Umar Ajetunmobi

Umar Ajetunmobi is a Ph.D. candidate in Communication Studies at the University of Kansas, USA. An interdisciplinary researcher with academic and professional training in Mass Communication alongside Communication and Language Arts from Nigeria, his research examines linguistic framing and semiotic interpretations in political and media discourses, as well as narratives surrounding faith-based, culture-centered, and transcendental health beliefs and illnesses, stigma, and social support.

His research has been published in top journals, including Health Communication, Convergence, and the International Journal of Communication. He has also presented his research at local, national, and international communication and interdisciplinary conferences across the United States, Nigeria, Türkiye, Russia, New Zealand, and Qatar.

Umar’s academic training spans advanced qualitative research methods, political communication, journalism and media studies, applied communication and development, health and social behavior, community health and development, interpersonal communication, and intergroup relations. His methodological expertise includes advanced qualitative research methods, large-scale qualitative data management, and Phronetic Iterative Qualitative Data Analysis (PIQDA) using MAXQDA. With a particular emphasis on centering non-Western epistemologies in health research and promotion, Umar’s current work utilizes photovoice to appraise the religious coping strategies among Nigerian Muslims with experiences of jinn possession distress.

Beyond academia, he leads a multidisciplinary team of scholars on the JIN-LAB Taxonomies (JINLAT) project, a pioneering, indigenous initiative dedicated to documenting and archiving Nigerian Islamic exorcism practices through cultural, linguistic, communication, and bio-psycho-social-spiritual frameworks.

Courses taught at the University of Kansas include Public Speaking (COMS 130), Advanced Organizational Communication (COMS 310), and Introduction to Intercultural Communication (COMS 246).