Tania Nachrin
Graduate Student, Communication
Education
M.S., Communication, University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Research Expertise
Health Communication
Tania Nachrin is a Ph.D. student in the Communication Science and Social Cognition track at the University of Maryland. Her research focuses on health literacy, public health crisis, and sexual and reproductive health in underserved regions of the Global South. By using a mixed-methods approach, Tania investigates how communication strategies can help reduce health disparities in marginalized communities. At UMD, she teaches COMM 382 (Intercultural Communication) and COMM 107 (Oral Communication).
Publications
A first look at the coverage of Afghan evacuee resettlement in eight U.S. community newspapers
New study examining newspaper coverage of Afghan resettlement in the U.S. after the end of America’s "longest war"
Author/Lead: Tania NachrinThe study examines local newspaper coverage of Afghan resettlement in the U.S. after the end of America’s ‘longest war’ in 2021. The papers are prominent news outlets of the counties where the military bases housing evacuees are located. We use a mixed-methods approach to examine news articles collected over an eighteen-month period. The study will analyze prominent sources, characteristics of evacuees, and themes in coverage. Themes were derived using both inductive and deductive methods. ‘America as land of opportunity’ and ‘moral obligation’ were dominant themes. Study results will provide a temporal marker that allows researchers to measure future changes in community attitudes towards evacuees. Thematic analysis demonstrates linkages between discourses such as moral obligation, migrants as threats, and process and how they help maintain U.S. power and hegemony. Rendering a critique of news coverage by analyzing how articles deployed and resisted these dominant themes, the study hopes to contribute towards a more nuanced approach towards media coverage of forced migration.