![\"\"](\"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2583\/2026\/02\/PCA-collage-1-819x1024.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nThursday, April 9th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Friday, April 10th<\/sup> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We are excited about the AU faculty and students presenting at this year’s PCA in Atlanta in April. PCA is the Pop Culture Association conference (April 8-11, 2026). It is one of the most popular and influential academic conferences in the field of popular culture and media. Sessions featuring our faculty and students Thursday, April\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":99,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":59,"date":"2026-02-26T12:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T17:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/?p=59"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:22:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T18:22:46","slug":"panels-performances-sinnreich-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/panels-performances-sinnreich-tour\/","title":{"rendered":"From Panels to Performances: Sinnreich on Tour"},"content":{"rendered":" What kind of book tours feature our faculty? In this post, we highlight Professor Aram Sinnreich, who is on tour with his book The Secret Life of Data: Navigating Hype and Uncertainty in the Age of Algorithmic Surveillance<\/a>, <\/em>co-authored with Jesse Gilbert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One twist for academics: beyond bookstores, their appearances can include centers… or even musical appearances. For this post, we highlight his appearance as an invited panelist at Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado Law School. He also gave a book talk and live musical performance at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, NY, alongside Jesse Gilbert and Paul “DJ Spooky” Miller, and delivered a book talk at the Stanford Tech Impact and Policy Center in Palo Alto, California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The book itself explores the complex and often unexpected ways that data surveillance, AI, and algorithms shape our culture and society. At the core is one big idea: data never behaves the way we expect it to. No matter how it is collected or what it is meant to do, data always ends up taking on a “secret life.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Across his tour, Professor Sinnreich is not so much selling the book as starting a series of conversations about culture and media with different experts and audiences. The two examples above are a reminder for how academic research can move beyond the classroom and into public and creative spaces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What kind of book tours feature our faculty? In this post, we highlight Professor Aram Sinnreich, who is on tour with his book The Secret Life of Data: Navigating Hype and Uncertainty in the Age of Algorithmic Surveillance, co-authored with Jesse Gilbert. One twist for academics: beyond bookstores, their appearances can include centers… or even\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":60,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":68,"date":"2026-02-26T10:07:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/?p=68"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T16:42:08","slug":"debriefing-aoir-in-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/debriefing-aoir-in-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Debriefing AoIR in Brazil with Massanari and Sinnreich"},"content":{"rendered":" What is behind a recent faculty trip to Brazil for AoIR — the Association of Internet Researchers? In this interview, you’ll find a call for strategy in our field, and how our research connects with this set of international scholars. Two are featured: Profs. Adrienne Massanari<\/a> and Aram Sinnreich<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ———<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eunice Kim (interviewer):<\/strong> What was different about AoIR this year? Any favorite moments? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Adrienne Massanari:<\/strong> I have a lot of favorite moments… I loved that this was the first AoIR conference held in the Global South<\/mark>. That felt really important and exciting for so many reasons. I got to meet so many scholars doing really amazing work that doesn’t always get elevated in the same way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AoIR typically rotates between places in the Global North\u2014North America, Europe, and sometimes Australia\u2014so this created an opportunity to experience scholarship coming from different places and contexts. My personal favorite moment was actually talking with some of the students who came to a panel I was on about game studies and internet studies. They were doing really interesting work on gaming in the Brazilian context, which looks very different from the U.S. or Europe. Hearing them talk about those differences was fascinating. I generally love hearing student work, but it was especially meaningful to hear from students in places I’m less familiar with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aram Sinnreich:<\/strong> About a third of the attendees were local to Brazil, and many of them were students. People who would never attend an AoIR conference in another country, let alone another continent. It was really great having them there and feeling like I<\/em> was the visitor, rather than the center of the event, which Global North scholars often experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being