grace Ellen Brannon
Communication Faculty Publications
Even before COVID-19, women around the world performed more unpaid domestic labor, specifically unpaid care labor, than men. COVID-19 has only exacerbated the gender gap in this domestic labor. For Western women, especially mothers in the United States of America, the normative discourse of intensive motherhood and the gendered pressure inherent in the unrealistic standards set by the discourse have only increased the amount of unpaid domestic and care labor required of mothers. Using qualitative, in-depth interviews with 18 mothers during May–June 2020, this study examines privileged mothers’ perceptions of what they did well in parenting both before and during …
Influence Of Pediatric Patients’ Developmental Or Chronic Health Condition Status As A Predictor Of Parents’ Perceptions Of Patient- And Family-Cen, Grace Ellen Brannon, Madison Ray
Influence Of Pediatric Patients’ Developmental Or Chronic Health Condition Status As A Predictor Of Parents’ Perceptions Of Patient- And Family-Cen, Grace Ellen Brannon, Madison Ray
Communication Faculty Publications
Our study aimed to estimate how a pediatric patient’s health condition status influences parents’ perceptions of patient- and family-centered care (PFCC). We analyzed five years (2013–2017) of Medical Expenditure Panel Survey data in efforts to expand understanding of the family influence in pediatric health encounters, using family systems theory as our theoretical lens. The sample included 36,675 parents of children with developmental or chronic health conditions who reported visiting a health-care provider within the past 12 months. The independent variable was a combined measure of any developmental or chronic health conditions previously diagnosed in the child being assessed. Dependent variables …
Documenting Emotional Labor: An Exercise In Critical Communication Pedagogy, Molly Wiant Cummins, Audrey A. Huber
Documenting Emotional Labor: An Exercise In Critical Communication Pedagogy, Molly Wiant Cummins, Audrey A. Huber
Communication Faculty Publications
This essay builds on Lawless’s call to name and chronicle emotional work. The authors draw attention to the emotional labor that has become an institutional expectation of the academic position, particularly among people with marginalized identities, to name this labor as such and to use this documentation as evidence for compensation. The authors’ emotional labor is grounded in critical communication pedagogy (CCP), which compels them to engage in a fundamentally different form of emotional labor, one that depends on relationship-building and the recognition of systemic and structural forms of oppression through reflexive care and performative listening. This form of emotional …
Implicating Ourselves Through Our Research: A Duoethnography Of Researcher Reflexivity, Molly Wiant Cummins, Grace Ellen Brannon
Implicating Ourselves Through Our Research: A Duoethnography Of Researcher Reflexivity, Molly Wiant Cummins, Grace Ellen Brannon
Communication Faculty Publications
Researcher reflexivity is not a new concept in qualitative research. However, how/if researchers engage in that reflexivity varies. In this essay, the authors engage in reflexivity about a research project they conducted together. The previous project consisted of semi-structured interviews with U.S.-based mothers regarding their perceptions about motherhood. We then used intensive motherhood as a theoretical lens through which we analyzed the interviews. The project also encompassed mothers’ perceptions during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Through duoethnography, the researchers reflexively consider major dead angles of their project, challenges they faced, and what reflexivity brings to the forefront. They further reflect on …
Never Time To Do Anything Well?: Mothers" Reported Constraints During A Pandemic, Grace Ellen Brannon, Molly Wiant Cummins
Never Time To Do Anything Well?: Mothers" Reported Constraints During A Pandemic, Grace Ellen Brannon, Molly Wiant Cummins
Communication Faculty Publications
Mothers’ perceptions of mothering could potentially influence several aspects of their home and work commitments. This study explores how mothers perceive their mothering experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic via 18 in-depth interviews. The authors use constraint theory and negotiation frameworks to discuss how family communication processes and perceptions of mothering are related within the context of the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Findings demonstrated how working from home increased perceptions of family tensions, especially with the lack of home/work separation. Throughout the narratives, participants describe specific constraints at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and structural levels, as …
