Out of (South) Africa: Graduate students present research at ICA 2026
By Julia Belden
Graduate students Julia Belden and Alexandra Benitez Gonzalez presented Knight Center-affiliated research projects at this year’s International Communication Association (ICA) conference in Cape Town, South Africa.
Alexandra Benitez Gonzalez presents her work. Credit: Julia Belden
Julia and Alex were part of a large contingent of faculty and grad students from MSU’s College of Communication Arts & Sciences traveling to the conference. The conference theme, “Communication and Inequalities in Context,” provided an ideal backdrop for showcasing the Knight Center’s research.
Julia, a 2nd year journalism M.A. student and incoming Ph.D. student, presented “Visibilizing Environmental Communication at the Margins: A Bibliometric Analysis of Latin American Scholarship,” a work-in-progress study that’s part of a larger project to build and establish a database of Latin American environmental communication scholarship.
Julia Belden with her poster at ICA 2026. Credit: Julia Belden
(You can visit the database here, and learn more about our network of Latin American environmental communication scholars here!) Knight Center research director Bruno Takahashi and Ph.D. candidate Iasmim Amiden dos Santos are coauthors of this study.
Alex, a Ph.D. candidate in Media & Information, presented “Testimonios of Latin American immigrant scientists in STEM.” Study coauthors were Evelyn-Valdez Ward, Iasmim Amiden dos Santos, Bruno Takahashi and Sunshine Menezes.
The view from Cape Town’s Table Mountain. Credit: Julia Belden
This was the first time the ICA conference took place on the African continent. South Africa’s natural beauty was a big draw for attendees, who explored landmarks like Cape Town’s Table Mountain and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens. Robben Island, home to the former prison where Nelson Mandela was held for decades, offered a sobering reminder of the struggles still faced by South Africans in a post-Apartheid landscape.