in Rio<\/mark> was fascinating. It\u2019s culturally rich and transforming very quickly. Brazil has been through major political changes recently, and seeing the country hold a corrupt authoritarian former president accountable was inspiring\u2014especially compared to other countries that have failed to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a cultural standpoint, I went out to samba almost every night. The local music scene is incredibly alive. On a personal level it was fun, but as someone who studies musical cultures, it was also intellectually meaningful. It demonstrated a healthy relationship to public art that we don\u2019t currently see in the United States or much of Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That contrast between vibrant public culture and serious social challenges like inequality, infrastructure issues, and public violence, really highlighted how every society has its benefits and its challenges. There are always trade-offs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the conference itself, what I enjoyed most was the pre-conference on creative laborers in the AI economy<\/mark>. I met many graduate students and early-career scholars working on questions I hadn\u2019t even thought to ask yet. That sense of refilling my research tank and engaging with cutting-edge conversations was incredibly valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interviewer:<\/strong> I completely understand. I was working with students at Mason Korea on the playwright program called a 1,001 Plays<\/em> as a faculty advisor, and the creative works coming from students in Brazil was unbelievable. I was amazed by the work produced by undergraduate students of digital artwork performed over Zoom. So, I\u2019m not surprised that both of you found so much inspiration in Brazil yourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n …so what makes an international conference<\/mark> like AIR feel different from domestic ones? And do you think attending conferences abroad changes how scholars think about their field?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sinnreich:<\/strong> Going abroad for a conference has many benefits that domestic conferences don\u2019t offer. The biggest one is connecting with a different scholarly community. About a third of AoIR attendees were local, but even international attendees weren\u2019t necessarily the same scholars you\u2019d see at an American conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brazil is also more accessible, politically and economically, for many Global South scholars. Right now, there\u2019s strong evidence that people are avoiding the United States because of immigration policies and the real risk of being detained or denied entry. International conferences allow us to access networks and perspectives we might otherwise miss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No matter how well-intentioned we are, we live inside a powerful U.S.-centric information bubble. One of the most effective ways to break that bubble is to travel outside the country and spend meaningful time talking with people who live and work elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AoIR 2013 in South Korea was the only time I\u2019ve been there, and I spent a lot of time walking around Daegu, absorbing civic practices and everyday life. That kind of immersion matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interviewer<\/strong>:<\/strong> Do you think that changes how scholars think about their field<\/mark>?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sinnreich:<\/strong> Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Massanari:<\/strong> I\u2019ll add to that. Aram and I have been attending AoIR for over a decade, and there are international scholars I see there whose work I deeply value but don\u2019t often get to engage with otherwise. They\u2019re connected to different networks and bodies of literature, and they often cite scholarship that doesn\u2019t circulate as much in U.S.-based spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S., and Silicon Valley in particular, has had an outsized and often troubling influence on global tech narratives, but that\u2019s not the whole story. Seeing how technology is understood and used elsewhere, whether through walking around cities, observing everyday practices, or talking with people, is incredibly informative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It gives us concrete imaginaries for what alternatives could look like. It helps us reflect on our own biases and assumptions about the field and about the U.S.\u2019s place within it. That\u2019s one reason AoIR has thrived as it has become more global, it matches the global nature of the internet itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interviewer<\/strong>:<\/strong> I\u2019ve attended MLA [Modern Language Association] for years, and it remains very North America\u2013focused. Even when it\u2019s held in places like Toronto, it still feels geographically limited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Massanari:<\/strong> Exactly. That limits perspectives, even though there\u2019s excellent work being done. Especially now, many scholars literally cannot come to the U.S., which places responsibility on those of us who can travel to connect across borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interviewer<\/strong>:<\/strong> That leads into my final question: why are conferences like AoIR especially important right now<\/mark>, and why should students, graduate students, and faculty feel encouraged to attend?