Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons^™

Hand Mapping: Our Sexual Health Is (Not) In Our Hands, Laura L. Ellingson

Feminist Pedagogy

This Original Teaching Activity introduces hand mapping, an assignment based on the body mapping method, in the context of a communication and gender studies course. Hand mapping can be adapted to interpersonal, organizational, intercultural, and media courses that address identities, intersectionality, communication, culture, and power in different contexts and mediums. Students outline their hands on paper and artfully embellish them as a visual representation of important takeaways or lessons they learned in the course in response to the prompt, “Our sexual health is (not) in our hands.” Students write an “artist’s statement” explaining meanings of color, symbolism, and design.

A Black Feminist Perspective On The Role Of Community Engaged Pedagogy In Communication Education, Katrina Marie Overby, Nickesia S. Gordon

Feminist Pedagogy

As two Black feminist communication scholars, we reflect on the importance of intersectional and culturally responsive community engaged pedagogical practices in communication education. In this paper, we articulate the ways in which integrating community engaged pedagogical practices more intentionally in our curriculum, positions communication educators to participate in and contribute to advocacy based teaching that centralizes reflexivity, dialogue, critical literacy, and alliance building. Rooted in bell hooks’ theory of engaged pedagogy, our approach advocates for educators to articulate a pedagogy of Conscientizacao and to create curricula that teach us all to transgress.

Exploring The Mental Health Impacts Of Dating Experiences For Racial And Ethnic Minorities At A Predominantly White Institution, Maya Sánchez, Mylina Garza, Emma Chung

Communication Studies

The present study examined the mental health implications of racial and ethnic minorities’ dating experiences at a Predominantly White Institution (PWI). The authors conducted retrospective interviews with 20 minority-identifying college students that attend California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Three primary themes emerged from the conducted research. 1) Feeling excluded from racialized beauty standards threatens self-worth, 2) struggling to find romantic belonging limits emotional safety in relationships and navigating cultural differences in dating produces identity hyperawareness. This study also offers interesting theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, findings display the communication maintenance of identity to how romantic involvement impacts …

Designing Visibility: Addressing The Hidden Curriculum For First-Generation Cal Poly Students Through Graphic Communication, Issac Enrique Cervantes

Graphic Communication

First-generation college students often encounter invisible barriers in higher education, including unspoken terminology, institutional practices, cultural norms, and academic expectations that are rarely made explicit but are essential for student success. While this information is frequently transmitted informally through family networks or prior exposure to higher education, first-generation students, particularly those from historically marginalized communities, often lack access to these channels. As a result, students may experience confusion, a reduced sense of belonging, and inequitable academic outcomes.

This senior project investigates and addresses this gap using inclusive graphic communication and user experience (UX) design principles. Through semi-structured interviews with stakeholders …

Motherly Love: A Critical Autoethnography On Identity Formation Through Mental Illness In Maternal Bonds, Ellie E. Monge

Communication Studies

This critical autoethnography is an examination of my personal narrative on how growing up with a mother with mental illness formed my identity as a woman, and as a daughter. I utilize the lens of communication scholarship to understand the effects that this interpersonal relationship had on communication patterns, and ideology. Through personal, and societal analysis the discourse adds to how gendered expectations of womanhood, motherhood, family communication patterns, and dominant mental health rhetoric shape identity for daughters raised in the absence of maternal stability. I implore Family Systems Theory, Family Communication Patterns Theory, Muted Group Theory, and scholarship on …

To My Fellow White Women, With Love..., Hailey N. Otis

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Creating Feminist Icons, Engaging With Feminist Concepts Via Ai, Regina M. Luttrell Ph.D., Carrie T. Welch M.A.

