Dr. Cleophas Muneri is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque where he teaches media and critical cultural communication courses at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Muneri combines his background in media and journalism to explore how media constitute and reconstitute cultural identities in the struggle for democracy. His research and teaching interests are in media and democracy, critical cultural studies, intercultural communication.

Some of Dr. Muneri’s published research interrogate discourses on democracy and how they are appropriated and deployed to advance undemocratic neoliberal economic policies that exacerbate precarity. In examining citizens’ responses to globalization and the resultant disenfranchisement, his research also focuses on social movements’ contribution to democratization and how civil society groups/organizations engage with various media forms including digital media to organize, mobilize and broaden democratic engagement. Dr. Muneri’s work is informed by critical approaches to understanding the role of media and communication in the production and reproduction of cultural identities. He also incorporates decolonial theoretical lens to understand struggles for democratization in countries still grappling with the legacies of colonialism.

This research endeavor has led to publications ranging from a coauthored book focusing on Journalism, Democracy and Human Rights in Zimbabwe, a coedited book on social media and justice, several journal articles, and book chapters. Dr. Muneri’s ongoing research efforts continue to engage with the challenges of digital media, democracy, and civil society with an emphasis on building communities and solidarity in an increasingly fragmented media ecosystem. These research efforts include projects focusing on digital media and disinformation, news deserts, civil society, and democratization processes in both the Global South and North.