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sinnreich:<\/strong> Let\u2019s start with the obvious: the internet is one of the most powerful forces shaping global society. There\u2019s no other scholarly community that approaches it with the same interdisciplinary and critical depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether we\u2019re talking about business decisions, geopolitics, ethics, or social harms, these conversations are happening first and most rigorously within the Association of Internet Researchers. Conferences like AoIR consolidate the cutting edge of the field and help scholars understand who\u2019s saying what, where debates are headed, and how their work fits in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They also build interpersonal relationships\u2014webs of trust\u2014that are essential for global knowledge production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Massanari:<\/strong> I\u2019ll add that there are conversations we increasingly can\u2019t have in the U.S., especially given what\u2019s happening in higher education and the rise of authoritarian politics. Certain topics like research on the far right are becoming harder to discuss safely here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Those conversations are going to have to happen elsewhere, and AIR is becoming one of those spaces. The field has matured beyond seeing the internet as a purely democratic force for good, and there\u2019s now a stronger sense of responsibility in how we study it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These issues require global perspectives. They can\u2019t be solved by any single country. That\u2019s why conferences like AIR are so important right now, even if that reality is a bit of a bummer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interviewer<\/strong><\/strong> (Eunice Kim):<\/strong> Thank you both so much for your time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What is behind a recent faculty trip to Brazil for AoIR — the Association of Internet Researchers? In this interview, you’ll find a call for strategy in our field, and how our research connects with this set of international scholars. Two are featured: Profs. Adrienne Massanari and Aram Sinnreich. ——— Eunice Kim (interviewer): What was\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":82,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":19,"date":"2026-02-25T15:44:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-25T20:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/?p=19"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:51:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T17:51:35","slug":"grad-presentations-fall2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/grad-presentations-fall2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Grad presentations – first semester"},"content":{"rendered":"\n The photos above are from selected fall presentations from our classes in Media Theory, Methods and the introduction to Media, Technology and Democracy (2025). Students were often grouped into panels, similar to how conference presentations are often structured. This provides a chance to practice the professional structures of academia – and for some celebration and mutual visibility across classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Topics included:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The presentations showcase some of the variety that is possible under the umbrella of “media, technology and democracy” as a program theme. Rather than presenting polished final answers, these projects reflected research as a process, shaped by curiosity and critical reflection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The photos above are from selected fall presentations from our classes in Media Theory, Methods and the introduction to Media, Technology and Democracy (2025). Students were often grouped into panels, similar to how conference presentations are often structured. This provides a chance to practice the professional structures of academia – and for some celebration and\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4245,"featured_media":84,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4245"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":95,"date":"2026-02-13T13:58:26","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T18:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/?p=95"},"modified":"2026-02-26T12:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T17:52:11","slug":"brown-bag-building-your-academic-cv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/brown-bag-building-your-academic-cv\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown Bag: “Building Your Academic CV”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n The unwritten rules can be as important as the conventions of the genre. Get a glimpse behind the curtain with one of our newest hires. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Current students and alumni are invited to join the SOC PhD program for a brown bag on “Building Your Academic CV” with Dr. Rohan Grover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brown Bag sessions are informal, discussion-based sessions designed to not only support your academic development, but also your professional development. So, please feel free to bring your lunch and questions!