Master of Arts in Communication Graduate Published in Major Journal

Pictured: Lisa Chuang, HPU Master of Arts in Communication graduate. Chuang and co-author Dr. John Hart, professor in the College of Communication, recently had an article published in the Communication Studies July-September 2008 issue, a major communication journal.

Student Research Inspired by Rock Music

Being a product of suburban punk culture inspired one Hawai‘i Pacific University student to examine the era much closer. Lisa Chuang, HPU Master of Arts in Communication graduate, has not only been into punk music for years but also majored in Music as an undergraduate and was the leader of a punk rock band.

“I became very interested in music and culture/ethno-musicology,” Chuang said. “I am interested in subcultures, particularly in the subculture of suburbia, as it seems to get overlooked even though there are serious issues of depression, boredom, and isolation resulting from the suburban American lifestyle.”

Chuang’s interest and research led her to publishing her first article which examines “Jesus of the Suburbia,” a song by the rock band Green Day. In the article she and co-author Dr. John Hart, professor in the College of Communication, review the musical lyrics as a reflection and artifact of suburban American punk culture.

Chuang and Hart’s work was selected as the lead article in the Communication Studies July-September 2008 issue, a major communication journal. Academic journals often run their strongest article as the lead.

“We are very proud of her accomplishment; Lisa is the first MA in Communication student to have an article published in a major academic journal,” said Hart. “The article is based on work she did in her thesis paper ‘Suburban American Punks.” Hart believes the essay may be the first lead article published in an academic journal co-authored by an HPU student.

While completing her undergraduate degree, Chuang was required to combine her major in Music with her minor in Communication for her senior project.

“For the project I created a short documentary called ‘Rocking the Suburbs’ that focused on suburban punk culture,” she said. “So for my graduate studies, with the guidance of my professors, I continued the research that I began as an undergraduate student, but this time examining punk music as rhetoric.”

Chuang submitted the article before she left to volunteer for the Peace Corps in Thailand, where she is currently stationed. When she found out she had been published in the journal, she had a mixed reaction of relief and excitement.

“When I found out I'd been published at first I was extremely relieved because I'd been trying to get it published for over a year,” she said. “Since I submitted the paper before leaving for Thailand, I continued to do revisions on it while serving in the Peace Corps.”

Chuang said it was difficult to work on the paper in Thailand because she didn’t have all of the same resources as she did in Hawai‘i.

“I am excited to have completed this goal of being published,” she said. “I am applying to study for my PhD in Communication so when I finish my service in Thailand I can begin my studies for my doctorate degree and continue my research on music and rhetoric.”