Completed Research: Family Communication & Digital Media Dr. Darris’s doctoral dissertation, African American Parents’ Perceptions of How Their Digital Practices Affect the Parent-Child Relationship (2024), utilized a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore how modern digital tools influence the parent-child bond.
- Focus: Family Communication Patterns, Uses and Gratifications Theory, and Cultivation Theory.
- Status: Monograph in development.
Current Research Focus: Public History & Collective Memory Expanding beyond digital media, Dr. Darris’s current research interest is “African Americana: Family, Heritage, and the Broader African American Experience”. This mixed-methods research agenda explores:
- Oral History: Documenting lineage and family traditions.
- Cultural Preservation: Analyzing how food, music, and language transmit identity across generations.
- Collective Memory: Examining the intersectionality of African American, Creole, and Black Native American heritage.
Cadence & Verge: A cultural journalism initiative documenting the stories of STL cultural elements and what they say about Black people in STL (like the “Cornbread Chronicles” and the “Double Dutch Memoirs”), as well as food truck owners and grassroots entrepreneurs in the St. Louis and DMV regions.
Stanza & Story: A literary platform preserving the oral tradition through poetry and prose.
Dr. Teyuna Darris 