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The unwritten rules can be as important as the conventions of the genre. Get a glimpse behind the curtain with one of our newest hires. Current students and alumni are invited to join the SOC PhD program for a brown bag on “Building Your Academic CV” with Dr. Rohan Grover. Brown Bag sessions are informal,\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":96,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":50,"date":"2026-02-05T11:59:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/?p=50"},"modified":"2026-02-05T12:13:40","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T17:13:40","slug":"interview-renee-bracey-sherman-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/interview-renee-bracey-sherman-book\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Renee Bracey Sherman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n Some of our students already have amazing books ready when they enter our PhD program<\/strong>! This interview features a conversation with Renee, in which we discuss her work, experiences, and perspectives in her own words. Renee Bracey Sherman (she\/her) is part of our cohort in the PhD program in Communication, and the author of Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve<\/a><\/em> with Regina Mahone, senior editor at The Nation<\/a><\/em>; previously, Renee ran an organization called We Testify for abortion storytellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The transcript below captures the flow of our discussion and highlights key moments from our conversation.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n ———<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eunice Kim (EK):<\/strong> Hi, Renee. Thank you so much for your time. It\u2019s amazing to be able to talk to you about your book. Go ahead and introduce yourself!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Renee Bracey Sherman (RBS):<\/strong> Hi, my name is Renee Bracey Sherman, she\/her. I wrote Liberating Abortion: Claiming Our History, Sharing Our Stories, and Building the Reproductive Future We Deserve<\/em> with Regina Mahone, senior editor at The Nation<\/em>. The book builds on my 15 years of work with people who have abortions\u2014especially people of color\u2014and the histories and systems shaping reproductive injustice, white supremacy, and capitalism. For 10 years, I ran We Testify, an organization for abortion storytellers. I\u2019ve contributed to other books, to the documentary Ours to Tell<\/em>, and now I\u2019m excited to be in a PhD program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> Amazing~ So, your book brings in historical struggles for abortion rights. How did you decide which histories to highlight, and what can today\u2019s movements learn from them?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n RBS:<\/strong> When we started writing, we were drawn to this idea of unearthing and re-sharing the stories of people of color histories. We\u2019d read lots of abortion histories, but many ignored people of color or mentioned them briefly, as if Black and Brown people weren\u2019t having or providing abortions before the 1960s. But we know Black and Brown people are in the past, present, and future, and we\u2019ve always cared for ourselves. We narrowed our focus that way, but there was so much to include, which is why the book is as long as it is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We wanted every marginalized community to see itself somewhere, whether in ancient practices or recent movements, so readers could say, \u201cThere\u2019s a lineage of my people caring for one another and ensuring access to abortion care.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n We also wanted to show how white supremacy, migration, enslavement, and genocide shifted relationships to pregnancy, reproduction, abortion, and health. It was difficult to sort through, but exciting, but exciting, and we were allowed to keep writing to include as much as we could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> Yes! And I loved flipping through it. I struggle with design, but the mixed forms, visuals, and the bolded page numbers\u2014I recommend everyone buy this book.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n RBS:<\/strong> I love that you brought up the design because we thought about it deeply. I love reading, but I struggled in school because I\u2019m a visual learner and learn by discussion. I think what\u2019s beautiful about delving into history is when we learn from it to understand the future. We wanted visuals to bring the past to life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One example is the 100-year-old typed note from a conversation with Margaret Sanger about the Negro Project. She\u2019s complicated and often misrepresented, especially by the anti-abortion movement. Rather than just tell you my interpretation, we included the document so people can read it themselves. That transparency felt important: here\u2019s my perspective, now you can see the source too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We also included photos of Black and Brown folks protesting for abortion access because we wanted people to be in the moment and to see images not typically shown, and history is often presented as white women, white feminists protesting. The history is there; you have to find it and show it, or else you create a narrative by showing only one part. History is fun and creative, and we deserve beautiful history books with illustrations and photos. Some photos I took myself like me holding abortion herbs in Colombia. Readers deserve to see what they\u2019re being told about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> Most definitely! Much like the images that you incorporated throughout your book another central part of your book is storytelling. What do you see as the value of storytelling in shaping abortion rights and advocacy? And how do visuals