Soumia Bardhan PhD

Ph.D. Communication University of New Mexico, U.S.
M.A. Communication University of Madras, India
B.A. with Honours University of Calcutta, India

Soumia Bardhan is associate professor of Communication and director of International Studies at the University of Colorado Denver. Operating at the intersection of intercultural and global communication, Bardhan uses qualitative and rhetorical approaches to explore how media, artificial intelligence (AI), and/or communication shape the cultural-political transformations of Middle Eastern and South Asian societies. She investigates the complex ways rhetorical dynamics and discursive practices of Islam influence MENA (Middle East and North Africa) and South Asian politics and societies, and how Western publics, scholars, and policymakers engage with such discourses. Through her research, Bardhan seeks to minimize stereotypes and advance dialogue between Muslim and non-Muslim communities, explore how culture and communication affect democratic institutions globally, and identify extremist discourses to inform foreign policy and global security strategies. Deeply committed to advancing global perspectives, Bardhan also contributes to the globalization of the communication discipline.

Bardhan’s teaching reflects the breadth of her interdisciplinary expertise. She offers courses in intercultural communication; media and global communication; transnational rhetoric; religion, culture, and communication; history and philosophy of communication; communication theory; AI and human communication; qualitative methodologies; public speaking; and mediation (as a certified mediator). She directs global study programs in Spain, France, Morocco, and India, and has mentored numerous undergraduate and graduate students through independent research projects, theses/dissertations, and global learning opportunities. Bardhan is recipient of several curriculum development awards, including University of Notre Dame’s Global Religion and Research Initiative grant. She has published (December 2019) a co-edited book titled “Internationalizing the Communication Curriculum in an Age of Globalization” (Routledge Research in Communication Studies series). CU Denver College of Liberal Arts and Sciences recognized her with the 2025 Excellence in Teaching award.

An active leader in the discipline, Bardhan has been named a Fellow of CU Denver’s Women’s Leadership Program (2024–2025), a ThinqStudio Faculty Innovation Fellow (2022–2024), Sacred Writes Public Scholarship on Religion Fellow (2023–2024), Big 12 Faculty Fellow (2017–2018), and Association of College and University Educators (ACUE) Fellow. She serves as a director on the board of the International Communication Association (ICA), where she currently chairs the Membership and Internationalization Committee, and previously served as chair of ICA’s Intercultural Communication Division. She also contributed to the National Communication Association’s Task Force on Fostering International Collaborations, served on the editorial board of the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, and is associate editor of Frontiers in Intercultural Communication.

Book

1. Turner, P. K., Bardhan, S., Holden, T. Q., & Mutua, E. M. (Eds.). (2019). Internationalizing the Communication Curriculum in an Age of Globalization. New York: Routledge.

Authored Chapters

i. Bardhan, S. (2019). Internationalizing the communication curriculum: Benefits to stakeholders. In Turner, P. K., Bardhan, S., Holden, T. Q., & Mutua, E. M. (Eds.), Internationalizing the Communication Curriculum in an Age of Globalization (pp. 11-20). New York: Routledge.

ii. Bardhan, S., Colvin, J., Croucher, S., O’Keefe, M., & Dong, Q. (2019). Intercultural communication: A 17-year analysis of the state of the discipline. In Turner, P. K., Bardhan, S., Holden, T. Q., & Mutua, E. M. (Eds.), Internationalizing the Communication Curriculum in an Age of Globalization (pp. 23-35). New York: Routledge.

Special Journal Issue

1. Benitez-Burraco, A., Bardhan, S., Caetano, J. R., & Pan, X. (Eds.). (2024) International translation day: A communication perspective [Special issue]. Frontiers in Communication, 9.

Peer-Reviewed Publications (Articles and Chapters)

1. Bardhan, S., Chen, Y., AlSumait F. Y., Lee, P.,  & Wang, H. L.* (2024). Pluriversal possibilities for the Euro/U.S.-centric intercultural communication field? Review of the GCC States and Taiwan. Annals of the International Communication Association, 48(3). DOI: 10.1080/23808985.2024.2324153 *The first two authors are lead co-authors. With agreement, the third, fourth, and fifth authors appear in alphabetical order based on last names.

2. Evans, E., & Bardhan, S.* (2023). Adult Third Culture Kids and sojourner intercultural communication: Exploring belonging through a multilevel approach. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 96. *co-first authors, names appear in order of ascending seniority.

3. Bardhan, S. (2022). Rhetoric and intercultural communication. In Moy, P. (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Communication. New York: Oxford University Press.

4. Bardhan, S. (2022). #egyptian and #tunisiangirl: The (micro)politics of self-presentation on Instagram. International Journal of Communication, 16.

5. Bardhan, S., & Cutter, D. (2021). Recruiting foreign warriors: Function of moral and temporal tropes in the Islamic State’s “Dabiq”. Rhetoric and Public Affairs, 24, 483-520.

6. Bardhan, S., & Foss, K. (2020). Revolutionary graffiti and Cairene women: Performing agency through gaze aversion. In Charrad, M & Stephan, R. (Eds.), Women Rising: In the Arab Spring and Beyond (pp. 267-281). New York: New York University Press. (Grant-funded)

7. Bardhan, S. (2018). Affordances of websites for counterpublicity and international communication: Case of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 19, 3-11. (Lead article & forum piece)

8. Bardhan, S. (2018). The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and “Ikhwanweb”: Deliberative ethic/voice in a counterpublic’s rhetoric? Journal of Public Deliberation, 14. doi: https://doi.org/10.16997/jdd.295 (Now Journal of Deliberative Democracy)

9. Bardhan, S. (2017). Rhetorical approaches to communication and culture. In J. Nussbaum (Ed.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.013.501

10. Bardhan, S. & Wood, R. (2015). The role of culture in civil society promotion in the Middle East: A case study approach with technology for social networking. Digest of Middle East Studies, 24, 111-138. (Grant-funded)

11. Bardhan, S. (2014). Egypt, Islamists, and the Internet: The Muslim Brotherhood and its rhetoric of dialectics in “Ikhwanweb”. Digest of Middle East Studies, 23, 235-261. Reviewed by Mark Allen Peterson, Professor of Anthropology and International Studies, Miami University, in Connected in Cairo- https://connectedincairo.com/2014/12/07/the-muslim-brotherhood-on-line-i... (2014)

12. Oetzel, J. G., Dhar, S., & Kirschbaum, K. (2007). Intercultural conflict from a multilevel perspective: Trends, possibilities, and future directions. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 36, 183-204.

CU Denver

Undergraduate

• Intercultural Communication (Residence, Remote Synchronous, and Online Asynchronous)
• Religion, Culture, and Communication (Residence and Remote)
• Dynamics of Global Communication (Online)
• Fundamentals of Communication (Online)
• Communication and Communities (Online)
• AI and Human Communication (Online)

Graduate

• Introduction to Graduate Work in Communication (Residence and Remote)
• Transnational Rhetoric (Residence)
• Intercultural Communication (Remote and Online)
• Religion, Culture, and Communication (Remote)
• Qualitative Research Methods (Remote)
• AI and Human Communication (Online)

CU Denver-International College Beijing

• Mediation (Undergraduate/Residence)
• Global Communication (Undergraduate/Residence)
• Communication and Citizenship (Undergraduate/Remote)