SJMC Student selected to present at NCA Conference

November 17, 2015

Heyamya

Graduate student Joshua Morrison, will be representing Texas State and SJMC at this year's National Communication Association's 101st Annual Conference. The conference will take place Nov. 19 - 22 in Las Vegas, Nevada.This is Morrison's second time to present at the conference and will be presenting two papers -- one in the Performance Studies Division and the other in Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division.The rhetoric division is the biggest at the conference, and Morrison will be presenting as one of the top four papers in that division.He discusses how celebrity studies is an emerging and growing field in academia, a very broad and interdisciplinary field that includes departments in English, history, sociology and communications."The intersection that I meet at when I study this topic is rhetoric and communication, media studies, performance studies and critical cultural studies," Morrison said.Morrison is interested in the role the media plays in celebrity culture and the conversations the media industry has about fame and celebrities, especially women as public figures.According to Morrison, the conversations regarding men usually revolve more around their craft as a performer, but the focus of women is more about what they are wearing and less about their craft.Morrison encourages expanding the institution of celebrity studies to increase awareness about the disparity of gender, racial and class lines that exist in the media's coverage."Who better to change these conversations than the people who write the headlines?" Morrison asks.Best of luck to Joshua at the conference this week!