Critical Acclaim for Mohamed Zayani’s Book Continues with ISA Award Win

Professor of Critical Theory and Director of the Certificate in Media and Politics, Mohamed Zayani, has won the International Communication (ICOMM) Book Award from the International Studies Association (ISA) for his critically acclaimed book Networked Publics and Digital Contention (Oxford University Press, 2015), making it the fifth major award it has received to date.  

The ISA ICOMM Book Award honors the publication deemed to have made the most substantial impact in the area of International Communication in the context of international studies. The award will be conferred at ICOMM’s section meeting at the International Studies Association 60th convention, which will be held in Toronto.

Headquartered at the University of Connecticut, the International Studies Association is one of the oldest interdisciplinary associations dedicated to understanding international, transnational and global affairs and has a global membership of more than 7,000 members.

Zayani’s Networked Publics and Digital Contention is part of the Oxford Studies in Digital Politics Series. Based on original field research, the book offers a critical account of how information and communication technologies are reconfiguring social movements while also providing a theoretical framework for understanding networked activism in the information age. 

Previous awards for the book include “The Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Best Book Award” from the American Sociological Association (ASA); The Global Communication and Social Change Best Book Award from the International Communication Association (ICA); The Sue DeWine Distinguished Award for a Scholarly Book from the U.S. National Communication Association (NCA); and The Toyin Falola Best Book Award from the Association of Global South Studies (AGSS).

“That Mohamed Zayani’s book has won multiple awards, from different associations, attests not just to the impact of his work, but also to its breadth,” said Oxford University Press editor Angela Chnapko. “It’s a great achievement.”

Professor Zayani’s recent works include Digital Middle East: State and Society in the Information Age (Oxford University Press, 2018) and Bullets and Bulletins: Media and Politics in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings (Oxford University Press, 2016).