support that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n RBS:<\/strong> I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about this. In my graduate assistantship with Professor Rohan Grover\u2019s, we read about epistemic injustice and testimonial justice\u2014what counts as knowledge and expertise. In so many of our communities, information is passed by word of mouth. But white supremacy prioritizes only written knowledge and devalues oral histories. In Professor Chelsea Bukowski\u2019s Advanced Methods class, we read Robin Wall Kimmerer on different ways of knowing, and that resonated deeply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Stories let us share, teach, and connect. They move people differently than data does, especially now in an era of surveillance, where stories can be harder to track and easier to pass along. I started in abortion storytelling because for so long, people weren\u2019t encouraged to share their abortion stories. Telling a story is an act of resistance, power, and art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> Yes. And we talk about that a lot in class how lived experiences are data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n RBS:<\/strong> Exactly. Data areis important, but not at the expense of what we know in our bones, in our ancestors, in our communities. White supremacy tells us those forms of knowledge don\u2019t matter. Our book shows that this knowledge exists across thousands of years. When it\u2019s stolen, it takes generations to reclaim. In times of crisis, we turn to those who hold this knowledge. That\u2019s power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> You\u2019re known as the \u201cBeyonc\u00e9 of abortion storytelling.\u201d And, I noticed nods to Beyonc\u00e9 in the book. Like the chapter titled \u201cFeeling Ourselves.\u201d Beyonc\u00e9 uses personal and political storytelling in her art. As the Beyonc\u00e9 of abortion storytelling, what do you hope readers take from that weaving of culture, politics, and narrative?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n RBS:<\/strong> She is such a master. Beyonc\u00e9 makes you want to release the wiggle, while teaching you about culture\u2014particularly Black origins. She researches deeply, brings different people into her work, and references Black cultural roots while creating new stories. That sparked so much of my creativity while writing\u2014her albums, and Solange\u2019s too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The nickname started as a joke, someone said, \u201cBe the Beyonc\u00e9 of what you do.\u201d Then another storyteller called me the Beyonc\u00e9 of abortion storytelling. Then someone introduced me that way at a panel. Then outlets like Harper\u2019s Bazaar<\/em> used it. It stuck. But beyond fandom, it speaks to showing up fully, sharing knowledge widely, and modeling creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think of this book as a kind of \u201cAPESH*T\u201d music video moment when Beyonc\u00e9 and Jay-Z were filming in the Louvre, placing Black bodies in spaces that historically excluded us. Our book says: here is abortion history\u2014it is ours. Here\u2019s where we are, even as they try to erase us. These are the places we\u2019ve made change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> And, what do you hope readers, especially young people, take with them after finishing your book?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n RBS:<\/strong> There\u2019s a lot in the book: abortion on screen, ancient medicine, reproductive justice, sexuality and pleasure. I hope people find at least one chapter that speaks to them and opens something up in them. Maybe you love gardening and learn about abortifacients. Maybe you\u2019re nervous about masturbation and see its connection to liberation. Maybe you\u2019ve had an abortion and want stories like yours. Maybe you want to learn about your cultural lineage\u2014Ta\u00edno traditions, ancient Chinese medicine, Egypt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mostly, I want readers to feel connected to ancestors who fought for reproductive freedom. This is generational work. We\u2019re carrying the torch forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK: <\/strong>Thank you so much again! I really appreciate your time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Some of our students already have amazing books ready when they enter our PhD program! This interview features a conversation with Renee, in which we discuss her work, experiences, and perspectives in her own words. Renee Bracey Sherman (she\/her) is part of our cohort in the PhD program in Communication, and the author of Liberating\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":65,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":62,"date":"2026-02-05T11:53:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/?p=62"},"modified":"2026-02-05T11:53:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T16:53:25","slug":"interview-patricia-aufderheide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/interview-patricia-aufderheide\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Dr. Patricia Aufderheide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n Eunice Kim (EK):<\/strong> Today I will be interviewing Dr. Patricia Aufderheide, University Professor of Communication Studies at American University and the author of Kartemquin Films: Documentaries on the Frontlines of Democracy<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I also wanted to congratulate you on your Shorenstein Center fellowship<\/a> for Fall 2025 Documentary Film and the Public Interest Initiative. That\u2019s such an exciting and well-deserved opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Patricia Aufderheide:<\/strong> Thank you, I\u2019m excited.