DR. VOLHA KANANOVICH
I am a journalism and communication scholar studying how journalistic practices and digital media technologies shape citizen agency across diverse political contexts.
My research agenda is organized around three interrelated lines of inquiry:
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how platforms and AI systems are reshaping the negotiation of truth and of what counts as legitimate knowledge;
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how digital affordances enable—and constrain—citizen participation; and
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how journalistic practices and news discourse can mobilize or suppress civic agency.
Across this work, I ask who gets to speak and how the authority to participate in public meaning-making is granted, (re)claimed, and challenged in contested information environments.
My work has been supported by grants, recognized with research and teaching awards, and published in flagship communication journals, including Mass Communication & Society, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, International Journal of Press/Politics, International Journal of Communication, Journalism Studies, Journalism, American Behavioral Scientist, New Media & Society, and Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, among other peer-reviewed publications.
I hold two doctoral degrees: a Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Iowa and a Ph.D. in Economics from the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Before coming to academia, I worked as a journalist and communication specialist for international development organizations in Belarus, a post-Soviet country whose political and media environment continues to inform my interest in journalism, power, and citizen participation.
I work as an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Appalachian State University, where I teach classes in journalism and multimedia storytelling. I am also affiliated with the Center for Publics, Platforms & Personalization (CP3), an interdisciplinary research group at the University of Iowa where I participate in collaborative research at the intersection of platforms, information environments, and public life.
My professional service connect me with scholarly and local journalism communities. Among my current and past roles are service on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Communication Inquiry, leadership of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Broadcast & Mobile Journalism Division, and work on the Grant Selection Committee of the North Carolina Local News Lab Fund.
When I am not writing or teaching, you can find me hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains or practicing mildly impressive figure-skating moves at a local ice rink.
I welcome opportunities for conversation and collaboration, so please feel free to get in touch.
