New Faculty Spotlight: Storytelling for Social Change

Originally, Marquese McFerguson, Ph.D., wanted to be a studio artist. Yet, thanks to a few mentors throughout his academic career, he realized his passion to inspire change, which led to his doctorate in communications. Now, he uses the power of storytelling to help people understand their differences and inspire social change.

"Whenever we build up enough courage, to take the time to listen to someone whose story doesn’t look like ours, I believe at that point, maybe, just maybe, we can change the world, by changing the way we see the people in it," he said during a recent TED talk.

As of the Fall 2020 semester, McFerguson joined FAU as an assistant professor of intercultural communication within the school of communication and multimedia studies in the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. His research interests include art-based research, hip-hop culture, contemporary Black popular culture and gender studies. Some of his courses tackle issues like race identity and the influences of a culture within the past and current media. McFerguson’s research and teachings come from his own experiences and hold a special place in his life besides just academia. “It allows me to write myself into the places and cannons where voices like mine are often underrepresented,” McFerguson said.

Here’s a look at what McFerguson said about his journey to FAU:

Q: What is your research focus?
A: My scholarship and teaching examine how individuals in society communicate, perform and re-imagine identity across a diverse number of cultural intersections including race, class, gender and sexual orientation. My research agenda is centered on building bridges of understanding across cultures by examining how racialized identities are produced and portrayed by media makers and interpreted, and performed by media audiences. My research about representation and media created scripts is guided by feminist, aesthetic and narrative sensibilities and situated within the interdisciplinary fields of communication studies and African American studies.

Q: Why do you have an interest in this research?
A: I am interested in this research because it often gives people the opportunity to see and understand the commonalities in the perspectives and experiences of individuals who they may view as their polar opposites.

Q: What do you want people to know about your research or what do you hope to accomplish?
A: I want my research and teaching to build bridges of understanding between people from different cultures. Also, I want to use art and art-based research methods to help re-imagine the ways scholars compose and share their research with audiences within and beyond academia.

Q: Do you have any advice for becoming a researcher in your field?
A: A really good piece of advice I received while writing my dissertation was to “work on finding your scholarly voice.” What I mean by that is, work on finding and developing what you want your scholarship to sound like to readers. What we research is very important. However, how we convey and share that information with the world is also important.

Q: Where do you see your research continuing in the future?
A: Ultimately, I want to continue to use my research and teaching to diversify the academic cannon within my discipline. Also, I want to continue to (re)rethink and re-imagine the ways in which scholars can aesthetically, stylistically and creatively write and represent the research we conduct and share with the world.

Q: What is an interesting fact that people at FAU may not know about you?
A: I am an award-winning slam poet and teaching artist who has performed at academic institutions and performance venues throughout the United States and United Kingdom.