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> Since you also have such a direct connection to Kartemquin Films, I\u2019d love to start by asking: what was the moment when you thought, \u201cKartemquin\u2019s story needs to be shared\u201d?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aufderheide<\/strong><\/strong>:<\/strong> I wanted to write about them for a long time. Initially I thought it would just be an article, but life kept getting in the way. Eventually, I realized I finally had the time. And honestly, my whole generation is passing. I thought, \u201cLet me talk to these people while I still can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I knew that I wanted to use a cultural-production focus to analyze the history. This way of understanding social change puts communication in the center of the process, and looks at how communication is shaped by and shapes larger systemic forces, to affect what people understand to be normal, or even reality. It\u2019s a longstanding approach of cultural Marxism; it\u2019s the core of the Birmingham school of cultural studies, which was led by Stuart Hall; it\u2019s the way theorists such as Pierre Bourdieu understand how culture shifts and changes; and it\u2019s core to the thinking of American pragmatist philosopher John Dewey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As I started interviewing, I realized an article wouldn\u2019t be enough. Kartemquin\u2019s history needed more room, a book\u2019s worth, to explain how something so unlikely survived for so long, through constantly shifting economic and political conditions. I also knew almost everyone involved. Well\u2014of course not everyone. There are still people who say, \u201cYou should\u2019ve interviewed me!\u201d and they\u2019re absolutely right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I also had the advantage of being a writer with a job that pays me to do this kind of work. Documentary filmmakers don\u2019t have that luxury. They do extraordinary things, but they rarely get time or institutional support to document their own history. I felt an obligation, given my access and resources, to get this story down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eventually, I asked friends who the right publishers might be. A friend connected me to his editor at the University of California Press. She didn\u2019t need convincing at all. When I asked if I could send a proposal, she said, \u201cOh, you\u2019re the perfect person to write that book. Just do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course I still had to submit a formal proposal, but her enthusiasm reassured me that this story mattered to more than just me. And once that door opened, the process was surprisingly easy. I already knew the people, interviewing them was fun, and my job allowed me time to work on it. I feel incredibly lucky I got to write it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n E.K.:<\/strong> I\u2019m curious\u2014were there behind-the-scenes stories that didn\u2019t make it into the book?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aufderheide<\/strong>:<\/strong> Absolutely. Some people I didn\u2019t get to interview still appear in the book, and they deserve credit for shaping Kartemquin. Each person\u2019s story\u2013where they came from, why they joined, why they left\u2013is connected to larger social and economic forces. Bourdieu describes those forces really well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some shared things with me that were deeply personal; feelings toward colleagues, how relationships shaped their experiences. Those insights were crucial for me to understand the bigger picture, but they didn\u2019t need to be public. They weren\u2019t necessary for the analysis I wanted to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Early on, I made two ethical commitments. First: when people share intimate parts of their lives, they deserve control over how, or whether, those details are made public. Second: strategically, I needed them to feel safe enough to be honest. Kartemquin, and indeed the whole documentary scene, is a small world. Everyone knows everyone. If interviewees thought every comment was on the record forever, people would shut down\u2014or worse, create permanent enemies. So, I promised interviews were for my understanding only, not for public record, and that I would destroy the raw material. I also told each person they could review the parts about them. No one ever changed facts, but I did remove details that weren\u2019t essential when asked. As long as I felt the truth was preserved, I didn\u2019t mind leaving out the rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> Kartemquin is both an artistic and activist institution, creating films that are visually powerful but deeply tied to democracy and social justice. How have they balanced those roles? And have there been clashes between art and activism?