Public Oral PhD Defense: Samantha K. Nissen

"Aspirations, encounters, and democratic futures: a narrative inquiry of transnational students from restrictive media contexts in U.S. journalism graduate education"

Advisor: Elizabeth Sumida Huaman
 

Amid escalating dangers for journalists and deteriorating press freedom around the world, this narrative inquiry explores the experiences of nine students from restricted media contexts who are pursuing U.S. journalism graduate education. It examines their aspirations and lived experiences, reconciling them with dominant narratives of U.S. higher education and journalism. Drawing on narrative interviewing, the study analyzes their stories through four themes: epistemology, relationality, politics and geopolitics, and the economy. Findings highlight the complex interplay between these narratives and their implications for student experiences and perspectives, institutional policies and practices within U.S. journalism programs, and the broader role of journalists and journalism in society. The analysis emphasizes the interconnectedness of their narratives in a global context and shows how they navigate the gap between promises and realities, including by prioritizing empathy and relationality. This approach aims to complexify understandings of international student mobility and center student agency, challenging uneven power structures and creating equitable spaces for global voices in journalism.

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