María Celeste Wagner

María Celeste Wagner

Assistant Professor

Rutgers University

I am an Assistant Professor at the Department of Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers University’s School of Communication and Information. I received a Ph.D. in Communication from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 2022. Previously, I obtained my Licenciatura (BA) in Communication from Universidad de San Andrés in Argentina in 2013, my home country, and an MA in Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 2018.

My research analyzes the societal uptake or rejection of social change, with a focus on gender issues and their intersection with class and racial dynamics in the Americas. I also analyze media reception of news and entertainment more broadly. Methodologically, I draw from qualitative interviewing methods, surveys, experiments and comparative approaches. For example, I have recently conducted panel studies, phone and in-person individual interviews, focus group virtual interviews, nationally representative surveys, and survey experiments. Fieldwork for my research has been conducted in Argentina and the United States.

Some of my recent publications analyze grassroots and professional feminist advocates communication sensemaking and praxis in Argentina and yhe U.S. (Journal of Communication); the reception of Turkish television dramas in Argentina (Journal of Communication); the emotional experiences, interpretations, and practices of consuming news and perceived misinformation during times of political polarization in the U.S. (Journalism, Digital Journalism); the role of the perceived gender of journalists on the promotion of ideas around the severity of sexual harassment (Cuadernos.info); and the experiences of watching television entertainment in Argentina and the United States (International Journal of Communication).

I am honored to have received four awards for my doctoral dissertation: the 2023 National Communication Association’s Gerald R. Miller Outstanding Dissertation Award, the 2023 Lynda Lee Kaid Outstanding Dissertation Award at the National Communication Association’s Political Communication Division, the 2023 Best Dissertation Award at the the National Communication Association’s International and Intercultural Communication Division and the 2023 Best Dissertation Award at the Global Communication and Social Change Division at the International Communication Association.

My book project, based on my dissertation research, is tentatively titled Situating Social Change: The Reception of Intersectional Feminism in Argentina and the United States. I analyze how two countries in the Americas with a mix of similarities and differences in key dimensions have dealt with recent transformations in communication about gender equality. Based on a cross-national analysis of over 100 interviews with feminist activists, advocates, and members of the audience, as well as survey experiments, I show the role of historical, socio-cultural, media, and movement-based factors that explain the divergent trajectories of the contemporary societal reception towards feminist ideas in both countries: embrace in Argentina and backlash in the United States.

I am currently working on a series of projects. With E. Mitchelstein, P. J. Boczkowski, and F. Suenzo, we are working on a book manuscript based on interviews, surveys and experiments during the Argentine 2019 elections, titled The Patina of Distrust: What People Do With Misinformation, under contract with The MIT Press. Other ongoing projects study the interpretations of sexual harassment allegations against politicians by liberal and conservative male and female American adults (qualitative phone interviews; under review); the role of partisanship and gender in people’s assessment of sexual harassment scandals involving politicians in the U.S. (panel surveys; both with Jin Woo Kim); how liberal and conservative young American women respond to social media discussions about gender issues (virtual focus groups); popular comments on Instagram posts about gender issues in the most popular liberal, center, and conservative news media outlets (quantitative and qualitative content analysis, with Sarah Karl).

I currently teach “Introduction to Media.” I am honored to have received the 2023 Junior International Educator Award at the College of Journalism and Communication, granted by the UF’s International Center. In 2015, I received a Teaching Award at Universidad de San Andrés, given to the best Teaching Assistant at the university.

Among other appointments, I am a faculty affiliate at the Center for Latinx Digital Media at Northwestern University; a member of the organizing committee of the “Media & Communication in Global Latinidades” Pre-Conference at ICA; a research affiliate at the Center for Media and Society in Argentina, and a member of Digital Journalism’s Editorial Board.

My pronouns are she/ella.

View my CV.

Education
  • PhD in Communication, 2022

    University of Pennsylvania

  • MA in Communication, 2018

    University of Pennsylvania

  • BA in Communication, 2013

    Universidad de San Andres