Daystar University Hosts ICA Kenyan Chapter as SoC Delegates Arrive in South Africa for the Global Forum

The Dean SoC Dr. Robert Aswani (2nd Right) is joined the HoD SToC Dr. John-Bell Okoye (Left) and the Director of ODeL Dr. Lydia Radoli (Right) to receive the Indonesian ICA Chapter Chair Prof. Dorien Kartikawangi and Dr. Atma Jaya from Catholic University of Indonesia during a courtesy call to the Daystar University School of Communication in Nairobi ahead of 76th ICA annual conference.

By Dr. Lydia Radoli

[Cape Town, SA: 4th June 2026]  The annual 76th International Communication Association (ICA) conference kicked off in Cape Town, South Africa, on Thursday 4th June 2026.

The five-day conference is taking place at the Westin Cape Town & CTICC (Cape Town International Convention Centre) in Cape Town, South Africa, under the theme Communication and Inequalities in Context.

The globally acclaimed communication conference is being hosted on the African continent for the first time.

The vote to host the conference in South Africa was passed by ICA global executive board last year, during the 75th ICA conference in Denver, Colorado- USA. The decision brought a lot of hope and positive aspirations for many African scholars who have continuously lobbied for the presence of the scholarly convention in the global South.

In Kenya, the Daystar University School of Communication is playing a central role in hosting this year’s regional hub, under the ICA Kenya Chapter. The regional hub has attracted paper presentations, and panel discussions extrapolating diverse topics in the field of Communication addressed by the global forum.  The ICA-Kenya Chapter was founded under the leadership of  Sr. Prof. A. L. Lando, a  full Professor of Communication and Media, in 2023.  Sr. Prof. A. L. Lando  served as the pioneer Chair until this year when she handed over her leadership role to the Dean, School of Communication, Dr. Robert Aswani as the chapter chair.  In 2016, Daystar University hosted the first ICA regional conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

In preparation for the regional hub conference in Nairobi which is running alongside the global conference in South Africa, Dr. Aswani last Tuesday received Prof. Dorien Kartikawangi, the Indonesian Chapter Chair.

Prof. Kartikawangi is a Professor in the  School of Communication, Catholic University of Indonesia.  She was accompanied by Dr. Atma Jaya, faculty of Business and Social Innovation from the same University and an attaché from the Indonesian High Commission in Kenya.

During the brief visit to Daystar University, the Dean SoC, HoD Strategic and Organizational Communication (STOC) Dr. John Bell Okoye, Director – ODeL and senior faculty in the School Dr. Lydia Radoli held interactive sessions with the guests. The communication academics shared unique niches in global Communication Research.

The Kenyan and Indonesian chapter chairs also compared notes on the hosting of the regional chapters, and highlighted potential opportunities that ICA presented for research, networking and global collaborations.  They further echoed  the need to bridge gaps between the global  South and North research dynamics through collaborative transdisciplinary approaches.

These views were in sync with this year’s ICA theme that encourages mitigating of global inequalities. Professor Kartikawangi and Dr. Atma were in transit through Nairobi on their  way  to South Africa for the ICA conference. They took the opportunity to make a stopover courtesy call to the School of Communication.

Meanwhile, Prof. Sr. A. L. Lando, Dr. Lydia Radoli, Dr. Leah Komen and Dr. Anne Anjao, are this year raising Daystar University’s flag at the ICA global conference in Cape Town. Sr. Prof. A. L. Lando is one of the Theme Committee Members who have worked with the ICA leadership and other renown scholars to ensure the theme, reviews and decisions of the conference come through.

Linking Cape Town to Nairobi, Sr. Prof. Lando Thursday 4th June chaired a high-level panel of the incumbent ICA President -Prof. Dr. Thomas Hanitzsch, Professor of Communication, LMU-Munich, and ICA President- Elect, Prof. Ingrid Bachman, Associate Professor,  Pontificia U Católica de Chile; and the ICA Kenya Chapter Chair, Dr. Daniel Robert Aswani. Sr. Prof. Lando will in addition participate in key ICA meetings, presenting two papers in the conference in Cape Town.

In collaborative research titled "Voices off the Grid: Zello, Youth activism, and digital resistance in Kenya's #RejectFinanceBill 2024 protests." Dr. Komen, with co-authors Wangari Njathi of Pepperdine University and Moses Kemibaro of Dotsavvy digital business agency, elucidate the need to rethink digitization in the global South.

Dr . Komen is also a panel co-organizer for "Platforms, Mobile Infrastructure, and precarious empowerment in the Global South". Here, they challenge the utopian view of platforms as cure for disempowerment, while inviting us to see the granular determinants such as infrastructure, power, and geopolitics. The co-organizer, Prof. Jordan Frith from Clemson USA will be giving a public lecture at Daystar University Valley Road Campus on 10th June at 2.00PM.

On the other hand, Dr. Radoli  is showcasing her work in a panel with 4 other media scholars: Dr. Ronald Irwin, University of Capetown,  Theorose Elikplim, Kent State University, Dr. Stupart Richard- Liverpool University, and Dr. Kealeboga Aiseng, University of Witwatersrand, writing on Trauma Journalism. Her chapter African Epistemology—A Panacea for Trauma Mitigations Among Journalists in East Africa, is captured in volume 2 Navigating Trauma in African Journalism.

In the chapter, Dr. Radoli argues that the lack of trauma mitigations in African newsrooms presents a disparity in attention to the mental wellbeing of journalists and exacerbates professional inequalities. The book is a co-authorship with scholars around Africa on the topic of trauma journalism published by Springer Nature.

Dr. Anjao’s  work themed: Communication Inequalities as Environmental Injustice in Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in Gem Constituency, interrogates communication inequalities, analyzing how they contribute to the perpetuation of unregulated mining and the reproduction of environmental injustice. Preliminary findings suggest that communication inequalities exist at multiple levels with journalists more focused on reactive than proactive reporting. The study has resulted in the development of a strategic, participatory and inclusive communication framework to help address communication inequalities and promote environmental justice.