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Faculty & Staff

Ammina Kothari

Assistant Professor
Office: 
01-3176
Phone: 
585-475-7397
Fax: 
585-475-7732
Email: 
ammina.kothari@rit.edu
BA, North Central College; MA, University of Oregon; Ph.D., Indiana University

Since coming to RIT in the Fall of 2012, Professor Kothari has been teaching a variety of journalism classes, including intro to journalism and information gathering.

Her research focuses on issues related to health, gender, technology and religion that are situated within the contexts of global communication, journalism and media studies. Professor Kothari often employs a multi-method approach to her work, which has included in-depth interviews, content analyses, textual analysis and structural equation modeling.

Professor Kothari’s dissertation examined how journalistic practices and the relationship between journalists and their news sources, influences media coverage of HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. She was awarded two university-wide competitive research fellowships in 2010 to conduct her fieldwork in Tanzania, which involved interviews with journalists and leaders of NGOs. In addition to interviews, she also conducted semiotic and content analyses of newspaper texts, to examine how media representations contributed to the social construction of HIV/AIDS.

Some of her on-going research projects include comparative analyses of global journalistic practices within the context of emerging media platforms; how the media conveys information based on the newsworthiness of the issue; and exploring effective channels for message transmission based on topics and target demographics.

Referred Publications

  • Kothari, A. (In press). Media Constructed Muslim Identity: 1999 – 2009. Editors: Prof. America Rodriguez and Prof. Dominic Lasorsa. Chapter in Social Identity and Media: New Agendas in Communication Research. New York, NY: Routledge.
  • Kothari, A. (2010). The framing of the Darfur conflict in the New York Times: 2003 – 2006. Journalism Studies,11(2), 209-224.
  • Kothari, A. (2008). When rape victims become symbolic representations of war: A textual analysis of The NY Times reporting on the use of 'rape as weapon of war' in Darfur. Global Media Journal: Mediterranean Edition 3(2), 21-29.

Published Reviews

  • Kothari, A. (August 2011). Review of Bella Mody, The Geopolitics of Representation in Foreign News: Explaining Darfur. Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 12, 763-764.
  • Kothari, A. (Spring 2011). Review of Vincent Mosco, The Political Economy of Communication. Global Media Journal,11(18).

Kothari, A (2012). “Signifying AIDS: How Media Uses Metaphors to Define a Disease”. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention.

Kothari, A (2012). “Hijab and Muslim Comedians: Challenging Stereotypes with Humor”. Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention.

Kothari, A (2011). "Digital Gate-keeping: The Role of Social Media in Citizen Uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt”. National Communication Association Annual Convention, New Orleans, LA.

Elliott, D., & Kothari, A. (2011). “The Potential of Communication Technology for Addressing Contemporary Aspects of HIV/AIDS.” Health in Africa Workshop at the African Studies Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.

Kothari, A (2011). "Globalization in Africa: A 10-Year Critical Literature Review of Communication Scholars’ Research Agenda.” Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention.

Kothari, A., Hong, S., Tang, S., & Willnat, L (2011). "Hostile Media Perceptions: Coloring the (New) Media Red or Blue.” Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Annual Convention.

Kothari, A. (2011). "International Aid Agencies and Tanzanian Media: Constructing HIV/AIDS Epidemic." The South Eastern Regional Seminar on African Studies (SERSAS) and the South East Africanist Network (SEAN) conference - University of Florida and co-sponsored by University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Kothari, A. (2010). "Media Discourse on Burqa/Niqab Ban in France: A Critical Discourse Analysis." National Communication Association Annual Convention.