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This paper, on qualitative thematic analysis (QTA) in social change research, falls somewhere between a reflective piece and a how-to guide. Using two examples from my own previous research, I discuss why QTA in the field of social change or social justice, which often analyzes the words of vulnerable, marginalized, or underserved populations, is so fraught, so contested, and so often dismissed. Qualitative thematic analysis of interviews or focus groups is a common research tool used in the field, but the guidelines, scope, and practices of this tool are varied and ill-defined. I have witnessed in my students' papers and in peer reviewing for journals that there are a handful of assumptions and misconceptions that appear repeatedly, for example around intercoder reliability and frequency counting, that reduce the quality of analysis. This paper focuses on how to conduct QTAs that address social change: complex social problems faced by underserved populations, such as those dealing with poverty and inequality. By discussing the methods used in two of my own social change research projects, this paper offers a balanced method for both promoting rigor and understanding the limits and strengths of this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication for social change (CSC) research often addresses 'empowerment.' This paper argues that CSC must better incorporate trauma healing into the concept of empowerment, and thus into a revised model of social change. Data from a U.S. intimate partner violence intervention are used to provide evidence for the validity of, and usefulness of, such a revised model. Three broad theoretical arguments are offered regarding trauma within CSC: (1) trauma is rarely addressed outside peacebuilding interventions, but is relevant to other marginalized populations; (2) storytelling work has mostly focused on its politically empowering effects, and insufficiently on its healing effects related to trauma as a precursor to political empowerment; and (3) storytelling work almost always assumes an audience, but there is also value in internal communication – e.g. telling a story to oneself or journaling – when trauma has limited one's opportunities for communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important sub-discipline within the field of Communication and Social Change addresses how meaningful participation can be practically implemented. This article presents the case of an intervention developed by the NGO 'Half the Sky Movement' and reflects upon how participation took shape within a primarily top-down program model. The design of the project bridges traditional, outsider-led and participatory, bottom-up design. The project accomplishes this by focusing on small group discussion and short videos as catalysts for reflection. In addition, the data suggest that storytelling may be particularly helpful for promoting engaged discussion and critical reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates how journalists covering international humanitarian crises make decisions regarding what types of information to include in stories. Specifically, the inclusion/exclusion of solutions-oriented information is addressed, since crises represent a key time during which the potential for international engagement is discussed in the mainstream media. Interviews with journalists covering hunger crises in Africa reveal an internal tension between maintaining a neutral, unbiased position and writing in a way that supports engagement and action. Ironically, perhaps, journalists find that including solutions-oriented information amounts to unethical and biased coverage, despite the fact that inclusion of solutions to social problems is an accepted and institutionalized aspect of the US news media's mandate to the public. Reasons for this seeming contradiction are discussed, and I argue that solutions-oriented information not only can be included without demonstrating bias, but that it ought to be included to support ethical coverage that properly informs citizens about potential paths for political engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the U.S. news media construct the topic of hunger in Africa for U.S. audiences. Specifically, the article addresses how newspapers define and delimit the relationship between U.S. citizens and foreign sufferers. Through a framing analysis and critical discourse analysis of randomly sampled newspaper stories, the author finds that while news articles covering hunger in the United States usually frame the problem as pertinent to the public sphere, the victim as worthy of political action, and the reader as political agent, articles covering hunger in Africa frame the issue as irrelevant to the public sphere, the victim as removed from political action, and the reader as politically impotent. Interviews with journalists are used to understand why discrepancies occur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Celebrities in recent years have taken on a more active role in communicating global humanitarian crises to the American public. This role at times shifts between journalist, advocate, philanthropist, and personal publicist. This article evaluates how three of the most well-known celebrities in this genre in the United States—Angelina Jolie, George Clooney, and Bono—differ in their method of speaking about these issues, focusing on how their public discourse adds to, or detracts from, citizens' abilities to understand, discuss, and respond to the issues presented in the public sphere. Through critical discourse analysis, similarities and differences are teased out and placed within the context of previous research on celebrity diplomacy and humanitarian crises, in order to evaluate the usefulness of such performances for the U.S. public as democratic citizens and for the victims of foreign suffering the celebrities purport to represent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]