Shah Jahan Shuvo

Diaspora is a frequently discussant topic among scholars during the emergence of the 1990s post-national era. Digital media made diasporic issues straightforward and more focused. Topics like diasporic nationalism, identity, and development get a new shape. Moreover, minority groups' digital media use also attracts scholarly attention. However, a lack of definitional and theoretical clarity obstructs the expected discussion. In this study, two Bangladeshi diasporic women share their experiences as minorities in the U.S., their identities, endeavors of strengthening diasporic nationalism, and how digital media help implement their activities. In addition, a male representative shares his experiences implementing women's programs.

The paper examines how the government’s different activities obstruct the freedom of media, especially the press media in Bangladesh. To fulfill the requirements of the paper both the secondary literature on the mass media and primary data are accumulated by interviews with government officials, journalists, lawyers, teachers, and students, and by reviewing a large stake of newspapers, books, and journals.

We are living in an information age and information is the oxygen of the modern era, as stated by Ronald Reagan in his speech to the English-Speaking Union in 1989. Keeping pace with global change, Bangladesh is also in the process of turning into an information society. The mass media is still in the claw of the government.

A free and vibrant mass media is one of the prime components of democracy and good governance. Almost all developed countries allow and ensure independent media, as it is the 4th pillar of a country. In a democratic society, the media are supposed to play certain functions. These functions include the coverage of significant events/opinions/views taking place or taking shape in the society. The present era of globalization requires free media as the prime component of development. But, some undemocratic and undeveloped countries always try to put a bar on free media.

Bangladesh, an immature democratic, and developing country requires strong and unfettered media to enhance its development and for ensuring accountability from government high-ups. Like the unstable government and administration from the birth of Bangladesh in 1971, the mass media also faced various tough situations. However, after the inception of the democratic form of government in 1990, the country saw tremendous growth in the number and range of both media outlets. Especially, the press media has established a strong position in society. After 1990, rapid growth happened for the press media.

The 9/11 incident and its subsequent terrorism specifically the rise of radical Islamist groups like ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), and al-Qaeda astounds the world. ISIS’s propaganda technique using digital media helps the terrorist group motivate and recruit a large group of people from around the world. Terrorist incidents like the Dhaka café in 2016 and France soccer game attack in 2015 provide a glimpse of ISIS ferocity and barbarism with its subsequent series of attacks. This research examines the kind of rhetorical language that ISIS leaders and followers use to support their ideologies. And, how the internet became the main medium for ISIS in promoting hate ideology, violence, and terror? In this study, I follow the method of ideological criticism to examine ISIS’s rhetorical artifacts. I analyze the speeches of al-Baghdadi, the ISIS top leader, and Bangladesh and France terrorists. Specifically, I collect data from the video speeches, with the purpose of revealing how al-Baghdadi and other terrorist’s speeches were crafted with ideological elements to attract and motivate people. I, then, analyze the functions of the text, cultural influence, and practice on subsequent global socio-political reality. I identify three main ideologies from the artifacts—a) martyrdom or victory, b) global Muslims’ freedom, and c) Establishment of Caliphate for Global Muslims. ISIS ideologies work as camouflage to mislead people. The linguistic construction of ISIS messages are not exception to other such groups to motivate and recruit people. The findings of the analysis led to some intriguing results of how an extremist group begins and culminates its propaganda mechanisms though clever rhetorical strategies. ISIS incorporates concurrent problems in Muslims countries, blames the West and its allies for all those problems. The terrorist group also includes various divine and worldly benefits of terrorism in its rhetorical strategy.

I practice an interdisciplinary research approach due to my interest, training, and experiences in communication, technology, and society. Specifically, I research how digital innovations impact social transformation and how marginalized groups are addressed in rich cultural productions and rhetoric. I strive to explore social justice communication in the proliferation of digital innovation by keeping equity, diversity, and inclusion in mind.
In my scholarships, I follow a mixed-method research approach to discover subaltern people's technology adoption, use, and empowerment process. It is challenging to conduct and find some signature outcomes from one directional study. Keeping that point in mind, I aim to approach a mixed-method research approach. I got training in the humanities tradition, including discourse analysis, textual analysis, critical cultural studies, qualitative methods including interviews, content analysis, digital ethnography, and ethnographic content analysis. I am currently focusing on understanding the computational approach to boost my methodological knowledge.

My job as a teacher and scholar is integral to working with people from diverse cultures and backgrounds. My experiences are the foundation for my dedication to advancing inclusion and diversity through working with, teaching, and mentoring. I am originally from Bangladesh and earned graduate and doctoral degrees in the USA as an international student. Further, I was a first-generation college student from a working-class family. My father was a low-wage worker, and my mother was a traditional homemaker. My educational success is a product of my academic talent, unwavering ambition, and my parents' tenacity. Thanks to these attributes, experiences, and endless energy, I could work multiple jobs and finish my undergraduate and graduate degrees.

My teaching philosophy started shaping during undergraduate classes as I had an insatiable feeling that something was missing in the class meetings. I found a mixed experience as a student in an instructor-dominated undergraduate program. However, I needed help figuring out the missing part, which I discovered in my Communication Pedagogy classes at Minnesota State, Mankato. Philosopher Paulo Freire's pedagogy of the oppressed impressed me and showed how the traditional classroom treats students as subalterns/proletariat. I decided to design my teaching philosophy following Paulo Freire's emancipatory education model.

While heart-wrenching stories of war-fleeing Syrian refugees and their thorny migration to Europe in 2016 flood global media, reports about the role of smartphones invoke a ray of hope among many tech enthusiasts, including me. Smartphone devices/apps worked as the lifeline of the exodus as a communication tool and guide (GPS and maps [ ]) during their life-threatening boat journey and subsequent dark-night travels to Europe. This protagonist role of technological devices motivates me to re-affirm my research interest in designing technology for vulnerable/less privileged people and how design can enhance the marginalized population.
The reality is that every designer is influenced by personal beliefs, norms, values, interests, and experiences in determining design philosophy. A designer's impetus is reflected in the final design product. My design rationale also intersects my interest in the areas of technology-design, and culture. Specifically, I want to explore how design can ensure social justice, how design and technology development discourse shift to postcolonial discourses, and the challenges technology and design face in contemporary globalization.