Research
Political identity, credibility, and the relationship between older and newer media, with Ghana and African public life at the center.
Explore my researchResearcher · Educator · Conversation builder
Media shapes
how we belong.
I’m John Acquaful. I study the connections between media, political identity, and public life, with a focus on Ghana and African digital communities.
Doctoral student, Media & Communication
Bowling Green State University
The questions behind the work
Looking beyond
the platform.
Digital conversations have histories. My work explores how media institutions, communities, and technologies shape whose voices are heard and how people understand one another.
Teaching
An interactive classroom where students connect communication theory to practice, develop their voices, and learn through collaboration.
Inside the classroomCommunity
Honest conversations about graduate school, belonging, and the people who make academic life meaningful through the Graduate Students’ Den.
Listen to the podcastCurrent inquiry · Dissertation research
Before the feed,
there was the radio.
My dissertation research asks how political identities constructed and circulated through radio are continued, contested, and remediated on social media in Ghana.
By tracing these connections across Ghana’s media and broadcast history, I examine how earlier forms of belonging and political division shape contemporary digital public life.
Explore my researchSelected publication
Media narratives.
Real consequences.
Framing Geopolitical Crises: A Comparative Study of U.S. and Middle Eastern Media Narratives, Bias, and Influence
Read the publicationDEN.
Beyond the classroom · Podcast
Graduate life,
spoken honestly.
Graduate Students’ Den brings graduate students, scholars, and alumni together for honest conversations about life in academia.
As a co-host, I help make space for conversations about research, teaching, relationships, belonging, and finding your way through graduate school.
Keep the conversation going
Good work starts
with a conversation.
I welcome research collaborations, guest lecture invitations, podcast conversations, and opportunities to support students.
Get in touch abjohn@bgsu.edu