Ian Reilly

Ian Reilly (Associate Professor)
PhD, University of Guelph | MA, University of Ottawa | BA (Honours), Laurentian University

Ian Reilly (he/him) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Mount Saint Vincent University in K’jipuktuk, Mi’kma’ki, the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Mi’kmaq people. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Women’s Studies at MSVU. His research explores the intersections of politics, new(s) media, activism, and humour. He is the author of Media Hoaxing: The Yes Men and Utopian Politics (2018), published by Lexington Books, and co-author of Widening Scripts: Cultivating Feminist Care in Academic Labor, published by punctum books. His work has been published in the Canadian Journal of Communication, Comedy Studies, Communication, Culture & Critique, Feminist Media Studies, International Journal of Communication, and The Journal of American Culture, among others.

Teaching (Fall 2024—Winter 2025)

Research and Teaching Interests
Dr. Reilly’s research to date has explored the intersections of political discourse, humour, political economy, media activism, and civic engagement. His research is deeply rooted in ongoing debates surrounding the impacts of media discourse on political mobilization, civic engagement, and social change. His recent work has been informed by three core research questions: How is the convergence of politics and emotion (or of reason and affect, more broadly) shaping new political sensibilities and desires? How do we meaningfully navigate the complexity of everyday news and information to reveal the shortcomings and possibilities of, as well as the challenges and opportunities for, democratic self-governance and individual autonomy? In what ways can media, technology, infrastructure, and policy be deployed to better and more justly serve the interests of citizens, communities, and collectives? His current research examines the political interventions of activists, social critics, journalists, and academics seeking to raise questions about the health and vitality of dominant institutions such as contemporary news media.

Prior to joining the Mount, he had already taught in several institutions: Shaoxing University (Zhejiang, China), University of Guelph, University of Guelph-Humber (Toronto), and Concordia University (Montreal). He has taught a wide variety of graduate and undergraduate courses: Communication, Technology, and Culture; Cultural Studies; History of Communication; Media Criticism; Media Institutions and Policies; Media Policy in Canada; Subcultures and the Media; Visual Communication and Culture; Youth and Media, among many others. Since his arrival to the Mount in 2016, he has taught the following courses in the Department of Communication Studies:

COMM 1015 Introduction to Communication Technology
COMM/PBRL 221 Introduction to Public Speaking
COMM 3022 Visual Design and Communication
COMM 4013 Media, Culture, and Society
COMM 4200 Senior Seminar in Communication
GPRL 6102 Communication Theory
GPRL 6105 Media, Culture, and Society
GPRL 6109 Communication & Social Change

Graduate Supervision
Dr. Reilly supervises graduate student research in the following areas:

●       Fake news and dis/mis/information studies
●       Political humour
●       Media activism
●       Media policy in Canada
●       Social movements and social change
●       Mediated public discourse
●       Feminist media studies
●       Cultural studies
●       Media infrastructure studies

Selected Publications (2018—Present)

Books

Assis, M. P., Forrest, M., Henderson, A., MacCallum, L., Reilly, I., Shaffner, E., Stoneman, S. (2023). Widening Scripts: Cultivating Feminist Care in Academic Labor. punctum books.

Reilly, I. (2018). Media Hoaxing: The Yes Men and Utopian Politics. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

Journal Articles (Peer Reviewed)

Reilly, I. (2021). “Airing Grievances: Academic Hoaxing and the Performance of Boundary Work.” Lateral 10(1).

Reilly, I. (2020). “Public Deception as Ideological and Institutional Critique: On the Limits and Possibilities of Academic Hoaxing.” Canadian Journal of Communication 45(2), pp. 265-285.

Reilly, I. (2019). “Exploring Humour and Media Hoaxing in Social Justice Activism” Democratic Communiqué 28(2), pp. 122-137.

Reilly, I. (2019). “28 Times Feminist Joke Lists Were Real AF: Feminist Humour and the Politics of Joke Lists.” Feminist Media Studies, pp. 1-17.

Reilly, I. (2018). “F for Fake: Propaganda! Hoaxing! Hacking! Partisanship! and Activism! in the Fake News Ecology.” The Journal of American Culture 41(2), pp. 139-152.

Non-Refereed Publications

Reilly, I. (2019). “‘Bye Bye 45’: Yes Men’s ‘Washington Post’ Hoax Demands a Better Future.” The Conversation (27 January). (Republished in the National Post, Chronicle Herald)

Reilly, I. (2019). “Humour and Media Hoaxes Put Social Justice Ideas on the Map.” The Conversation (14 January). (Republished in the National Post, AlterNet, Salon.com, Yes! Magazine, Chronicle Herald)