Feminist Pedagogy

The authors describe an undergraduate media diversity course assignment that integrates artificial intelligence (AI) to explore gender representation in media. Students engage in an activity where they use AI text-to-image generators to create fictional feminist icon characters. This activity is designed to complement discussions on AI bias and gender norms in media, prompting students to critically examine how AI tools reinforce or challenge stereotypes. By linking their experiences with AI-generated images to feminist theory, students gain a deeper understanding of intersectionality, representation, and media bias. The assignment is part of a class that traces feminist movements through pop culture media …

Embracing Uncertainty And Resisting Suspicion In The Faculty-Student Relationship, Natalia Rybas

Feminist Pedagogy

This critical essay discusses the suspicion and distrust appearing when educators think that students can (mis)use generative AI tools. The essay argues that education is rife with relations of inequality, reminds us that technologies are never neutral, and explores using uncertainty as a method of resistance to suspicion about students. The suspicion grows from the relations embedded in higher education because power, privilege, and oppression shape the experience of teaching and learning. Technological innovations, such as AI, carry power relations embedded in their designs and assumed uses, making all participants of the learning process vulnerable and disrupting the process itself. …

Teaching Oppositional Resistance To The Weaponization Of Artificial Intelligence In Acts Of Gendered Violence, Lili R. Romann, Elizab​Eth A. Hintz

Feminist Pedagogy

Meeting the aims of this special issue to take a uniquely feminist approach to understanding AI in higher education, we offer a critical commentary to help other scholars apply a critical feminist lens when teaching about the promise of artificial intelligence in the classroom. Specifically, we center pornographic deepfakes as a primal, contemporary, and disastrous example of the gendered weaponization of artificial intelligence. This critical commentary has staying power – equipping future teachers with feminist tools to tackle AI (as well as the inevitable future of AI to come) in pedagogical practice.

Mentoring In The Undergraduate Classroom And Beyond: Creating A Feminist Praxis, Satarupa Dasgupta

Feminist Pedagogy

In the following critical commentary, it is discussed how mentoring--- in the classroom and in academia---can be a feminist practice that comprises an essential part of being a feminist educator. Mentorship encompasses a process in which the mentor disseminates knowledge as well as psychosocial support that are perceived by the mentee as essential for professional or personal development (Sedlacek et al., 2007). Mentorship has been specifically found to fulfill professional needs for women, while enhancing their self-worth and sense of competence, and providing instances of role modeling and social affirmation (Meschitti & Lawton Smith, 2017).

What Is “So Severe, Pervasive, And Objectively Offensive?”: Defining Sexual Harassment, Investigating Reporting Requirements, And Supporting Disclosures With Communicative Role-Playing, Lauren L. Buisker, Kylie Johnson

Feminist Pedagogy

Despite the pervasive reach of rape culture on college campuses, university sexual harassment trainings frequently fail to provide students with clear definitions of sexual violence, often avoid using intersectional frameworks to teach students about the topic, and obscure the bureaucratic complexities that inhibit survivors’ abilities to seek out appropriate resources when they experience sexual trauma. As such, this article outlines communication strategies for feminist instructors interested in improving their students’ understanding of sexual harassment, given that social science and humanities classrooms provide apt spaces for grappling with difficult topics and the way in which language constructs our reality. We propose …

Teaching #Metoo And #Blacklivesmatter Amid The Anti-Woke Moral Panic, Stephanie Medden

Feminist Pedagogy

The introduction of over 100 anti-DEI bills across 30 states and President Trump’s signing of executive orders that target DEI programs demonstrate the backlash against the social, cultural, and political gains made by movements such as #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter. “Anti-woke" sentiment presents challenges for educators preparing students to engage critically with certain histories, movements, and theories. This article explains current debates around what it means to be “woke”; provides strategies to teach about inequality across race, gender, class, and sexuality in this polarized environment; and imagines futures that uphold the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Balancing Care And Challenge: Integrating Trauma-Informed Learning And Desirable Difficulty, Cerise L. Glenn, Katie Lind, Jessica D. Mccall

Feminist Pedagogy

Amid changing landscapes of campus culture (e.g., new technologies, increasing accommodations requests, program reviews), we utilize pedagogical strategies to expand feminist frontiers in ways that re-energize and promote an inclusive culture of feminist pedagogy. By implementing “desirable difficulty,” we seek collaborative learning environments that address the changing needs of students and teachers while fostering learning effectiveness. Combining aspects of trauma-informed learning with desirable difficulty helps balance these demands with a culture of care, created through approaches designed to promote learning opportunities and meet student needs without overwhelming faculty.

