Discourse in the age of political upheaval and artificial intelligence
A two‑day conference supported by UCLA European Languages & Transcultural Studies, UCLA Political Science, CERS (Center for European and Russian studies), UCLA Slavic Department, the Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies and NNAI Livescu
Discourse in the Age of Political Upheaval and Artificial Intelligence is a two‑day interdisciplinary conference that brings together graduate students, scholars, and faculty to examine how political discourse is being reshaped by contemporary media systems, artificial intelligence, and moments of global crisis. The event explores how language, images, algorithms, and platforms mediate power, identity, and resistance in an era marked by political instability and rapid technological change.
The conference keynote will be delivered by Dr. Julia Alekseyeva, an Assistant Professor of English and Cinema & Media Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She researches interactions between global media and radical politics, with a particular focus on Japan, France, and the USSR. Her first academic book, “Antifascism and the Avant-Garde: Radical Documentary in the 1960s” (UC Press), was published in February 2025. Prof. Alekseyeva is also author-illustrator of the award-winning graphic memoir “Soviet Daughter” (Microcosm, 2017). Alongside publishing articles on film, art, and politics, she is also the guest editor of three forthcoming issues for Arts, JCMS, and The Journal of Japanese and Korean
Find the schedule of the sessions below and the POSTER
thursday may 7th 2026
4PM – 5:30PM: Grad student mixer (Bunche 10383) with Dr. Julia Alekseyeva
6:00 PM – 7:30PM: Keynote (Bunche 10383) Dr. Julia Alekseyeva (Assistant Professor of Cinema & Media Studies, University of Pennslyvania) “Towards an Antifacist Reading of the Present”
friday may 8th 2026
9AM – 10AM: Registration
-10AM – 11:45PM: Gendered Discourse from Print Media to Now (Bunche 10383)
● Bradford Nordeen (PhD in Film & Digital Media, UC Santa Cruz) “Cookie Mueller Plays Us: Advice, Gossip, Lore”
● Jiayi Yan (MA in Cinema & Media Studies, USC) “The Return of funfu: Cyberfeminism and Gender Politics in Post-Socialist China”
● Freddy Larsen (PhD in Comp Lit, UCLA) “Creating Worthless Humans: A Foucauldian Analysis of the Incel”
12PM – 1PM: Lunch
1PM – 2:45PM: Al, Aesthetics, and Algorithmic Resistance (Bunche 10383)
● Maying Wang (PhD in Film, Hong Kong Baptist University) “Mimicry as Malfunction: Mockumentary and the Subversion of Post-Truth Discursive Authority”
● Joia Duskic (PhD in ELTS, UCLA) “The Procession Does Not Proceed, It Gets Prompted from the Sidelines”
● Sophia Toubian (PhD in Information Studies, UCLA) “Vibecrunching: Defining Vibe as an Epistemic Signal in Algorithmically Mediated Discourse”
3PM – 4:45PM: Contemporary Images of Settler Colonialism (Bunche 10383)
● Josh Vieth (PhD in Interdisciplinary Arts, Ohio University) “Image in Flux: Al Mythologies and Live-Streamed Genocide”
● Mamo Djebli (PhD in American Studies, University of Minnesota) “Weapons of Militarism: Queer and Trans Inclusion in American Neoliberal Governance and Settler Colonial Empire”
● Dana Ekhtiar (PhD in Media & Communication Studies, UCSD) “Come Visit Gaza”: Al, Settler-Colonialism, and the Production of Geopolitical Imaginaries”
7PM – 10 PM: Conference Reception at Barney’s Beanery, 1037 Broxton Ave