Asha WinfieldAsha S. Winfield 

Assistant Professor, Doris Darden II Professor | 215 Hodges Hall | 225-578-7621 | aswinfield@lsu.edu | CV

Biography

Dr. Asha Winfield is an assistant professor at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication and a creative scholar whose work blends visual storytelling with qualitative research. As a filmmaker and researcher, she explores the narratives, rituals, and practices of Black individuals and communities in media, culture, and society. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates several theories to highlight the connections between audience reception, memory-making, and health behaviors.

She founded The Storytellers Lab at LSU in 2022, a space where she collaborates with students on innovative documentaries and arts-based qualitative research. Her scholarly contributions appear in journals like Health Communication and Women’s Studies in Communication, as well as in books and digital forums. Dr. Winfield’s work bridges theory and creativity to center the voices and stories. 

 

 

Selected Publications

Book Chapters

  1. Winfield, A.S., Mushtarin, N., Brown, A., Doub, D., Hickerson, H., (in press 2025). A Collective Disruption: Doing Duoethnography With/As Black Women. Light a fire, watch it burn: Disruptive Qualitative Methods in Education, Edited by M. Boucher
  2. Cupid, S., Harris, T. M., Winfield, A. S., Harris, R., & Butler, D. (2024). “Abbott Elementary” and the Resilient Black Girl Dork: Reimaging Black Womanhood. In US Media and Diversity (pp. 158-181). Routledge. Eds. T. Dixon and D. Mastro.
  3. Winfield, A.S., Jordan, J., Evans, T.Z., Smith, T.R., & Cupid, S. (2025, in press). Look Who’s Coming to Dinner: A Qualitative Exploration of COVID-19 Health Disparities Among Elderly Rural Black Communities in the U.S. South. Communication & Health Disparities. Eds. Rukhsana Ahmed, Yuping Mao, and Parul Jain.
  4. Winfield, A.S., Sanders, M., Harris. R., Hickerson, H., & Smith, T.R. (2024). Where are all of the Black Kids?: A Contemporary Search for Black Youth in the Fantastic Worlds. Supernatural Youth in Media. Eds. Ilana Nash and Rebecca Hains.
  5. Winfield, A.S. (2024). The Making of A Black American Quilt: Discussing the Threads of the Strong Black Woman Image Through Family Narratives & Media Storytelling. Black Women and Resilience: Power, Perseverance, and Public Health. SUNY Press. Edited by Kisha B. Holden, Ph.D. and Camara P. Jones, Ph.D. https://sunypress.edu/Books/B/Black-Women-and- Resilience
  6. Ramasubramanian, S., Winfield, A., & Riewestahl, E. (2020). Positive stereotypes and counter- stereotypes: Examining their effects on prejudice reduction and favorable intergroup relations. In Media Stereotypes: Ageism to Xenophobia. Edited by Andrew C. Billings and Scott Parrott. Peter Lang: New York. https://doi.org/10.3726/b15280

Articles

  1. Lundgren, K. J., Beard. D., Bloom, Z., Burke, C., Carlson, E. B., Gouge, C., Jordan, J., Rogers, B., Sirek, A., & Winfield, A. S. (2025) [Forthcoming]. Deficit, exploitation, beauty, opportunity: Academics and practitioners talk rural health and the rhetoric of health and medicine. Rhetoric of Health & Medicine, 8.
  2. Winfield, A.S., Cupid, S., Sanders, M.S., Evan, T.Z., Harris, R., Smith, T.R., & Butler, D. (in press; 2025). The Little Mermaid and Little Black Girls: A Qualitative Exploration in Representation and Identity with Contemporary Films. The Dark Fantastic by Ebony Elizabeth Thomas: Black Girl Protagonists in Science Fiction, TV, and Film Special Issue. Edited by Toliver & Griffin.
  3. Winfield, A.S., Mushtarin, N., & Jordan, J. (2025). "Love and Tradition of the Grand Design: Exploring Culturally Responsive Qualitative Methods with Intergenerational and Intercultural Teams & Participants". Qualitative Health Research. Special Issue Focused on Culturally Responsive Qualitative Health Research Eds. J. Hall and L. Jordan.
  4. Winfield, A.S., Hickerson, H., Doub, D. C., Winfield, A. R., McPhatter, B. (2024). Between Black Mothers and Daughters: A Critical Intergenerational Autoethnography: On The Silence of Health Disparities and Hope of Loud Healing. Frontiers in Communication. Special Forum on Centering Women, Health, and Health Equity in Health Communication. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/communication/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2023.1185919/full
  5. Medhurst, J. M., Winfield, A. S., & Harris, T. M. (2022). " I Wish I Had A Time Machine": Looking B [l] ackward at ABC's The Wonder Years (2021) through the Recuperation of Black Public Memory & Afro-Nostalgia. Journal of Contemporary Rhetoric, 12(3).
  6. Joseph, J. L., & Winfield, A. S. (2019). Reclaiming Our Time: Asserting the Logic of Intersectionality in Media Studies. Women’s Studies in Communication, Vol. 42, No 4), 408-411. http://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2019.1682914
  7. Winfield, A. S. (2020). Body, Blood, and Brilliance: A Black Woman’s Battle for Loud Healing and Strength. Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1826656 (published online in 2020, published in print in 2022)

Public Forums

  1. Harris, R. & Winfield, A. S. (2022, October 6). Strength & Visibility in the Ordinary: Jordan Peele's Use of Black Women in Black Horror. InMediaRes. Available at: https://mediacommons.org/imr/content/strength-visibility-ordinary-jordan-peeles-use-black- women-black-horror
  2. Winfield, A.S. (2021, February 12). Black History, Gospel Music & Something Like Black Girl Magic In Lovecraft Country. Available at: http://mediacommons.org/imr/content/black-history-gospel-music-something-black-girl-magic-lovecraft-country
  3. Winfield, A. S. (2020, September 18). “That Actually Happened” or Blackness, Comics & Edutainment: Another Look At HBO’s Watchmen [Web log post]. Available at: https://mediacommons.org/imr/content/%E2%80%9C-actually-happened%E2%80%9D-or-blackness-comics-edutainment-another-look-hbo%E2%80%99s-watchmen 
  4. Winfield, A. S. (2020, February 4). A New Blerd?: Recognizing and Reimagining the Brilliant Black Girl Image Through Spike Lee’s “See You Yesterday.” Available at: http://mediacommons.org/imr/content/new-blerd-recognizing-and-reimagining-brilliant-black- girl-image-through-spike-lee’s-“see
  5. Winfield, A. S., & Ramasubramanian, S. (2019). Colorism & Catfish(ing): Online Deception, Romantic Relationships, and the Effects of Skin Tone Bias in Catfish, The TV Show. Available at: http://mediacommons.org/imr/content/colorism-catfishing-online-deception-romantic- relationships-and-effects-skin-tone-bias

Awards & Honors

  1. NCA Critical and Cultural Studies New Investigator Award, November 2024
  2. NCA Top Paper Award in Ethnography Division, November 2023
  3. AEJMC Entertainment Studies, First Place Faculty Top Paper Award, August 2023
  4. LSU Alumni Association, Rising Faculty Research Award 2022 – April 2023, $5000
  5. National Communication Association, Gerald R. Miller Outstanding Dissertation 2022, $500
  6. MITRE & Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award, 2022 – 2023, $10,000
  7. Department of African & African American Studies, Africana Service Award, Spring 2022, $250
  8. Southern States Communication Assn, Popular Comm Division, Top Paper Award Spring 2022

 

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