Exploring Dimensions Of Crystallized Identities, Candice L. Ruh

Feminist Pedagogy

For college students, learning about the components of identity can generate deeper knowledge about how personal and social identities differ, and how identities influence the way individuals experience socio-cultural systems and structures. The Exploring Dimensions of Crystallized Identities activity uses principles of self-reflexivity and dialogue to explore theoretical frameworks for practical application. This experiential activity is a facilitated dialogue driven by student involvement and is best suited for students in mid- to upper-level undergraduate courses. It encourages students to reflect on their and others’ identities, and to consider the social impacts of diversity in their lives.

Choose Your Own Reading Assignment: A Strategy To Diversify Perspectives In Class Discussion, Breena J. Brockmann

Feminist Pedagogy

This activity reimagines course reading assignments by offering students a choice between multiple texts that work together to explore a shared theory or theme. Students are invited to select readings that align with their interests or learning goals. This activity embraces the feminist pedagogical principle of collaborative learning and uses the active learning strategy of learning through teaching by asking students to work in groups to create mini lessons that teach their classmates about their selected reading. Through their discussion of multiple case studies, the class develops an understanding of feminist theory as “geographically, historically, and culturally grounded (Mohanty, 2003, …

The Feminist Frontier: Reimagining And Reenergizing Pedagogy From Osclg 2024, Karla D. Scott, Lakresha Graham, Jennifer Jackson

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Documentary Review: Dope Is Death: Community-Led Community Care, Jennifer Woody Collins

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Exploring Female-Centered Storytelling Techniques In Travel Podcasting With 'Chicks Take Flight', Layla M. Bakhshandeh

Journalism

The following study explores storytelling through the lens of podcasting to effectively engage audiences. This study addresses the gap in academic literature regarding gender-specific audio storytelling techniques by analyzing how narrative structure, vocal delivery, and content authenticity in podcasts specifically resonate with female audiences, providing practical applications for podcast creators targeting this demographic. Accompanying this literary research is a travel podcast titled Chicks Take Flight. This entertainment podcast tells the stories of young women’s travel experiences. Its goal is to provide a platform to discuss modern travel tips and stories for female audiences. Utilizing the podcasting advice from research findings …

Still Accounting For My Teacher’S Body: The Objective Body/Body As Objective In The Classroom/Classzoom, Leda M. Cooks, Jennifer A. Zenovich

Feminist Pedagogy

This critical commentary reflects on Cooks’ 2007 article, “Accounting for my Teacher’s Body: What can I teach/What can we learn?” by reconsidering power and body relations in light of the concept and pedagogy of body neutrality in the classroom in the 2023 COVID-19 era. The digital and physical classroom are spaces where the (embodied) body is never neutral. By extension, the body is never neutral anywhere regardless of the mindful body neutrality practices suggested by Pellizzer and Wade (2023). In this commentary, we first discuss how the teacher in physical and digital space communicates ideals of competence in performance of …

Reenvisioning Identities That Precede Us: “Body Acknowledgement” As Social Justice Practice Within A Communication Ethics Course Redesign, Wendy Kz Anderson, Ollivia Webster, Nicole Yang, Cass Bryant, Taylor Herr

Feminist Pedagogy

We infuse this conversation of “body neutrality” through social justice responsiveness (compassion, equity, and accountability of body/presence privilege) by specifically attending to intersections of race, gender, and body mindset built into our identities. In reimagining the term “body-neutrality” through identity engagement, we introduce the term “body acknowledgment” as an active interpretative state. As a co-authored pedagogical “co-conspiring” for racial justice (Houdek and Ore, 2021, p. 92), we (instructor, teaching assistants, and previous students) offered a course redesign centering social justice strategies to address the following question: How can dialogue about intersectional communication work toward redesigning learning with difference and develop …

Creating Classroom Integrity By Eliminating Punitive Course Policies, Rachel E. Silverman

Feminist Pedagogy

No abstract provided.

