Specialization: Rhetorical Border Studies; Rohingya Refugee and Citizenship Rhetorics; Politics of Ethnicity; Rhetorical Bordering; Critical Media Studies; Postcolonial Theory; Rhetorical Methods
Sabiha Mahbuba (M.A., Ohio University)is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Culture in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University. Her research focuses on how borders function not merely as geographic boundaries but as rhetorical constructs that perform exclusion through discourse. She examines how state and media actors use border rhetorics to legitimize control, exclusion, and surveillance, especially on racialized figures and marginalized communities. In her dissertation, she analyzes how the Bangladeshi government and media discursively construct the identity of Rohingya refugees, shaping public perception and policy. Bridging rhetorical theory, postcolonial theory, and migration studies, her work highlights how geopolitical interests are constituted through language, contributing to broader conversations in rhetorical border studies and the politics of identity, belonging, and ethnicity. Among her other research interests, her work on U.S.-Mexico border rhetoric critiques the securitization strategies that dehumanize immigrants, exposing how narratives of national security intersect with racial and ethnic othering.
Sabiha is a PhD Candidate in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University. She received her Master's in Communication Studies, with a specialization in Rhetoric and Culture from Ohio University. She completed her Bachelor’s (Honors) in English Literature and Cultural Studies from Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.