About NCA Public Programs

NCA’s Public Programs are about important and relevant topics in our society that the Communication discipline has particular interest and expertise in. They are designed to be non-technical 90-minute deep dives into a narrow topic useful in society generally. NCA will plan on producing two Public Programs per year, whether held in-person or virtually.

2026 Public Program: How to have hope in the impossible times: Thinking through pain, memory and desire during the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in the U.S.

March 27, 2026

How do we think, teach, live, and most importantly hope, through the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in the U.S.? This public program brings together refugee and immigrant scholars to ask how we think through concepts such as memory, resistance, refusal, desire, and pain when our established systems of knowing and living are collapsing. All together the program considers hope as a communicative practice that shapes our response to oppression and violence. By centering immigrant and refugee epistemologies, the program asks how the rise of authoritarianism and fascism in the United States can be understood from perspectives of those who have survived the worst. The program suggests that the epistemology of hopeless hope is necessary if we are to effectively address the crisis of violence and oppression. 

2025 Public Programs Archive

Across the globe, in different national cultures and contexts, authoritarianism is on the rise. Prominent authoritarian movements and politicians have threatened the communicative basis of democracy, casting dissent and disagreement as disloyalty and treason. Connecting theory and practice, rhetorical scholarship must address the implications of authoritarianism on the status of democracy as a concept, model, principle, and context for rhetorical practice. Panelists will consider futures of rhetoric and democracy in an era of democratic uncertainty and threat. Panelists will address such questions as: How do rhetoric and democracy operate in the world we live in now, whether at local, regional, national, and global levels, in governmental and non-governmental contexts, within and across diverse communities? How, if at all, may concepts and practices of rhetoric and democracy reduce violence and strife? What may rhetorical scholarship teach us about democracy?

Join the National Communication Association (NCA) for a transformative virtual event that delves into the crucial role of family communication in effective caregiving. Drawing on insights from Affection Exchange Theory, Relational Maintenance, and broader family communication scholarship, it offers research-based approaches, practical tools, and strategies to help families strengthen bonds, navigate caregiving, and thrive together.  

SPEAKERS

  • Kory Floyd, Washington State University
  • Sage Chevrette, Middle Tennessee State University 
  • Tamara D. Afifi, University of California Santa Barbara 
  • Amanda Cooper, University of Connecticut 

 

RESOURCES

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