Srividya Ramasubramanian | Syracuse University (original) (raw)

Papers by Srividya Ramasubramanian

Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 2024

We use discourse tracing analysis to examine Sikh media representations across four U.S. newspape... more We use discourse tracing analysis to examine Sikh media
representations across four U.S. newspapers in the last two
decades. Guided by the theory of hyper(in)visibility, our study
focuses on how representations are othered and erased through
various types of discursive hyperinvisibilities, such as myopic,
faulty, hazy, and selective visibilities deployed within White
Christonormative structures of interpretation. Such othering and
erasure then result in the looping of media reports emphasizing
stereotypes, misidentification, homogenization, and simplification
over 18 years, reinforcing the racialization of religious minorities
in a unidimensional way that perpetuates minoritization through
discursive tactics of hyper(in)visibility of multiple marginalized
groups. These representations have implications that trickle down
into real-world intercultural interactions across various spheres of
life, including multicultural community settings and workplace
interactions, and extend to policy implications such as
surveillance architectures. The practical consequences result in
intercultural communication outcomes involving hate speech,
violence, stereotyping, and microaggressions.

Quantitative Research Methods in Communication, 2021

Projections, 2024

For this Roundtable, we asked several leading scholars working on issues of social justice and co... more For this Roundtable, we asked several leading scholars working on issues of social justice and cognition in fi lm and media studies for a brief response to the prompt: "Explain one current theory, approach, or research fi nding that you think is particularly important in addressing stigma and inclusivity in screen media." Participants drew from their own current work and insights, and they pointed to new strands of inquiry that they found exciting. Their responses represent a range of interests across diverse specialisms, and comprise an interdisciplinary showcase for the state of current research in social justice, cognition, and media, including ideas on how the fi elds could grow from here.

Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2024

Mainstream news coverage in the U.S. of Indigenous people and the issues that threaten their surv... more Mainstream news coverage in the U.S. of Indigenous people and the issues that
threaten their survival has largely validated misconceptions rooted in colonial
views and discourses dependent on harmful stereotypes. This study employs
a qualitative thematic analysis of 32 articles from the New York Times and the
Associated Press using a decolonial lens to investigate how U.S. news outlets
framed the Yanomami people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings
focus on four main frames that we identified among the news stories: (1)
victimization and vulnerability, (2) illegal mining and policing, (3)
environmental impact, and (4) Indigenous sovereignty. We discuss how these
frames reinforce the colonial gaze, which continue to shape public
knowledge, attitudes, and policymaking about Indigenous people globally,
and how these findings contribute to theorizing about the role of media in
Indigenous political representation.

Communication Monographs, 2024

On Saturday, 18 November 2023, at the National Communication Association conference’s awards and ... more On Saturday, 18 November 2023, at the National Communication Association conference’s awards and presidential address, Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb, an award-winning filmmaker, researcher, scholar, educator, and public servant as well as our colleague from California State University, San Bernardino was prevented by NCA staff leadership from making the speech that appears below. Dr. Muhtaseb planned to make a statement referencing genocide
in Gaza. In essence, she was censored because of her speech’s topic, even though she is an expert in our field on this subject. Other invited performers partaking in the presidential address, as well as many conference attendees present, walked out in protest. We are highlighting the speech here to uphold the values of academic freedom, to recognize the loss of life across the region particularly in Gaza, and to call attention to the ongoing and long-standing genocide against Palestinians and the crisis facing those elsewhere around the world within the Palestinian diaspora. We also acknowledge and abhor the violence of those killed, injured, and taken hostage in Israel on 7 October 2023.