Practicing Feminist Disability Pedagogy: Building Interdependence Through A Classroom Participation Menu, Kristen L. Cole

Feminist Pedagogy

Following the lead of Parsloe & Smith (2022), this article explains and advocates possible modes of participation that consider the disabled, chronically ill, and systemically vulnerable students and faculty who are fighting to succeed in higher education. The way participation is measured in college classes is often ableist in nature; thus, it is important to unpack the ableist assumptions that undergird how we arrange and assess participation. Utilizing Knoll’s (2009) explication of interdependency as a practice of feminist disability pedagogy, this article offers a semester long activity called a participation menu, which provides a framework for distributing the responsibility of …

Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices Against State Violence, Andrea Michaels

Feminist Pedagogy

The following book review of Shreerekha Pillai’s Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices against State Violence (2023) is an expansive and timely collection of essays on the carceral state in its implications for feminist educators. This review focuses on the connections and connectivity of two essays in the collection that attempt to address a minor examination of the person as political.

Feminist Pedagogical Requirements Of Vulnerability In Writing Failure: Bad Claims And Worse Reviews, Katherine J. Denker

Feminist Pedagogy

Our students have limited perception of their faculty based on our classes, or for our graduate students in our publications. This is a potentially harmful for emerging scholars to understand faculty work only in its final form. Feminist scholars need to actively seek spaces in their courses to note the challenges and limitations of their own work[1]. In this critical commentary, I offer an overview of student standpoints, feminist possibilities and futures with less threating failures. The emotional and face threating vulnerability in failure by feminist scholars can create more welcoming failures moving forward.

Tackling Networked Misogyny Through Graduate Curriculum Design, Carolyn M. Cunningham

Feminist Pedagogy

This paper explores the importance of sharing feminist research through digital projects. One of the barriers of digital projects is the networked misogyny that graduate students face. This paper offers several strategies for addressing networked misogyny, including teaching about digital privacy, strategies for documenting harassment, collective engagement, and integrating trauma-informed pedagogy.

Learning And Listening: A Podcast On Navigating Latinx/E Identities, Lilianna A. Rivas

Communication Studies

Utilizing the Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979), the present podcast seeks to explore and understand how individuals with intersectional identities in the Latinx/e community communicate their identity to others in the Latinx/e community and society. Research in the fields of Ethnic Studies, Psychology, Education, and Communication focuses on issues and identities in the Latinx/e community. Much existing research focuses heavily on intersectionality, and the podcast will seek to do the same. These intersections of identities can conflict or be perceived as in conflict. This creates a gray area in the spectrum between interpersonal and intergroup interactions. Some examples …

Listen To Black Women: Newsgathering In Digital Third Spaces, Gheni N. Platenburg

Feminist Pedagogy

This teaching activity re-introduces the concept of digital third spaces and how to use them as complementary newsgathering tools. Students are tasked with visiting these spaces to listen to Black women. In other words, they will observe content and engage in conversations with digital third space visitors to better educate themselves on the topics, issues and concerns of Black women and learn how to take this information and formulate story ideas for improved news coverage of and about Black women.

‘Hot Girl Teaching’ In A Faith-Based Environment, Niya Pickett Miller

Feminist Pedagogy

There is much to learn from Megan Thee Stallion, the self-proclaimed “Hot Girl Coach.” However, her provocative lyrics and hyper-sexuality are challenging to interject into communication-themed classes at a predominantly white, faith-based university where many students come with an expectation for learning that resists mainstream trends and upholds conventional Christian values and conservative ideological ways of thinking about socio-political issues. This commentary offers a faith-based and feminist perspective about how including Black popular culture, and (more broadly) culturally diverse texts in predominately white, faith-based classrooms can work and why such centering does not contradict biblical principles.

Queering Feminism: Rejecting Imperialist Methods Of Silencing, Mikayla Burress

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.

Intersectionality In The Case Of Cece Mcdonald, Austin Greitz

sprinkle: an undergraduate journal of feminist and queer studies

No abstract provided.