Big Data And Journalism: How American Journalism Is Adopting The Use Of Big Data, Andrew M. Clark, Julián Rodríguez
Big Data And Journalism: How American Journalism Is Adopting The Use Of Big Data, Andrew M. Clark, Julián Rodríguez
Communication Faculty Publications
This research uses in-depth interviews with three data journalists from the Houston Chronicle and the New York Times in the United States to describe the role of data journalists, and to illustrate how and why they use big data in their stories. Data journalists possess a unique set of skills, including the ability to find and gather data and use that data to tell a compelling written story in a visually coherent way. Results from our interviews and research show as newspapers move to a digital format, the role of data journalists is becoming more essential, as are laws like …
The Balancing Act Is Magnified: U.S. Mothers’ Struggles Amidst A Pan, Grace Ellen Brannon, Molly Wiant Cummins
The Balancing Act Is Magnified: U.S. Mothers’ Struggles Amidst A Pan, Grace Ellen Brannon, Molly Wiant Cummins
Communication Faculty Publications
Successes are often noticed in reflection after an event; struggles are felt in the moment. When COVID-19 was recognized as a public health emergency in the United States (US), many mothers felt their struggles more acutely. Much of 2020 feels like a pressure cooker for mothers, where the steam valve does not fully relieve the mounting pressure they felt because of COVID-19. Most families are experiencing additional stress due to COVID-19, but in heterosexual couples, that work disproportionately falls to women, as they are spending, on average, fifteen hours more per week on education and household tasks (Cohen and Hsu). …
Family Communicative Environment’S Effects On Young Adults’ Social Norms About Limiting Alcohol: Examining The Mediating Effects Of Implicit Pri, Grace Ellen Brannon
Family Communicative Environment’S Effects On Young Adults’ Social Norms About Limiting Alcohol: Examining The Mediating Effects Of Implicit Pri, Grace Ellen Brannon
Communication Faculty Publications
Alcohol usage among young adults remains a prominent public health concern. Communicating with family members about alcohol can positively influence young adults’ perceptions of social norms, yet the stigmatized nature of alcohol-related conversations in the family create a barrier to occurrence of these conversations. This study examines how young adults’ familial communication patterns impact their descriptive and injunctive social norms about alcohol, using Communication Privacy Management Theory as the theoretical framework. Specifically, this study seeks to understand how conversation orientation, conformity orientation, warm conformity orientation, and cold conformity orientation predicts two sets of social norms (descriptive and injunctive), and to …
Miracles And Home Births: The Importance Of Media Representations Of Birth, Molly Wiant Cummins
Miracles And Home Births: The Importance Of Media Representations Of Birth, Molly Wiant Cummins
Communication Faculty Publications
Since most women do not experience birth firsthand before giving birth themselves, many U.S. American birthing women draw knowledge from media representations for understanding what to expect during delivery. Most media representations of birth uphold a medical model, presenting many women with limited options for birth and reducing the agency available to women in their healthcare choices. Lack of choice and agency play into some of the issues surrounding the high rate of maternal mortality in the U.S., compared to other developed nations. This paper analyzes “The Miracle of Birth” scene from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Darci’s home birth on Jane …
Condom Communication In Young Adults’ Romantic Relationships: Examining Privacy’S Effects On Attitudes, Norms, Self-Efficacy, And Barriers, Grace Ellen Brannon
Condom Communication In Young Adults’ Romantic Relationships: Examining Privacy’S Effects On Attitudes, Norms, Self-Efficacy, And Barriers, Grace Ellen Brannon
Communication Faculty Publications
Condoms are the most recommended method of preventing sexually transmitted infections (STIs), yet they are underutilized. Young adults are at substantially higher risk for contracting an STI than other populations, but do not perceive many sexual behaviors as risky. Research has documented the importance of individuals communicating about STIs and condom usage with romantic partners; unfortunately, these conversations do not occur as they should. This study investigates how young adults in romantic relationships manage privacy processes related to condom communication, using Communication Privacy Management as the theoretical lens. This study seeks to better understand how attitudes, norms, and self-efficacy for …