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aufderheide:<\/strong> That\u2019s the central question of Kartemquin\u2019s entire history. How do you communicate what\u2019s important using such a powerful, immersive medium? Over time, different people answered that question differently, but always within the Kartemquin vision of documentary for democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The original group was deeply influenced by cin\u00e9ma v\u00e9rit\u00e9 and by John Dewey\u2019s ideas about democracy and public life, especially the importance of cultivating informal but meaningful public spaces that hold power accountable. They believed cin\u00e9ma v\u00e9rit\u00e9 could do exactly that, by experientially sharing people\u2019s experiences. The Deweyan philosophy of democratic process, with the formation of publics around shared problems at its core, is rooted in communication. This vision of democracy infused everything they did and I think was key to their survival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Kartemquin quickly became a collective during a time of enormous political organizing like the Vietnam War, anti-draft movements, and second-wave feminism. Women activists began joining the group, and the founders welcomed them: \u201cYou may not know how to make films, but we do and we\u2019ll help you make films that support your organizing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n They collaborated closely with movements like Fred Hampton\u2019s Rainbow Coalition. The Rainbow Coalition, made up of ethnically-based social movements working together, was anchored in the notion that we work with the communities we know (in the U.S., they are typically deeply racialized ones) but for common democratic socialist goals because they shared common problems that could be addressed that way. Fred was \u201cwe are the 99%\u201d long before Occupy Wall Street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For about a decade, Kartemquin\u2019s artistic choices were guided almost entirely by political organizing goals. They saw showing people\u2019s lived experiences on screen, letting audiences feel they were sharing life with the subjects, as the most powerful way to connect viewers to broader issues. When the collective fell apart\u2013amicably\u2013the founders continued to work with labor movements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then in 1994 came Hoop Dreams<\/em>, their breakthrough film, which won the Best Documentary Award at Sundance. Hoop Dreams<\/em>\u2019s success from Oscar nominations, Emmys, to top awards at Sundance, wasn\u2019t just because it was well-made. The film followed two Black families, and many Black audiences embraced the film too. Because they felt that the filmmakers respected them, and understood their families and what they\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It emerged during a time when public broadcasting and cable created new spaces for independent documentaries, some of it created by filmmakers\u2019 social organizing in which Kartemquinites were leaders. Hoop Dreams<\/em> became a calling card for Kartemquin. Now, instead of making films with social movements, they were telling stories for national audiences. They were the people who could say, \u201cWe know how to tell long-form, immersive stories about people you’ve never imagined what their lives are like.\u201d And we’re bringing you into that world with credibility and trust from these people. Extending that trust and respect to you as a viewer.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But as these kind of storytelling practices became popular, many films shifted toward sentimental \u201cuplift\u201d narratives\u2014stories about heroic individuals pulling themselves up by their bootstraps. Others became sensationalist\u2013\u201dwe\u2019ll take you into the gang conflicts of the inner city.\u201d Kartemquin resisted that trend. They didn\u2019t want to romanticize or exoticize struggle; they wanted to show how social issues and systemic forces shape real people\u2019s daily lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hard Earned<\/em> for instance is a great example. It is a cable series following people working minimum-wage service jobs. It captured everyday labor and stress in a way rarely seen in American media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kartemquin also worked hard to expand representation behind the camera, investing in emerging filmmakers of color. That paid off\u2014Bing Liu\u2019s Oscar-nominated Minding the Gap<\/em>, which grew out of this effort, offered an intimate portrait of working-class life and received major acclaim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Art and politics were never separate at Kartemquin. Early members even rejected the term \u201cart,\u201d calling themselves cultural workers. Working-class people using creative practice for political purposes. Later, some embraced the artist’s identity with joy. Jerry Blumenthal always saw himself as an artist; Gordon Quinn eventually realized art and politics didn\u2019t have to be in tension. They drew inspiration from people like Leon Golub, who couldn\u2019t imagine art that didn\u2019t confront power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Dewey\u2019s view, artists are heroes because they help society imagine alternatives, and that\u2019s what Kartemquin has always done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> That makes sense. I wonder if their refusal to separate art from activism is part of why they\u2019ve endured so many cultural and political shifts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aufderheide:<\/strong> Over and over, people told me some version of the same thing: \u201cI was there because it meant something.\u201d The work mattered. It was about accountability and purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People came and went, but they left with a sense of respect for each other and for the work. They carried that spirit with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One woman who later worked in Hollywood told me she couldn\u2019t tolerate the bad behavior she saw there, and this was pre-#MeToo, because Kartemquin had shaped her expectations. She said, \u201cYou couldn\u2019t behave like that at Kartemquin.