The labor of diversity in the 2020–2021 U.S. communication job market

ABSTRACT

Following George Floyd’s murder in 2020, academia pursued a policy of diversity, noticeable in the job advertisements for the following academic year. This article analyzes 77 tenure-track positions for the 2020–2021 academic year advertised on the National Communication Association’s COMMNotes. With a focus on the job market and labor, the authors explain the assumptions of applying for tenure-track positions. The analysis shows how diversity transforms from concept into practice. However, within the context of the U.S.-based communication studies’ economic conditions, the authors ask if labor is outside the conceptualization of diversity.

KEYWORDS:

• Academic labor
• cultural studies
• diversity
• political economy
• postcolonial studies

Acknowledgements

All three authors earned graduate degrees at the University of South Florida, where the associate editor, Mahuya Pal, was affiliated at the time of review and acceptance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 We use ‘discipline’ to refer to the U.S.-based field of communication studies organized as a singular unit distinguishable from other disciplines such as anthropology, mathematics, and sociology.

2 The median is calculated on a student’s duration in a doctoral program. The value does not indicate the length of any program. As of 2022, it is common that a PhD student is fully-funded for four years.