Global Studies of Childhood, 2024

In recent years, young people engaged in political discourse and civic action online. U.S.-based ... more In recent years, young people engaged in political discourse and civic action online. U.S.-based social movements centered on equity issues, such as Black Lives Matter, Dreamers, and March for Our Lives, engaged young people in shaping and publicizing the goals of these movements through digital platforms. Increasingly in communities at the margins, young Americans need digital and media literacy skills to supplement contentious education restrictions within the United States, as with many state bills curtailing the teaching of LGBTQIA+ histories and critical

Annals of the International Communication Association, 2024

While media literacy has grown to encompass many topics to provide learners with the skills requi... more While media literacy has grown to encompass many topics to provide learners with the skills required to be active citizens and savvy media consumers, there is no clear conceptual framework to define 'impact.' This review of literature aims to understand how recent U.S.-based media literacy scholarship defines impact. We analyzed 300 articles published from 2010 to 2020 on the impact of media literacy initiatives in the U.S. We propose the 6 E's as a framework that captures six categories that media literacy researchers use to describe the impact of media literacy interventions: Evaluation Outcomes, Enquiry, Expression, Experiential Learning, Engaged Citizenship, and Equity. We argue for a need to center equity and community-level outcomes in definitions of media literacy impact.

Culture Counts: Quantitative Approaches to Critical Intercultural Communication, 2024

Big Data and Society, 2023

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to captivate the collective imagination through the lat... more As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to captivate the collective imagination through the latest generation of generative AI models such as DALL-E and ChatGPT, the dehumanizing and harmful features of the technology industry that have plagued it since its inception only seem to deepen and intensify. Far from a "glitch" or unintentional error, these endemic issues are a function of the interlocking systems of oppression upon which AI is built. Using the analytical framework of "Empire," this paper demonstrates that we live not simply in the "age of AI" but in the age of AI Empire. Specifically, we show that this networked and distributed global order is rooted in heteropatriarchy, racial capitalism, white supremacy, and coloniality and perpetuates its influence through the mechanisms of extractivism, automation, essentialism, surveillance, and containment. Therefore, we argue that any attempt at reforming AI from within the same interlocking oppressive systems that created it is doomed to failure and, moreover, risks exacerbating existing harm. Instead, to advance justice, we must radically transform not just the technology itself, but our ideas about it, and develop it from the bottom up, from the perspectives of those who stand the most risk of being harmed.

Human Communication Research, 2023

In this article, we present an alternative framework that resists hegemonic social sciences withi... more In this article, we present an alternative framework that resists hegemonic social sciences within data-driven communication theorizing through a culture-centered approach (CCA). Building on the CCA in co-creating voice infrastructures at the margins, we argue that data justice requires transforming interpretive data framings, disrupting the hegemonic registers of knowledge production constituted around data, and working with/through data to challenge the structures of capitalism and colonialism that circulate the practices of exploitation and extraction. We build upon community-engaged projects emergent from the CCA in/with/from the Global South to propose the CODE^SHIFT Model, grounded in principles of equity-mindedness, collective impact, purposiveness, and systemic change. It highlights what data justice looks like in various stages of community-led transformation: identifying pressing social problems; bridging cross-sector coalitions and partnerships; organizing for collective impact activities; and sustaining capacity building. We reframe data as pluriversal, embodied, sacred, sovereign, disruptive, solidarity, and impossibility.

Communication and Organizational Changemaking for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Case Studies Approach, 2023

Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 2017

Researchers interested in the impact of media on the adolescent audience often use content analys... more Researchers interested in the impact of media on the adolescent audience often use content analysis as a first step in assessing the kinds of messages available in mainstream media. These content-analytical studies typically sample from prime-time television programs, blockbuster movies, or top-selling video games. But do these samples accurately reflect the media content to which teens are exposed? The sheer increase in the number of media types and information sources available to teen audiences has opened up a wide variety of options to choose from. This proliferation of media technologies has brought about dramatic changes to when, where, and how adolescents access media content. In this chapter, we provide an overview of our efforts to assess teens’ exposure to media content and the challenges we have encountered in developing our measures. Specifically, we present data from an exploratory study which illustrates that adolescents are growing up in a multiple-media environment, ...

Quantitative Research Methods in Communication

Quantitative Research Methods in Communication

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 2024

We use discourse tracing analysis to examine Sikh media representations across four U.S. newspape... more We use discourse tracing analysis to examine Sikh media
representations across four U.S. newspapers in the last two
decades. Guided by the theory of hyper(in)visibility, our study
focuses on how representations are othered and erased through
various types of discursive hyperinvisibilities, such as myopic,
faulty, hazy, and selective visibilities deployed within White
Christonormative structures of interpretation. Such othering and
erasure then result in the looping of media reports emphasizing
stereotypes, misidentification, homogenization, and simplification
over 18 years, reinforcing the racialization of religious minorities
in a unidimensional way that perpetuates minoritization through
discursive tactics of hyper(in)visibility of multiple marginalized
groups. These representations have implications that trickle down
into real-world intercultural interactions across various spheres of
life, including multicultural community settings and workplace
interactions, and extend to policy implications such as
surveillance architectures. The practical consequences result in
intercultural communication outcomes involving hate speech,
violence, stereotyping, and microaggressions.

