Jessica Retis

Biography

Professor and Director of the School of Journalism at the University of Arizona. Director of the Master in Bilingual Journalism and affiliated Faculty with the Center for Latin American Studies and the Human Rights Practice Program.
Retis holds a Major in Communications (University of Lima, Peru), a Master's in Latin American Studies (National Autonomous University of Mexico), and a Ph.D. in Contemporary Latin America (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain).
Prior to entering academia, she worked for more than two decades as a journalist in Peru, Mexico, and Spain in various print and broadcast media outlets. She has three decades of teaching experience in various universities in the United States, Spain, and Mexico.
Her areas of research include Latin America, international migration, diasporas, transnational communities; cultural industries; ethnic media; diversity and the media; Latino media in Europe, North America, and Asia; bilingual journalism, journalism studies, and journalism education.
Retis joined the University of Arizona in 2019. That year she was awarded the Provost Investment Fund (PIF) to launch the M.A. in Bilingual Journalism, Cultural Competence and Innovation. In 2021 she was awarded the title of Center for University Education Scholarship, CUES Distinguished Fellow for her research project “Bilingual Journalism Education in the United States: Development, Implementation, and Assessment."
From 2008 to 2019 she worked as Associate Professor in the interdisciplinary Minor of Spanish-language Journalism and Master in Communications programs at California State University. She has been visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo, Florida International University, City University London, New York University, London School of Economics, and University of Westminster, among others.
Recent books include: Communicative Spaces in Bilingual Contexts: Discourses, Synergies and Counterflows in Spanish and English (Routledge, 2022), Reporting on Latin/a/x Communities: A Guide for Journalists (Routledge, 2022), Narratives of Migration, Relocation and Belonging: Latin Americans in London (Palgrave, 2020), The Handbook of Diasporas, Media and Culture (Willey, 2019).
Recent book chapters include “Migrations and the Media between Asia and Latin America: Japanese-Brazilians in Tokyo and São Paulo” (Sage, 2019), “Hashtag Jóvenes Latinos: Challenges and opportunities of teaching civic advocacy journalism in ‘glocal’ contexts” (Peter Lang, 2018), “The transnational restructuring of communication and consumption practices. Latinos in the urban settings of global cities” (Routledge, 2017). “Underrepresented Majorities: Latin@s and the Media in the Digital Age” (Routledge, 2017), “Latino Diasporas and the Media. Interdisciplinary Approaches to Understand Transnationalism and Communications in Global Cities” (Wiley, 2014).
Recent reports include: Hispanic Media Today. Serving Bilingual and Bicultural Audiences in the Digital Age (Democracy Fund, 2019), La circulación de la cultura en español en las ciudades globales de los Estados Unidos: Los Ángeles, Nueva York, Miami (Hispanic Cultural Circuits in Urban Context of Global Cities: Los Angeles, New York, Miami) (RIE, 2019), and Los Latinos y las industrias culturales en español en Estados Unidos (Latinos and Spanish-language Cultural Industries in the U.S.) (RIE, 2015).
Recent reports include: Hispanic Media Today. Serving Bilingual and Bicultural Audiences in the Digital Age (Democracy Fund, 2019), Hispanic Cultural Circuits in Urban Context of Global Cities: New York, Miami, and Los Angeles (RIE, 2019). Latinos and Spanish-language Cultural Industries in the United States (RIE, 2015), Exploratory Research on Cultural Consumption of Latino Immigrants in Spain: transnational context of cultural practices (Fundación Alternativas, 2011).
Twitter: @jretis