MIKE ALVAREZ
Writer / Scholar
PhD, MFA
Presentations
SPECIAL EVENTS
COLLOQUIUM TALK: "Mental Health and Suicide During COVID-19: Perspectives from an Online Community." Spring 2021 Colloquium, Department of Communication, University of New Hampshire. 16 Apr. 2021.
PERFORMANCE: "The Color of Dusk: A Reading by Mike Alvarez." 16th Annual New Asia Cinema: Zoomcast Edition, University of Massachusetts Amherst. 23 Sept. 2020. (Hour-long reading followed by 20-minute Q & A. Use arrow keys to rewind or fast forward in Picture-in-Picture Mode.)
KEYNOTE ADDRESS: "Life and Death, Technology and Self: Suicidal Individuals' Search for Meaning Online." Fall Residency, Graduate Institute, Goddard College. Plainfield, VT. 14 Aug. 2017.
PANELS ORGANIZED & CHAIRED
"Redefining Pandemic Pedagogy: Caring for Students in the Wake of COVID-19 Loss." 71st Annual Convention, International Communication Association, Instructional & Developmental Communication Group. 27-31 May 2021. Virtual.
"COVID-19 and Racism." Virtual Discussion Series, Department of Women's and Gender Studies, University of New Hampshire. 17 Nov. 2020.
"Suicide and Pop Culture I & II." Fall Conference, Northeast Popular/American Culture Association, University of Massachusetts Amherst. 27-28 Oct. 2017.
"Utopian and Dystopian Architecture." 47th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association. Hartford, CT. 17-20 Mar. 2016.
"Death, Mediation, and Imagination," with W. Pringle. 46th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association. Toronto, ON. 30 Apr. - 3 May 2015.
CONFERENCE PAPERS
"When Death Knocks on Classroom Doors: Teaching End of Life with Openness and Sensitivity." 71st Annual Convention, International Communication Association, Instructional & Developmental Communication Group. May 27-31, 2021. Virtual.
"The Price of Blue Skies: Power and Powerlessness in the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit." 17th International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne. May 20-22, 2021. Virtual.
"Compassionate Communication in the Classroom: Harnessing the Pedagogical Potential of Vulnerability." 106th Annual Convention, National Communication Association, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. Indianapolis, IN. Nov. 19-22, 2020. Virtual.
"Parent Suicide and Family Communication in I Am Not Okay with This." Fall Conference, Northeast Popular Culture Association. Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, NH. Oct. 23-24, 2020. Virtual.
"The Discursive Architecture and Communicative Possibilities of SuicideForum.com: An Online Ethnography." Death and Culture III. York St John University, York, England. Sept. 3-4, 2020. Virtual.
“Academic Criticism in Cultural Discourse Analysis: Local Theory as Critique of Medical Discourses on Suicide.” In Pre-Conference: “Engaging and Transforming Communication and Community through Cultural Discourse Analysis: A Theoretical and Methodological Workshop.” 105th Annual Convention, National Communication Association. Baltimore, MD. Nov. 14-17, 2019.
“Online Forums and Social Networking Sites.” In Short Course: “Using Cultural Discourse Analysis: A Research Method to Present in Intercultural or Topics-Based Courses.” 105th Annual Convention, National Communication Association. Baltimore, MD. Nov. 14-17, 2019.
“Ethnography of Communication in Applied Healthcare Contexts: Stretching Collaborative and Interdisciplinary Boundaries,” with M. Scollo & L. Mackenzie. 69th Annual Convention, International Communication Association. Washington, DC. May 24-28, 2019. Poster.
"Discourses of Tensions and Contradictions: A Cultural Analysis of an Online Self-Harm Forum." 104th Annual Convention, National Communication Association, Health Communication Division. Salt Lake City, UT. 8-11 Nov. 2018.
"Parent Suicide Survivors and Online Memorials: Possibilities for the Articulation of Disenfranchised Grief." 104th Annual Convention, National Communication Association, Human Communication & Technology Division. Salt Lake City, UT. 8-11 Nov. 2018.
"The Suicidal Self in Cyberspace: Cultural Discourse Analysis as a Window to Emancipation from Suicidality." 104th Annual Convention, National Communication Association, Language & Social Interaction Division. Salt Lake City, UT. 8-11 Nov. 2018.
"Audience Reception of 'Real Live' Suicide on BestGore.com." Fall Conference, Northeast Popular/American Culture Association, University of Massachusetts Amherst. 27-28 Oct. 2017.
"Suicidal Individuals' Co-Construction of Meaning Online: A Cultural Analysis of SuicideForum.com." New Horizons in the Ethnography of Communication Conference. College of Mount Saint Vincent, Riverdale, NY. 6-8 June 2017.
"Audience Reception of Shock Content Online, and Shock Site Users as an Imagined Community: The Case of BestGore.com." 102nd Annual Convention, National Communication Association, Mass Communication Division. Philadelphia, PA. 10-13 Nov. 2016. (One of four Top Student Papers)
"Internet-Assisted Suicide in Japan, 1998-2013." 102nd Annual Convention, National Communication Association, Japan-US Communication Association. Philadelphia, PA. 10-13 Nov. 2016.
"Dystopian Narratives of Computer Mediated Communication and Suicidality in Jan Komasa's Suicide Room." Fall Conference, Northeast Popular/American Culture Association. Keene State College, Keene, NH. 21-22 Oct. 2016.
"The Enclosure in Dystopian Fiction and Film." 47th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association. Hartford, CT. 17-20 Mar. 2016.
"Overcoming Depression, Anxiety, and Paranoia: Towards a Polysemous Understanding of Mental Illness." 47th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association. Hartford, CT. 17-20 Mar. 2016. Roundtable.
"Embodying Fantastical Identities in Carnivalesque Communities Online: A Virtual Ethnography of Second Life," with G. Kepes and M. Valdebenito. Fall Conference, Northeast Popular/American Culture Association. Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH. 30-31 Oct. 2015.
"The Travesti in Brazilian Fiction and Film." Fall Conference, Northeast Popular/American Culture Association. Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH. 30-31 Oct. 2015.
"The Death of Aaron Swartz and the Discursive Construction of a Martyr." Bridging Gaps Conference: Where is the Persona in Celebrity and Journalism, Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies. New York, NY. 2-3 Sept. 2015.
"Authenticity, Artificiality, and the Vanishing Point in Gus Van Sant's Last Days: Towards a Filmic Language of Suicide." 46th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association. Toronto, ON. 30 Apr. - 3 May 2015.
"Intuition, Ingenuity, and Gay Identity: The Life and Death of Alan Turing." Creativity & Madness Conference, American Institute of Medical Education. Bethesda, MD. 6-9 Nov. 2014.
"Beauty as a Dissident Force: The Death of Reinaldo Arenas." Creativity & Madness Conference, American Institute of Medical Education. Bethesda, MD. 17-20 Oct. 2013.
"Suicide and Creativity, Self and Other." Psychology & the Other Conference, Lesley University. Cambridge, MA. 4-6 Oct. 2013. Poster.
"A Dry Place to Call Their Home: The Death of Kurt Cobain." Creativity & Madness Conference, American institute of Medical Education. Santa Fe, NM. 16-19 Feb. 2012.
"You Will Rescue Objects from Oblivion: The Death of Iris Chang." Creativity & Madness Conference, American Institute of Medical Education. Santa Fe, NM. 2-6 Aug. 2010.