Quantitative Research Methods in Communication, 2021

Projections, 2024

For this Roundtable, we asked several leading scholars working on issues of social justice and co... more For this Roundtable, we asked several leading scholars working on issues of social justice and cognition in fi lm and media studies for a brief response to the prompt: "Explain one current theory, approach, or research fi nding that you think is particularly important in addressing stigma and inclusivity in screen media." Participants drew from their own current work and insights, and they pointed to new strands of inquiry that they found exciting. Their responses represent a range of interests across diverse specialisms, and comprise an interdisciplinary showcase for the state of current research in social justice, cognition, and media, including ideas on how the fi elds could grow from here.

Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2024

Mainstream news coverage in the U.S. of Indigenous people and the issues that threaten their surv... more Mainstream news coverage in the U.S. of Indigenous people and the issues that
threaten their survival has largely validated misconceptions rooted in colonial
views and discourses dependent on harmful stereotypes. This study employs
a qualitative thematic analysis of 32 articles from the New York Times and the
Associated Press using a decolonial lens to investigate how U.S. news outlets
framed the Yanomami people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings
focus on four main frames that we identified among the news stories: (1)
victimization and vulnerability, (2) illegal mining and policing, (3)
environmental impact, and (4) Indigenous sovereignty. We discuss how these
frames reinforce the colonial gaze, which continue to shape public
knowledge, attitudes, and policymaking about Indigenous people globally,
and how these findings contribute to theorizing about the role of media in
Indigenous political representation.

Communication Monographs, 2024

On Saturday, 18 November 2023, at the National Communication Association conference’s awards and ... more On Saturday, 18 November 2023, at the National Communication Association conference’s awards and presidential address, Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb, an award-winning filmmaker, researcher, scholar, educator, and public servant as well as our colleague from California State University, San Bernardino was prevented by NCA staff leadership from making the speech that appears below. Dr. Muhtaseb planned to make a statement referencing genocide
in Gaza. In essence, she was censored because of her speech’s topic, even though she is an expert in our field on this subject. Other invited performers partaking in the presidential address, as well as many conference attendees present, walked out in protest. We are highlighting the speech here to uphold the values of academic freedom, to recognize the loss of life across the region particularly in Gaza, and to call attention to the ongoing and long-standing genocide against Palestinians and the crisis facing those elsewhere around the world within the Palestinian diaspora. We also acknowledge and abhor the violence of those killed, injured, and taken hostage in Israel on 7 October 2023.

Global Studies of Childhood, 2024

In recent years, young people engaged in political discourse and civic action online. U.S.-based ... more In recent years, young people engaged in political discourse and civic action online. U.S.-based social movements centered on equity issues, such as Black Lives Matter, Dreamers, and March for Our Lives, engaged young people in shaping and publicizing the goals of these movements through digital platforms. Increasingly in communities at the margins, young Americans need digital and media literacy skills to supplement contentious education restrictions within the United States, as with many state bills curtailing the teaching of LGBTQIA+ histories and critical

Annals of the International Communication Association, 2024

While media literacy has grown to encompass many topics to provide learners with the skills requi... more While media literacy has grown to encompass many topics to provide learners with the skills required to be active citizens and savvy media consumers, there is no clear conceptual framework to define 'impact.' This review of literature aims to understand how recent U.S.-based media literacy scholarship defines impact. We analyzed 300 articles published from 2010 to 2020 on the impact of media literacy initiatives in the U.S. We propose the 6 E's as a framework that captures six categories that media literacy researchers use to describe the impact of media literacy interventions: Evaluation Outcomes, Enquiry, Expression, Experiential Learning, Engaged Citizenship, and Equity. We argue for a need to center equity and community-level outcomes in definitions of media literacy impact.