Towards Epistolary Dialogue, Sandra L. Pensoneau-Conway, Molly Wiant Cummins
Towards Epistolary Dialogue, Sandra L. Pensoneau-Conway, Molly Wiant Cummins
Communication Faculty Publications
In this essay, we investigate the potential of letters as a communicative genre that embodies dialogue, and thus, disrupts power relations. To do so, we first outline a theoretical framework that draws upon feminist and critical communication pedagogies. We specifically focus on two scholars—Nel Noddings and Paulo Freire—for the ways they utilize dialogue in developing their pedagogical positions. We then explain our epistolary method of letter writing, which stood as the central component of a semester-long project between us as student and teacher. We use excerpts from our letters to analyze the epistolary form as conducive to dialogic engagement—what we …
Critical Race Theory And Critical Communication Pedagogy: Articulating Pedagogy As An Act Of Love From Black Male Perspectives, Molly Wiant Cummins, Rachel Alicia Griffin
Critical Race Theory And Critical Communication Pedagogy: Articulating Pedagogy As An Act Of Love From Black Male Perspectives, Molly Wiant Cummins, Rachel Alicia Griffin
Communication Faculty Publications
Building upon the established foundation of research concerning the systemic marginalization of Black men in traditionally White educational spaces, this essay positions Black male educational counterstories at the center of critical communication inquiry. To do so, critical race theory (CRT) and critical communication pedagogy (CCP) are productively woven together to draw rich insights from 4 focus groups with Black male students, 1 focus group with Black male faculty and students, and 11 interviews with Black male faculty. Their reflections reveal how Black misandric ideology manifests in traditionally White educational spaces and demand that we pay close attention to what Black …
A Clash Of Cultures: Reaching Hostile Audiences Through International Broadcasting, Andrew M. Clark, Thomas B. Christie
A Clash Of Cultures: Reaching Hostile Audiences Through International Broadcasting, Andrew M. Clark, Thomas B. Christie
Communication Faculty Publications
This study examines U.S. international broadcasting efforts through the Office of War Information and Voice of America to provide a philosophy and foundation for the use of Alhurra Television. This station was launched during the Iraq war to reach audiences and influence public policy in the Middle East. This study found high percentages of Alhurra viewing classification using the discriminant function, suggesting that the combination of key cultural indicator variables is a sound predictor of viewing this news source. Thus, this study validates the premise of U.S. policy as it confirms the challenges faced by international broadcasting 70 years ago …
"It's A Struggle, It's A Journey, It's A Mountain That You Gotta Climb": Black Misandry, Education, And The Strategic Embrace Of Black Male Counterstories, Rachel Alicia Griffin, Molly Wiant Cummins
"It's A Struggle, It's A Journey, It's A Mountain That You Gotta Climb": Black Misandry, Education, And The Strategic Embrace Of Black Male Counterstories, Rachel Alicia Griffin, Molly Wiant Cummins
Communication Faculty Publications
Access to education is one of the only or most realistic means in the United States to improving one's opportunities and agency over a lifetime. That so many Black men are severed from this opportunity, early and often, is distressing at best and deadly at worst. Addressing this systemic issue, this essay centrally positions Black male voices to narrate their educational experiences at the intersections of race and gender. Guided by critical race theory coupled with Black misandry, this essay positi"gendered racism" as a communicative phenomena that can be further understood through qualitative narratives that speak to intersectional identities, power, …
There Is Nothing More Diverse Than "New", Frederick A. Miller, Roger Gans
There Is Nothing More Diverse Than "New", Frederick A. Miller, Roger Gans
Communication Faculty Publications
In the organizational competition for talent, successful retention of newly recruited workers is at least as important as the initial hire. Still, many organizations fail to establish a sense of inclusion for new people in much the same way they often fail to create a sense of inclusion for people of color, women, people with foreign accents, or anyone with obvious differences from the “traditional group.” In most organizations, even those that have embarked on “diversity initiatives,” newly hired people often do not feel welcomed. Consequently, turnover rates in the first two years of employment are seven times greater than …