Online plenary sessions

IAMCR 2021 featured 5 online plenary sessions, one for each day of the conference, plus the closing. The plenaries remain accessible online. All interested members of the media and communication research community are invited to enjoy them.

The opening plenary features welcoming words from Dorothy Njoroge, Chair of the Nairobi Local Organising Committee, Nico Carpentier, president of IAMCR, vice presidents Usha Ramen and Andrea Medrado, and Paul Zeleza, vice chancellor of USIU-Africa, our host university.

We need to disrupt ourselves and reimagine media and communication studies in a changing world is the keynote offered by Dr. Tawana Kupe (University of Pretoria), with responses by Wilson Ugangu (MultiMedia University) and Faith Nguru (Daystar University).

The plenary closes with the awards ceremony for the UCF/IAMCR Urban Communication Research Grant, the New Directions for Climate Communication Research Fellowship, and the IAMCR prize in memory of Stuart Hall.

Rethinking borders and boundaries: Beyond the global/local dichotomy in communication studies

Welcoming words

Dorothy Njoroge, Chair, IAMCR 2021 Local Organising Committee (USIU-Africa – Kenya)

IAMCR Executive Board

Nico Carpentier, President IAMCR, Usha Raman, VP IAMCR and Andrea Medrado, VP IAMCR

Paul Zeleza, USIU-Africa Vice Chancellor

Keynote - We need to disrupt ourselves and reimagine media and communication studies in a changing world

Tawana Kupe (University of Pretoria – South Africa)

Respondent

Wilson Ugangu, President EACA (MultiMedia University – Kenya)

Respondent

Faith Nguru (Daystar University – Kenya)

IAMCR 2021 Awards Ceremony

In this plenary session, Ruth Wodak (University of Vienna) offers a keynote. 'Shameless' normalization and mainstreaming of far-right discourse, with responses from Ferruh Yilmaz (Tulane University), Silvio Waisbord (The George Washington University) and Howard Tumber (City, University of London).

In the final video all four speakers get together for a roundtable discussion chaired by David Katiambo (Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development).

The Rebirth of Populist Discourses

Keynote

'Shameless' normalization and mainstreaming of far-right discourse, Ruth Wodak (University of Vienna – Austria)

Panelist

Ferruh Yilmaz (Tulane University – USA)

Panelist

Silvio Waisbord (The George Washington University – USA)

Panelist

Howard Tumber (City, University of London – UK)

Roundtable

All four speakers return for a roundtable discussion chaired by David Katiambo (Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development)

Media Scholarship as Resistance

Chair: Usha Raman (University of Hyderabad – India)

Panelists

• Sarah Burton (City University of London – UK)
• Tanja Bosch (University of Cape Town – South Africa)
• Leo Custodio (Abo Akademi University – Finland)
• Cherian George (Hong Kong Baptist University – Hong Kong)
• Sasha Constanza-Chock (MIT – USA)

For critical media scholars across the thematic spectrum, the recent past has posed a variety of challenges—political, economic, cultural, and, in the wake of the pandemic, social. The rise of authoritarianism of various forms across the globe, some of it expressed and experienced in the political arena, while others, more insidiously seeping into the spaces of intellectual and cultural production and dissemination. These range from the gradual erosion of budgets to threatened or actual censorship of the press to the policing of popular culture forms and the silencing of dissent, in some cases, making incursions into the curriculum and the classroom. In many countries, academics whose work has been overtly political or who have engaged with spaces of practice and activism, are at risk of reprisal—from the state or other non-institutional actors. But it is in these engagements, both intellectual and practical, and through critical pedagogies, that the possibilities of resistance and productive change may be found. This panel explores the challenges facing media/communication scholarship within the academy as well as in the media industry in different regions of the world, while also looking at the ways in which spaces of resistance continue to flourish and new solidarities are being built in these networked times.

In this panel, Bruce Mutsvairo (Auburn University) offers a keynote on decolonising communication studies followed by comments from Kehbuma Langmia (Howard University), Radhika Parameswaran (Indiana University), Winston Mano (University of Westminster) and viola milton (University of South Africa).

In the final video the speakers get together for a roundtable discussion chaired by Dorothy Njoroge (United States International University-Africa – Kenya).

You can watch the videos in whatever order you wish - begin with the keynote or jump right in to the final video's lively debate...

Decolonizing Communication

Keynote

Bruce Mutsvairo (Auburn University – USA)

Panelist

Kehbuma Langmia (Howard University – USA)

Panelist

Radhika Parameswaran (Indiana University – USA)

Panelists

Winston Mano (University of Westminster – UK) and viola milton (University of South Africa – South Africa)

Roundtable

In this final video the speakers get together for a lively roundtable discussion chaired by Dorothy Njoroge (United States International University-Africa – Kenya).

In this plenary session, Yemisi Akinbobola (Birmingham City University) offers a keynote Creating an enabling environment for African women in media, with responses from Peter Kareithi (Pennsylvania State University), Audrey Gadzekpo (University of Ghana) and Yasmin Jiwani (Concordia University). In the final video all four speakers get together for a roundtable discussion chaired by Joseph Nyanoti, Vice chair of IAMCR 2021 Local Organising Committee (USIU-Africa – Kenya)

Identity & Intersectionality

Chair: Joseph Nyanoti, Vice chair, IAMCR 2021 Local Organising Committee (USIU-Africa – Kenya)

Keynote

Yemisi Akinbobola (Birmingham City University – UK)

Panelist

Peter Kareithi (Pennsylvania State University – USA)

Panelist

Audrey Gadzekpo (University of Ghana – Ghana)

Panelist

Yasmin Jiwani (Concordia University – Canada)

Roundtable

All four speakers return for a roundtable discussion chaired by Joseph Nyanoti (USIU-Africa – Kenya)

The closing plenary begins with a reprise of the IAMCR Awards ceremony for the UCF/IAMCR Urban Communication Research Grant, the New Directions for Climate Communication Research Fellowship, and the IAMCR prize in memory of Stuart Hall.

Following are closing words from Nico Carpentier, president of IAMCR, and Dorothy Njoroge, chair of the Nairobi Local Organising Committee and an invitation from our 2022 hosts at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou.

Finally, a warm goodbye from Kenya in the form of the video Feel the Sounds of Kenya, directed and edited by Cee-Roo, who kindly gave us permission to use it.

IAMCR Awards ceremony - reprise

Closing words from Nico Carpentier, president of IAMCR

Closing words from Dorothy Njoroge, chair of the Nairobi Local Organising Committee

An invitation to IAMCR 2022 from our hosts at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University in Suzhou, Changfeng Chen and Xiaoling Zhang.

Feel the Sounds of Kenya

Directed and edited by Cee-Roo.