Dr. Noor Ghazal Aswad, an assistant professor in the Communication Studies department, received the National Communication Association (NCA) Public Address Division’s Emerging Scholar award. The award was presented to Aswad at the annual NCA communication conference.
“I am very honored to be the inaugural winner,” said Aswad. “I’m grateful and appreciative to have received this kind of recognition. I hope it sheds light on the stories of the refugees, immigrants, and freedom fighters who inspire my work”
Aswad received the Emerging Scholar award for her innovative works on the relationship between climate change and immigrant and refugee crises, particularly in the Middle East and Syria.
Aswad said, “All these issues might on the surface seem siloed and unrelated, but in fact they are deeply interconnected. My work focuses on how these seemingly disparate axes are intertwined, particularly through the lens of political resistance on the land.”
Aswad herself is an immigrant from Syria, giving her a deep and personal connection to her work and motivation to continue it. She talked about her motivations and how her background inspires her work:
I come from Syria, a place steeped in history and of a people with immense pride in their roots and heritage. The struggles of my people, and the ways in which they have resisted and fought unwaveringly for more beautiful futures, inspire me deeply. The Syrian revolution was one of the most radical social movements of the last century. Yet, it remains a struggle that has not been met with the solidarity it so desperately deserved.
Though she cannot return to Syria due to the instability of the region, Aswad still holds it close: “I cannot go back to my ancestral home in Syria, but I am hopeful that one day, I will. If not me, my children. For now, Alabama is home. We are blessed to be here.”
Aswad’s work is culminating in a book focused on solidarity, currently in the final stages of review. She said, “I don’t think I have written anything that has come out of the very fibers of my being as with this project. It is a deeply political and personal project which has been in the works for multiple years now. I am nervously excited for it to be out in the world.”
Aswad is an assistant professor in the department of Communication Studies in the College of Communication & Information Sciences (C&IS). She previously worked in North Dakota and Minnesota before moving to the south to Memphis. She has a doctorate in Communications, though she shows an interdisciplinary interest in engineering, as shown by her Master’s and Bachelor’s of Science.
If you are interested in learning more about Aswad, you can view her academic work here.
The NCA’s Public Address Division is an interest group within NCA focused on public culture, discourse and social movements. It is one of NCA’s largest and oldest divisions.
The department of Communication Studies empowers students to develop an integrated skill set in oral and written communication that will prepare them to be skilled communicators in personal, civic and professional roles.