Dennis Okeke

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about

Dennis E. Okeke is a Journalism Studies Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado–Boulder, Boulder, U.S.A., and a critical interdisciplinary communication and media scholar. Using digital ethnography, corpus linguistics, and critical discourse analysis, he interrogates how racial, gendered, sexual, and religious politics occur in digital news spaces across postcolonial African nations and the United States. Mr. Okeke’s solo/collaborative scholarship has been published in African Identities, Communication, Culture, and Critique, Feminist Media Studies, and Health Communication, and presented at major communication/media/journalism studies conferences including AEJMC, ICA, and NCA. He is an award-winning teacher and mentor.

  • Peer-reviewed Articles

    1. Okeke, D. E. (2025). Race, violence in the US, and digital (news) discourse: A corpus‐based critical discourse analysis of Jordan Neely’s racialization. Communication, Culture & Critique, Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1093/ccc/tcaf040
    2. Okeke, D. E. (2025). Are African Catholic bishops ‘sanctimoniously’ defying Pope Francis? Rethinking same-sex blessings, cultural borders, and the rhetoric of colonization in postcolonial ‘African’ Catholicism. African Identities, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2025.2581768
    3. Okeke, D. E., Allen, M. R., Ibiwoye, C., Mbaye, O., & Okeke, A. O. (2025). Safe sex practices and social support typologies in digital spaces: Assessing Nigerian gay men’s sexual health information exchange on social media. Health Communication, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2025.2542925
    4. Okeke, D. E., Mudambi, A., & Weege, R. M. (2025). Nigerian queer visibility on social media: Navigating religious homophobic discourses in digital spaces. Feminist Media Studies, 25(6), 1414–1432. https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2025.2514062

  • Education

    University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, U.S.A.

    Ph.D., Media Research and Practice (August 2024-present)

    Focus: Technology, Culture, and Health Communication

    Minor: Women and Gender Studies

    Advisor: Dr. Patrick Ferrucci

    University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, U.S.A.

    M.A., Communication (2024)

    Focus: Communication Research Methods

    CGPA: 4.0/4.0 (Summa Cum Laude)

    Thesis: A quantitative analysis of UWM students’ awareness, satisfaction, communication preferences, and trust in campus safety communications

    Advisor: Dr. Mike Allen

    Committee Members: Dr. Sarah Riforgiate (Internal Examiner) and Dr. Chinwe Uzochukwu (External Examiner, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria)

    Pan African University, PAUGHSS, Yaoundé, Cameroon.

    M.A., Governance and African Regional Integration (2022)

    Focus: Democratic Governance

    Thesis: The role of the mass media in combating insecurity in Africa: A case study of the insurgencies in Nigeria and Cameroon

    Advisor: Dr. Gerard-Marie Messina

    Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. 

    B.Sc., Mass Communication (2019)

    Focus: Mass Media and Politics

    First-Class Honours/Summa Cum Laude

    Project: President Muhammadu Buhari’s ‘Change Begins with me’ campaign: Nigerian undergraduates’ perspective

    Advisor: Dr. Allen Adum