Mary Hanrahan, a graduate student in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, was named one of five 2023-25 Lender Center for Social Justice student fellows. Student fellows will conduct research, analyze data and present findings related to how American media coverage of the war on terror affected U.S. policymaking and later impacted Muslim individuals and communities.
Hanrahan researches how structures of power are articulated through cultural texts and how texts mutate, enforce or disrupt systems of privilege and oppression. She is interested in narrative reclamation and communications from communities experiencing surveillance and containment. She also investigates Islamophobic biases in the news media, their impact on marginalized groups and how affected communities work around the consequences of those biases.
Lender Center student fellows work on projects for two years, receive a $2,000 fellowship and will present their work at the 2025 Lender Symposium.