Jordan Nixon '24 - Communication (MA)

Current M.A. Student at Texas A&M University

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Can you share a brief overview of your current research project(s) and its significance in communications studies? What overarching goals or objectives drive your current research?

NowWe’reAPRBLEM takes the form of a community archive, a gallery, and an anthology entitled, We’reTheOnes. The anthology is a space within the gallery space within the archival space that the contributors and I are cultivating together. All of the work responds to the erasure of marginalized groups from public memory as well as memory spaces such as archives. The community archive is in and of itself a memory space, but this one is built both by and for womxn of color as well as those at the intersection of their marginalized identities. It is an opportunity for all of us to carve out space for ourselves and thus, our varied and complex existence.

The work spurred from questions about the nature and construction spaces entrusted to protect and preserve history, the desire to represent myself and those at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, and the potential of doing so as well as the desire to challenge and explore silences and misrepresentation in the archives and associated memory spaces.

At the foundation of this project is intersectionality as both theory and praxis. As a theory, intersectionality reflects the connectivity between marginalized identities, oppression, and injustice. It orients us towards thinking about the materiality of said connectivity and how it manifests in the lived experiences of those at the intersection. As praxis, it is a demand that contributors, visitors/readers, and I look across identity groups (outside of our own) and make space to explore the uniqueness of our positionalities.

NowWe’reAPRBLEM, the community archive and gallery, as well as We’reTheOnes: An Anthology is an opportunity to centralize intersectionality as a field of thought but also as a response to injustice. It is a way for those of us at the intersection of our marginalized identities to connect, expand, and bend spaces that are only meant to serve parts of our full selves in hopes of ultimately creating spaces fit for ourselves and others.

In what ways do you believe your current research contributes to advancements or addresses challenges within your field?

NowWe’reAPRBLEM is an arts-based research project that calls on modalities such as video, photo, audio, and text as gateways for engagement with the work. While text is a foundational element, it is not the primary focus. Accessibility through multiple pathways for entry is essential to maximizing the scope and impact of our efforts.

That said, I have taken part in many conversations regarding barriers preventing those outside of academia from accessing research generated within the academy. During those conversations, I thought about those closest to me who do not have the time or energy to seek out or engage with this information. These conversations also brought to mind the subjects who aren’t able to access said research—linguistically or materially—after collection. The reality is that research is often inaccessible because of paywalls, language (i.e. jargon), and other structural barriers. I have made it my job to bridge the gap between the lived lives of participants/co-creators and knowledge production by creating spaces that amplify their words and centralize their stories and faces. This project is for them.

This project, and other work that I do, is grounded and will remain grounded in eliminating the aforementioned barriers. And at the end of the day, some people may not consider what I do to be “research," or rather a viable form of knowledge production. To those folks I say: the people who have contributed to these projects would beg to differ, as living requires knowledge packed with nuance that “viable” forms of research cannot touch.

How have the research environment and resources at Texas A&M supported or influenced the direction of your work?

Throughout my master’s journey, I was given the room to explore ideas both within and outside of coursework. The various interests and styles of my professors allowed me to create a bigger picture from bits of my experience. Over the last two years, I’ve had the opportunity to hear from/have taken classes with: Dr. George Villanueva, Space and Place & Multimodal Methods; Dr. Kristan Poirot, Rhetoric; Dr. Bryce Henson, Media, Identity, and Culture & Seminar in Media Studies; Dr. Tasha Dubrinwy, COMM and Gender; and Dr. Antonio La Pastina, Interpretive Methods and Audience Studies. In each course, I’ve also had the pleasure of learning from and connecting with peers who have challenged me in more ways than I can count. Shoutout to my people! All in all, each person and experience planted seeds that have bloomed and blossomed in NowI’mAPRBLEM: Part One and NowWe’reAPRBLEM. I am also a proud recipient of RESI’s Small Research Enhancement Grant.

Looking ahead, what are your aspirations for the future of your research? Are there specific areas or questions within your field that you hope to explore in your continued studies?

How does multimodality improve accessibility to knowledge? What are the possibilities of alternative knowledge production? What can this work do for those that are involved? Can it heal them, or rather can it give them space to heal themselves? How can the work that we have done become useful to those who didn’t have a hand in the work as creators but as spectators? How can it challenge notions of who and what matters? How can it build community and connection while simultaneously raising consciousness? What does it look like to make research accessible?

My hope is that this work will allow people at the margins and intersections to see themselves existing as dynamically and expansively as necessary for their growth and encourage them to write themselves into their own narratives.