Decade of Race Publications: Meta content Analysis of Race in Communication Scholarship from 2010–2020

Abstract

The #CommSoWhite movement gained momentum in 2020, pointing to a heightened need for communication scholarship to reckon with race and racism. This content analysis provides a systematic review of a decade of race scholarship in communication studies. Manuscripts that address race in all of journals published by the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association journals were analyzed. Preliminary findings reveal trends regarding race scholarship and point to opportunities for advancing communication studies knowledge about race and racism. This research begins to map the terrain of race scholarship in the discipline of communication in order to show missed opportunities, patterns of publications regarding racial phenomena, and highlight potential biases in our collective knowledge of contemporary scholarship about race.