One of the ways that we enact the WFI’s mission — communication as central to the creation of positive social change — is through the annual sponsorship of symposia, lectures, workshops, conferences, and events. Although these events differ in specific theme, they all aim to create and strengthen a global network of Communication scholars and professionals, and to generate new conversations about communication, social change, and social justice.
Current WFI-Sponsored Events (More to come! Keep checking back!)
- THANK YOU! We were delighted to celebrate the return of our Transit Talks lecture series, our collaboration with Temple University! We skipped 2020-21 because of the global pandemic, but in October 2021 we welcomed Prof. Herman Wasserman, University of Cape Town, for two lectures, one on Villanova's campus and one on Temple's campus. Herman Wasserman is Professor of Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. He has published widely on media in Africa. His latest book is Media, Conflict and Democracy in Africa (Oxford University Press) and his forthcoming co-edited collection (with Dani Madrid-Morales), Disinformation in the Global South, will soon appear with Wiley-Blackwell. He is a Fellow of the International Communication Association and currently a Visiting Research Scholar at the University of Houston. Wasserman is Editor-in-Chief of the academic journals African Journalism Studies and the Annals of the International Communication Association. His Villanova Transit Talks lecture was titled Disinformation in the Global South: A research agenda. Despite being a widespread problem in countries in the Global South, the study of disinformation remains dominated by examples, case studies and models from the Global North. Knowledge about the various manifestations of disinformation, the range of responses and success rate of interventions to counter disinformation remains fragmented and partial. In order to gain a better understanding of the knowledge gaps and areas where further research is required, as well as to identify opportunities for inter- and intra-regional cooperation, more research into the types of disinformation, the social factors enabling its spread, and possible contextually relevant interventions is needed. This talk provided an overview of some of these research efforts.
- COMING SOON! The WFI is sponsoring the opening session at the National Communication Association Conference in November 2021: "Honoring Past and Present: Communication, Culture, and Change in Native Seattle." This roundtable session will feature NCA members, government officials, and community activists highlighting the role that communication plays in Native communities in the Pacific Northwest, through language, art, culture, and ritual. The participants in this roundtable will be:
- Esther Lucero, Seattle Indian Health Board. Esther Lucero is of Dine’ and Latina decent. She is currently the President/Chief Executive Officer for Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) where she is committed to serving the urban American Indian and Alaska Population in the best way. She has built a team-based environment and established an Executive team that led the charge in integrating a new care model, Indigenous Knowledge Informed Systems of Care, where Traditional Medicine is at the center of everything the organization does. Lucero’s passion and advocacy for Native health, transformative approaches to indigenous research and evaluation, and Federal Indian Law and policy has made her a leader in health in Seattle and nationally.
- La Royce Batchelor, founder and CEO at Clever Crow. She has spent 30 years in higher education delivering experiential education to more than 6,000 students at five institutions in four countries. She specializes in the deconstruction of the rhetoric of power particularly as it relates to policy and directs this expertise to the work of Truth and Reconciliation across Turtle Island (North America). A best-selling author, award winning educator, and serial entrepreneur, Batchelor delivers transformative education with a gentle but no-nonsense manner through her company Clever Crow. She speaks equity and inclusion to institutions and governments, while also guiding students and faculty of Manitoba's higher education through her discussion group, Manitoba Indigenous Student Caucus.
- Scott Pinkham, (Nez Perce) Assistant Director of Diversity & Access for the College of Engineering and American Indian Studies lecturer at the University of Washington. He teaches courses on contemporary Native issues, urban Native experience, and powwow guided in part by Gerald Vizenor’s term “Native Survivance.” Pinkham serves on the wǝɫǝbʔaltxʷ Working Group and Brotherhood Initiative steering committees, and as the American Indian Science & Engineering Society (AISES) UW Chapter advisor. He was the first Native American elected to the Seattle Public Schools Board of Directors.
- Derrick Belgarde, Deputy Director at the Chief Seattle Club. Mr. Belgarde is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon, and also Chippewa-Cree from Rocky Boy Montana. He serves on the board of Capitol Hill Housing, Downtown Emergency Service Center, Seattle/King County Coalition on Homelessness, and the Washington State Affordable Housing Advisory Board.
