Northwestern University in Qatar further deepened its global scholarly engagement at the 75th Annual Conference of the International Communication Association (ICA), held from June 12 to 16, 2025, in Denver, Colorado. Returning to the ICA stage as both a scholarly contributor and sponsor, it built on the momentum from last year’s conference, leading critical global conversations.
This year’s conference, themed “Disrupting and Consolidating Communication Research,” brought together thousands of communication scholars, researchers, practitioners, and institutions from around the world. As a key contributor, Northwestern Qatar organized several sessions, advanced research on media, identity, and transregional communication, and presented a range of interdisciplinary studies rooted in the perspectives and experiences of the Global South. This year, the university also served as the Opening Reception Sponsor.
“Our engagement at ICA this year was especially meaningful as we broadened the scope and depth of our contributions,” said Marwan M. Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. “It’s been inspiring to see our faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and alumni help shape the intellectual direction of the conference by organizing sessions and presenting groundbreaking research across a wide range of topics. Building on the foundation we laid last year, we returned with a stronger commitment to amplifying scholarship on the Global South.”
The university’s engagement began with a preconference titled “Echoes and Overlaps in Arab and African Thought on Media and Culture.” Co-organized by Dean Kraidy and Clovis Bergère, director of the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern Qatar (#IAS_NUQ), and Nabil Echchaibi of the University of Colorado Boulder, the event explored intellectual intersections between the Arab world and Africa.
Presentations from Northwestern Qatar included a reflection by Chafic Tony Najem, global postdoctoral scholar at #IAS_NUQ, on alienation and epistemology in political confrontation, Dean Kraidy’s mapping of the Arab-African nexus, and Bergère’s exploration of youth theorization through the lens of Guinean writer Williams Sassine. The preconference also featured alumna Safae Daoudi, whose research examined the Tijaniyyah as a transregional intellectual network.
On the second day of the conference, Bergère further contributed to a panel on “Decolonizing Theory and Critique,” where he presented a paper on generational frameworks in global media studies, challenging conventional notions of age and identity in media research.
“Our engagement at ICA this year was especially meaningful as we broadened the scope and depth of our contributions. It’s been inspiring to see our faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and alumni help shape the intellectual direction of the conference by organizing sessions and presenting groundbreaking research across a wide range of topics.”
Northwestern Qatar scholars further expanded these dialogues into digital and geopolitical terrains on the third day. In a roundtable on “InterAsian Digitalities,” chaired by Dean Kraidy and organized by Bergère. Harsha Man Maharjan, global postdoctoral scholar at #IAS_NUQ, examined the transnational flow of identification systems alongside other scholars from around the globe involved in the InterAsian Digitalities project at #IAS_NUQ. At the same time, Dean Kraidy also participated in a separate panel on media and conflict, presenting a paper on “Digital Pyropoesis and Rogue Affects.”
Faculty from across academic programs contributed with various research and creative work. In a paper titled “Advancing a Measurement Tool for Sports Diplomacy and Sportswashing in the News: The Case of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022,” Associate Professor Claudia Kozman and Professor George Anghelcev explored media narratives around global sporting events.
Meanwhile, Associate Professor Banu Akdenizli joined a panel discussion on the works of Klaus Krippendorff, examining his enduring Global contributions to communication research. Assistant Professor Heather Jaber participated in a panel on “The 3M Framework and Region as Disruption.”
Similarly, Assistant Professor Yasemin Celikkol presented “(Pop) Folk Devils in Bulgaria: Media Panic Over Chalga,” and Professor Joe Khalil explored the evolving relationship between creators, platforms, and power in a panel focused on the creator economy titled “Creator Economies From Visibility to Vulnerability: The Cultural Politics of the Creator Culture,”
Northwestern Qatar’s storytelling innovation also stood out in “Surviving Global Pandemics in History: Immersive Virtual Reality (VR) Game-Based Learning Experience,” which included presentations by Professor Seunga Venus Jin, Professor Spencer Striker, and students Xingyu Qin and Shugyla Karshygakyzy, which used immersive media to explore the history of pandemics.
The last day of the conference featured two presentations from Northwestern Qatar scholar, Maharjan: one proposing a new InterAsian framework for studying digital identity systems and another assessing digital ID dependency in Nepal through the lens of political economy. Meanwhile, Bergère participated in a high-density session on feminist hashtag activism, exploring radical feminist discourse in contemporary Guinea through the lens of digital engagement.
In the final engagement, Kozman participated in a post-conference session titled “Difficult Dialogues Across Borders, Cultures, and Divides.” The session brought together scholars from institutions, including the University of Texas, Michigan State, and the University of Miami, to explore how media literacies can support care-based engagement across global communities.
Through this global engagement and others, Northwestern Qatar amplifies the scholarship of its faculty, researchers, students, and alums while advancing the knowledge and scholarship of the Global South. The university will also have a major presence at IAMCR Singapore 2025, leading key conversations and engagements under the theme “Communicating Environmental Justice.”