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n EK:<\/strong> Last question: documentaries have always shaped how we understand society. But now that so many people watch through Netflix, YouTube, or TikTok, how do you see documentary filmmakers shaping democracy today?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Aufderheide:<\/strong> I think the issue is bigger than social media habits. Social media is just the latest example of how culture keeps shifting, and how people keep fighting over what reality is going to look like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Filmmakers can and do use social media creatively. But I\u2019m worried about the political infrastructure that guarantees freedom of expression, which is being torn apart by disinformation and misinformation as political tools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Freedom of expression isn\u2019t just the First Amendment, it\u2019s the entire ecosystem that makes expression possible. Defunding public broadcasting is huge. Weakening the Voice of America is huge. Those structures supported global and domestic access to information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Community media is also fragile. Public-access cable was a gift of the cable industry, negotiated city by city. But as cable revenues decline, those agreements disappear. C-SPAN still exists, but it\u2019s voluntary, and no one is required to maintain it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All these systems make democratic communication possible, and documentary filmmakers rely on them. When they erode, our democracy erodes with them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Eunice Kim (EK): Today I will be interviewing Dr. Patricia Aufderheide, University Professor of Communication Studies at American University and the author of Kartemquin Films: Documentaries on the Frontlines of Democracy. I also wanted to congratulate you on your Shorenstein Center fellowship for Fall 2025 Documentary Film and the Public Interest Initiative. That\u2019s such an\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":63,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":44,"date":"2025-11-21T16:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T21:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/?p=44"},"modified":"2025-11-24T18:17:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T23:17:20","slug":"grover-data-privacy-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/grover-data-privacy-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Grover article on the data privacy paradox"},"content":{"rendered":" Our newest hire, Prof. Rohan Grover, has published a new piece in The Conversation.<\/em> It is titled, “Why people don’t demand data privacy<\/a> — even as governments and corporations collect more personal information,” and is co-authored with Josh Widera. The Conversation<\/em> is a significant way for research to reach a broader audience (featuring articles from than 1200 colleges and universities). <\/p>\n\n\n\n The reason that people don’t demand digital privacy, they argue, is that the constant stream of data scandals and privacy violations leaves them with little choice but to feel numb. That doesn\u2019t mean people are apathetic. Instead, Grover and Widera describe this condition as \u201cdata disaffection\u201d \u2014 clinging to numbness as a survival strategy when resistance feels futile. They argue that the way out of data disaffection requires more than individual responsibility or new laws. It demands shifting cultural narratives and public storytelling so that data abuses and scandals are not normalized or treated as inevitable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Our newest hire, Prof. Rohan Grover, has published a new piece in The Conversation. It is titled, “Why people don’t demand data privacy — even as governments and corporations collect more personal information,” and is co-authored with Josh Widera. The Conversation is a significant way for research to reach a broader audience (featuring articles from\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4452,"featured_media":45,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4452"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":34,"date":"2025-11-19T11:05:40","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T16:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/?p=34"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T16:42:08","slug":"presenting-nca-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/presenting-nca-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Presenting at NCA: Faculty, Students and our Dean"},"content":{"rendered":" We are proud to bring such a powerful set of faculty and students to the most influential communication conference in the United States. This year, NCA will be held in Denver from November 20-23, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f Wednesday, Feb. 18th
\u23f0 1:00 PM
\ud83d\udccd McKinley Building 101<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/edspace.american.edu\/media-technology-democracy\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2583\/2026\/01\/liberating-abortion-1.jpg\")
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Sessions featuring our faculty and students<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Thursday, November 20th<\/sup>\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Friday, November 21st<\/sup>\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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