- Abriel Johnny, Board of Directors Chairperson for United Indians of All Tribes Foundation and also a Commissioner on the Seattle Women's Commission. Both Cowichan and Tlingit, Johnny is a cultural knowledge holder, a teacher, an artist, an athlete, an advocate, and decolonizer. In 2020, she was named one of the Gates Foundations 100 Local Changemakers Awardees. In 2021, she was awarded the Adaline Garcia Community Service Award as a Future Leader honoree. She currently works for HealthierHere as a Community and Tribal Engagement Manager with a primary focus on Tribal health. Her work focuses on equity within health care policy and implementation for all communities with a special focus on Urban Indian and Tribal Nation's health.
- Eean Grimshaw, Assistant Professor of Communication at North Carolina Wesleyan College. His scholarly interests include issues of language and social interaction, cultural discourse analysis, and intercultural communication. Currently, he studies communication of the Blackfeet (Amskapi Piikuni) within the Native America Speaks Program in Glacier National Park, the longest-running Indigenous Speaker Series in the National Park Service. Using and developing ethnographic studies of communication, Grimshaw specializes in the integration of communication and culture. His recent publications include “Two Different Kinds of Life”: A Cultural Analysis of Blackfeet Discourse (in Approaches to Discourse, 2021) and Blackfeet Discourses about Dwelling-in-Place: Our Homeland, A National Park (in Bridging Cultural Concepts of Nature: Indigenous Peoples and Protected Spaces of Nature, 2021) both with co-author Donal Carbaugh.
- If you are attending the conference, please join us for this important event on Friday, 11/18, from 5-6:15pm in Ballroom 6B in the Washington State Convention Center. Mark your NCA schedules & join us!
- The WFI proudly sponsored the Opening Session at the National Communication Association Annual Conference in November 2020! The NCA Opening Session "Mental Health at the Crossroads: Intersections in Health and Society," featured both NCA members and community members examining the factors that impact mental health and mental health treatment. Specifically, panelists examined ways in which mental health intersects with race, gender, sexual orientation, educational attainment, and income.
- Our 2nd "Transit Talks" Lecture, an exciting collaboration with Dr. Patrick Murphy and Temple University's Klein College of Media and Communication. Our second event welcomed renowned scholar Dr. Karma R. Chávez from the University of Texas at Austin! She spoke on Villanova's campus on Thursday, February 6th, followed by a "master class" on Temple's campus on Friday, February 7th. Dr. Chávez's Villanova lecture was entitled "Alienizing Nation: HIV/AIDS and the Rhetoric of Quarantine, Ban, and Resistance." Dr. Chávez is Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Mexican American and Latina/o Studies at the University of Texas - Austin. She is author of Queer Migration Politics: Activist Rhetoric and Coalitional Possibilities (University of Illinois Press, 2013) and Palestine on the Air (University of Illinois Press, 2019).
- The WFI proudly sponsored the Opening Session at the National Communication Association Annual Conference in November! This event was jammed with attendees, and was truly transformative: "Race Relations in Charm City: Communicating Social Justice"! Reflecting our ongoing partnership with NCA, this panel brought together Communication scholars and community activists for a conversation regarding the social justice issues tied to race in the conference host city, Baltimore--such as poverty, violence, health, and wealth attainment. The panelists for the program included the following:
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The moderator for this panel was: Kimberly Moffitt, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
Missed it? Not a problem: here's the link to watch it online!
- The WFI sponsored a spotlight event during the National Communication Association Annual Conference in November, 2018: "ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST"! Reflecting our ongoing partnership with NCA, the event (pictured above) brought together Communication scholars and community activists for a conversation regarding the pressing environmental issues facing indigenous nations in Utah. The panel included members of indigenous nations and allies of indigenous populations, for a rich and powerful conversation about the intersection of environmental justice and indigenous rights. Missed it? Check out the video!
In the meantime, more information? Please contact the WFI Director.
Past WFI Symposia
