Biography

I received my Bachelor of Arts and first master’s degrees (in Social and Educational Research Methods) from University of Rwanda, College of Education. Before coming to the USA, I worked for Population Services International (PSI/Rwanda), an international non-profit that uses social marketing to promote health in low-income countries. I received my second MA degree (in Communication and Development Studies) from Ohio University’s Center for International Studies and PhD (in Health Communication) from Ohio University’s School of Communication Studies.

As a teacher-scholar with educational and professional background in health, international communication and development studies, my research embraces an interdisciplinary approach encompassing two intersecting lines of research and teaching interests. The first line of inquiry includes application of value-expectancy and social marketing frameworks to health communication, social identity and health disparities with emphasis on access and utilization of health products and services in underserved settings. The second line of research examines dynamics of equity and communication in intercultural/international learning environments. Overall, my research and teaching interests aspire to promote equitable environments in health and instructional processes. 

Publications: 

1. Kwitonda, J.C., & Campbell S. (2023). “The medium is the massage/message”: Functions of synthetic media in sense-making conditions.  In K. Langmia (Ed.), Black communication in the age of disinformation: Deepfakes and synthetics media (pp. 131-147). Palgrave-MacMillan.

2. Kwitonda, J.C, & Babrow, A. (2023). Problematic integration theory. In E. Y. Ho, J. C.M. van Weert, C. Bylund, (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of health communication. John Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119678816.iehc0717

3. Al-Busaidi, A. S., Dauletova, V., & Kwitonda, J.C (2023). Probing the coping processes between social media (whatsapp) addiction and mental health during social distancing. International Journal of Communication, 17, 3338–3363.https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/18982/4175

4. Chen Y.-W. & Kwitonda, J.C. (2021). Paradoxes of belonging, organizing and agency: Integrating and differentiating divergent strategic logics in supported social enterprises. International Journal of Strategic Communication, 15(4), 310-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/1553118X.2021.1918129      

5. Kwitonda, J.C, (2020). The marketing mix and hygienic barbershop use: A formative study. Social Marketing Quarterly, 26(4), 361-377. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524500420971700 

6. Babrow, A. S, & Kwitonda, J. C. (2020). Expectancy value model. In V. J. Bulck, D. R. Ewoldsen, M. Mares, E. Scharrer (Eds.), The International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology. John Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119011071.iemp0071

7. Niyibigira R. & Kwitonda, J.C (2020). Building communities of practice: The case of English teachers in Rwanda. In J. K. Shin & P. Vinogradova (Eds.), Contemporary foundations for teaching English as an additional language: Pedagogical approaches and classroom applications media (pp. 270-275). Routledge.

8. Kwitonda, J.C, & Singhal, A. (2018). Teaching and learning about positive deviance: Boosting metacognitions to grasp global communication theory and practice. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 47(5), 382-391. https://doi.org/10.1080/17475759.2018.1475295

9. Kwitonda, J.C. (2017). Foundational aspects of classroom relations: Associations between teachers’ immediacy behaviors, classroom democracy, class identification and learning. Learning Environments Research, 20(3), 383-401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10984-017-9231-3 

10. Kwitonda, J.C. (2017). Exploring modal salient beliefs underlying use of shared shaving tools in low-publicity contexts. Health & New Media Research, 1(1), 24-45. https://doi.org/10.22720/HNMR.2017.1.1.024   

11. Kwitonda, J.C, & Babrow, A. (2017). Barriers to talk about microbial risk: The case of barbering practices in low-income contexts. In A. Du Pré & B. R. Ray (Eds.), Case studies: Real-life scenarios in health communication (pp.136 -139). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 

12. Kwitonda, J.C. (2017). Disambiguating the cosmopolitics and discourse of democratization: The role cyberactivism. In E. Ngwainmbi (Ed.), Citizenship, democracies, and media engagement among emerging economies and marginalized communities (pp. 81-100). Gewerbestrasse, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG. 

13. Kwitonda, J.C. (2017). Navigating the development aid challenge: Toward a more encompassing framework. In E. Ngwainmbi (Ed.), Citizenship, democracies, and media engagement among emerging economies and marginalized communities (pp. 37-52). Gewerbestrasse, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG. 

14. Kwitonda, J. C. (2016). Development aid and disease discourse on display: The mutating techniques of neoliberalism. Critical Discourse Studies, 14(1), 23-38. https://doi.org/10.1080/17405904.2016.1174139