Ibroscheva’s focus on gender, media studies lands her Going Award
First ladies around the world, Hillary Clinton’s upcoming political campaign from a social media perspective and gender and the media after the fall of communism.
Mass Communications professor Elza Ibroscheva named to Going Award
These are among the research topics pursued by mass communications professor Elza Ibroscheva and she has received the William and Margaret Going Endowed Professorship Award.
The award recognizes faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences who have outstanding teaching, scholarly accomplishments and/or creative activity.
According to Ibroscheva, her research has centered on how media frame female politicians and how this trend, known in feminist media studies as gendered mediation, affects their likelihood for success in being elected in office and to advance in political power.
“This framing, both verbal and visual, has been shown by a number of scholars to have tremendous influence on women’s political prospects and the way they are perceived by the electorate,” Ibroscheva said.
A faculty member since 2003, Ibroscheva said she feels extremely excited and humbled by the award.
“I am very honored to see that my intellectual contribution is being recognized by my peers and feel inspired to continue my work in the future in similarly productive and meaningful ways,” Ibroscheva said. “It’s been a great pleasure to see my research recognized by the entire college and to have the opportunity to share my achievements with the university at large and with the community.”
As part of the award, Ibroscheva will deliver a public lecture reflecting on the achievements of female politicians from around the world. In particular, she will present about the 20th anniversary of the Beijing Conference on women, which, according to Ibroscheva, was one of the resolutions narrowly focused on improving political representation of women around the world.
She added that she will also study the media campaign strategies of U.S. female political candidates for the upcoming presidential election and look at their social media presence, which, according to Ibroscheva, is a direction of research that has not been studied.
Mass communications department chair Gary Hicks said he is proud of the Ibroscheva’s contributions and accomplishments.
“Dr. Ibroscheva has established herself as one of the foremost scholars in the area of media and gender in the post-Soviet era,” Hicks said. “SIUE and the department are very fortunate to have her on faculty and I can’t think of a more deserving recipient of this prestigious award. She truly brings international attention to the university.”
According to Ibroscheva she has always had an interest in politics, fueled further by political transformation in her home country, Bulgaria, when the communist regime collapsed.
“For me, the changes in the media were most exhilarating, peaking my interest in the role of free and independent media in the democratic process,” Ibroscheva said.
“And of course, I don’t think my views of the importance of women in this process will have been shaped if it wasn’t for the great example set forth by the remarkable women– intellectual and dissident –who helped bring the regime down and served as my inspiration.”
According to Ibroscheva, she is proud to have co-authored her latest book with Dr. Maria Raicheva-Stover, titled Women in Politics and Media, as well as her latest publication in the European Journal of Cultural Studies with Dr. Nadia Kaneva: “Pin-ups, strippers and centerfolds: Gendered mediation and post-socialist political culture”.
“The book is the first of its kind collection of scholarship on female politicians and the media from a non-western perspective and my latest article studies the interaction of self-exposure, gendered mediation and sexualization in the context of Eastern Europe, another unique look at the political and cultural challenges of running for office in a transitional democracy,” Ibroscheva said.
Filed Under: Mass Communications
