As a critical and interdisciplinary scholar, my research examines the interconnections between media, culture, and society. My goal is to understand how media construct meanings about historically marginalized identities, and the mobilizing practices that media can also afford to minoritized groups to resist systems of domination and intervene in problematic mediated narratives.
My areas of research interest are identity formation and media representation, digital activism and political engagement, and memory-making in the Global South. To examine these topics, I have borrowed contributions from different disciplines such as critical race theory, black feminism, political communication, global communication, social media studies, and cultural studies. I have primarily adopted qualitative methodologies, such as close readings, textual analysis, interviews, and focus groups, and have also collaborated with projects with a mixed-method approach.
Below you can find examples of the different research projects I have published and presented at conferences.
Publications
de Carvalho, R., Santia, M., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2025). Framing the Yanomami: decolonial analysis of U.S coverage of Indigenous people in Brazil during COVID-19. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 48(2), 346–367. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2024.2362453
de Carvalho, R. (2024). Remembering Marielle Franco: Haunting online presence and the memorialization of resistance on social media. Media, Culture & Society, 46(5), 1010–1026. https://doi.org/10.1177/01634437241228734
Corsbie-Massay, C. L., Riley, B. K., de Carvalho, R. (2022). Examinations of the unprofitability of authentic Blackness: Insights from Black media professionals. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 50(3), 327-343. https://doi.org/10.1080/00909882.2022.2083433
Marôpo, L., de Carvalho, R., & Jorge, A. (2021). Children’s cancer narratives on YouTube: Agency and entrepreneurship in Brazilian CarecaTV. Global Studies of Childhood, 11(4), 318-330. https://doi.org/10.1177/2043610620967018.
Jorge, A., Maropo, L., de Carvalho, R. (2020). Sick children and social media. In L. Green, D. Holloway, K. Stevenson, L. Haddon, & T. Leaver (Eds.), Routledge Companion to Digital Media and Children (pp. 414-423). London: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351004107
de Carvalho, R., Marôpo, L., & Sampaio, I. (2016). Entre a dor e a superação: Adolescentes com câncer discutem sua representação nas notícias [Between pain and overcoming: Adolescents with cancer debate their representation in the news]. Animus Revista Interamericana de Comunicação Midiática, 15(30), 224-240, https://doi.org/10.5902/2175497719171
Selected Refereed Conference Presentations
de Carvalho, R., Ozzawa, J. & Soto-Vásquez, A. D. (October 2024). Memory-Making of the January Attacks in Brazil and the United States: Examining the Role of YouTube in Collective Remembrances of Far-Right Insurrections. Presented at the 10th International Journal of Press/Politics Conference, Edinburgh, UK.
Santia, M. Burth, S. de Carvalho, R., & Ramasubramanian, S. (August 2024). Indigenous Peoples’ Day or Columbus Day? A Qualitative Analysis of Contested News Narratives. Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) 107th Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
de Carvalho, R. (June 2024). Negotiating identities and political (dis)engagement: An exploration of women’s political experiences during Brazil’s presidential election. Accepted for presentation at the International Communication Association (ICA) 74th Annual Conference, Gold Coast, Australia.
de Carvalho, R., Santia, M., & Ramasubramanian, S. (June 2024). Framing the Yanomami people during COVID-19: A content analysis of U.S. media coverage of the indigenous health emergency in Brazil. Accepted for presentation at the International Communication Association (ICA) 74th Annual Conference, Gold Coast, Australia.
Arias, E. & de Carvalho, R. (March 2024). Memory building through film: An analysis of post-dictatorship Latin American cinema. Accepted for presentation at the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies (MACLAS) Conference, Hamilton, NY.
Ramasubramanian, S., de Carvalho, R., Brown, C., Couri, D., Wilson, J., Wolfe, A. (May 2023). Action-based anti-racism dialogues: A trauma-informed approach for organizational change-making. Presented at the International Communication Association (ICA) 73rd Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada.
de Carvalho, R. & Green, K. (Nov 2022). Mi Gente: Representations of Latinx in Netflix’s Gentefied. Presented at the National Communication Association (NCA) 108th Annual Convention, New Orleans, LA, USA.
de Carvalho, R. (Aug 2022). Remembering, resisting: A rhetorical analysis of the memorialization of Brazilian activist Marielle Franco on YouTube. Presented at the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) 105th Annual Conference, Detroit, MI, USA.
* Top Student Paper Award, Third Place (Cultural & Critical Studies Division).
de Carvalho, R. (May 2022). Visual stories of metastasis, emotionality, and well-being: A social semiotic analysis of metastatic breast cancer selfies on Instagram. Presented at the International Communication Association (ICA) 72nd Annual Conference, Paris, France.
Awards
Top Student Paper Award
Third Place, James W. Carey Memorial Award
Cultural and Critical Studies Division (AEJMC – 2022)
Bachelor’s Thesis Award
First Place, Adelmo Genro Filho National Award
Brazilian Association of Researchers in Journalism (SBPJor – 2016)