Professor and Department Chair
Heritage Hall 302
(205) 934-3877
Research and Teaching Interests: Media and cultural studies, Film studies, Visual communication and culture, Digital studies, Advertising and fashion studies, Qualitative and visual methodologies, Postcolonial theory, and Intercultural communication.
Education:
- B.A. Marmara University, Radio, TV & Film
- M.A. Ohio University, Telecommunications (Media Arts)
- M.A. University of Northern Iowa, Communication Studies (Mass Communication)
- Ph.D. Southern Illinois University, Communication Studies
Ahmet Atay is a global media, digital, and cultural studies scholar who uses qualitative, critical, and creative research methods to study media texts, mediated realities, and everyday life experiences. Ahmet primarily teaches courses in media and film studies, popular culture, technology and communication, visual communication and culture, as well as critical and visual research methods. He served as the President of the Central States Communication Association between 2023 and 2024 and the chair of the National Communication Association’s International and Intercultural Communication Division. He also received this division’s Distinguished Scholar Award in 2023.
Ahmet’s research focuses on diasporic lives and cultural identity formations, British and US soap operas, the usage of new media technologies in different settings, the notion of home and belonging, the representation of diverse identities in media, and critical communication pedagogies. He employs visual, critical, and creative research methods such as media and film analysis, ethnographic and autoethnographic methods (digital ethnography, postcolonial autoethnography, digital autoethnography), film and media making methods, and digital methods to study media texts and diverse human experiences. Currently, Ahmet is working on several research projects, including a book project on teaching with AI technologies, a second book project on television serials, and a third project on diasporic memory-making and belonging.
In the past, Ahmet enjoyed teaching media, film, and visual culture classes, such as Film Genres, Horror Cinema, Global Media, Global Advertising, Globalization and Identity, and Visual and Digital Methods. He is hoping to teach some of these courses at UAB.
Ahmet enjoys travelling, baking, reading mystery novels, and watching old films and TV shows.