Culture Counts: Quantitative Approaches to Critical Intercultural Communication, 2024

Big Data and Society, 2023

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to captivate the collective imagination through the lat... more As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to captivate the collective imagination through the latest generation of generative AI models such as DALL-E and ChatGPT, the dehumanizing and harmful features of the technology industry that have plagued it since its inception only seem to deepen and intensify. Far from a "glitch" or unintentional error, these endemic issues are a function of the interlocking systems of oppression upon which AI is built. Using the analytical framework of "Empire," this paper demonstrates that we live not simply in the "age of AI" but in the age of AI Empire. Specifically, we show that this networked and distributed global order is rooted in heteropatriarchy, racial capitalism, white supremacy, and coloniality and perpetuates its influence through the mechanisms of extractivism, automation, essentialism, surveillance, and containment. Therefore, we argue that any attempt at reforming AI from within the same interlocking oppressive systems that created it is doomed to failure and, moreover, risks exacerbating existing harm. Instead, to advance justice, we must radically transform not just the technology itself, but our ideas about it, and develop it from the bottom up, from the perspectives of those who stand the most risk of being harmed.

Human Communication Research, 2023

In this article, we present an alternative framework that resists hegemonic social sciences withi... more In this article, we present an alternative framework that resists hegemonic social sciences within data-driven communication theorizing through a culture-centered approach (CCA). Building on the CCA in co-creating voice infrastructures at the margins, we argue that data justice requires transforming interpretive data framings, disrupting the hegemonic registers of knowledge production constituted around data, and working with/through data to challenge the structures of capitalism and colonialism that circulate the practices of exploitation and extraction. We build upon community-engaged projects emergent from the CCA in/with/from the Global South to propose the CODE^SHIFT Model, grounded in principles of equity-mindedness, collective impact, purposiveness, and systemic change. It highlights what data justice looks like in various stages of community-led transformation: identifying pressing social problems; bridging cross-sector coalitions and partnerships; organizing for collective impact activities; and sustaining capacity building. We reframe data as pluriversal, embodied, sacred, sovereign, disruptive, solidarity, and impossibility.

Communication and Organizational Changemaking for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: A Case Studies Approach, 2023

Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 2017

Researchers interested in the impact of media on the adolescent audience often use content analys... more Researchers interested in the impact of media on the adolescent audience often use content analysis as a first step in assessing the kinds of messages available in mainstream media. These content-analytical studies typically sample from prime-time television programs, blockbuster movies, or top-selling video games. But do these samples accurately reflect the media content to which teens are exposed? The sheer increase in the number of media types and information sources available to teen audiences has opened up a wide variety of options to choose from. This proliferation of media technologies has brought about dramatic changes to when, where, and how adolescents access media content. In this chapter, we provide an overview of our efforts to assess teens’ exposure to media content and the challenges we have encountered in developing our measures. Specifically, we present data from an exploratory study which illustrates that adolescents are growing up in a multiple-media environment, ...

Quantitative Research Methods in Communication

Quantitative Research Methods in Communication

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Recent scholarship of media psychology acknowledged that media entertainment offers more than pur... more Recent scholarship of media psychology acknowledged that media entertainment offers more than purely hedonistic enjoyment, but also meaningful experiences. This study expands our understanding of media enjoyment by exploring a new dimension that illuminates entertainment’s elicitation of spiritual emotions and beliefs, such as those related to human’s connectedness, blessedness, and transcendence. Results from an online survey (N=220) indicate that media entertainment elicits spiritual emotions and increases the saliency of spiritual beliefs, as related to self-actualization and spiritual experiences in everyday life. Furthermore, trait transcendence and eudaimonic media motivations add to the explanation of audience’s mediated spiritual experiences. Open-ended responses, analyzed by three coders, revealed that themes of transcendence and human connectedness are an integral part of the experiences viewers derive from entertainment. This explanatory study provides the groundwork to investigate spiritual media experiences and advances understanding of audiences’ appreciation for media entertainment. Implications for the media psychological research tradition are discussed.

Review of book: Media exposure during infancy and early childhood: the effects of content and con... more Review of book: Media exposure during infancy and early childhood: the effects of content and context on learning and development