Profile
**On leave Fall 2025/Spring 2026**
JULIA SONNEVEND is Associate Professor of Sociology and Communications and Co-Director of the Center for the American Experience at 麻豆传媒色情片. She is also a Visiting Scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. A scholar of media, democracy, and culture, her research explores the subtle yet powerful forces鈥攕uch as 鈥渆vent,鈥 鈥渃harm,鈥 and 鈥渃ourage鈥濃攖hat shape the narratives and collective experiences that define us.
She is the author of听Charm: How Magnetic Personalities Shape Global Politics, named one of听The New Yorker鈥檚 Best Books of 2024;听Stories Without Borders: The Berlin Wall and the Making of a Global Iconic Event; and co-editor of听Education and Social Media: Toward a Digital Future. Her writing has appeared in听The New Yorker,听The Atlantic,听Time,听NPR,听BBC Newshour,听The Times Literary Supplement,听Teen Vogue,听Times Higher Education, and听Bloomberg News, among others.
Her scholarly work has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including听New Media & Society,听Information, Communication & Society,听The International Journal of Press/Politics,听Media, Culture & Society, and the听American Journal of Cultural Sociology. She co-edits the forum section of the听Journal of Communication, the flagship journal of the International Communication Association.
Sonnevend has held fellowships at institutions worldwide, including Freie Universit盲t Berlin, Central European University in Budapest, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Raised by two librarians 听in Budapest during Hungary鈥檚 transition from communism to democracy, she brings a lived perspective on political transformation to her interdisciplinary scholarship and institutional service. She holds a Ph.D. from Columbia University and an LL.M. from Yale Law School.
Degrees Held
PhD in Communications, Columbia University, 2013
LLM, Yale Law School, 2007
Recent Publications
叠辞辞办蝉:听
Sonnevend, J. (2024). Princeton University Press.
听 听Translation:听Hungarian (Open Books, 2024)听
Sonnevend, J.听(2016).听.听New York: Oxford University Press.
听 听 Translation:听Hungarian (Corvina Publisher, 2018)听
Greenhow, C.,Sonnevend J., & Agur, C. (Eds.). (2016).听 Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
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Journal articles:
Pooley, K., & Sonnevend, J. (2025). , Journal of Communication,听75(1), 79鈥80,
Sumiala, J., Harju, A. A., & Sonnevend, J. (2025). Media, Culture & Society.听
Sonnevend, J., & K枚vesdi, V. (2023). The International Journal of Press/Politics,听0(0).听
Sonnevend, J. & Steiert, O. (2022). .听New Media & Society,听0(0).听
Sonnevend, J. (2020). .听American Journal of Cultural听Sociology.听12,听451-461.
Sonnevend, J. & Katz, Y. (2020). 听Journalism Studies,听21 (11):1551鈥1570.
Sonnevend, J. & Kim, Y. (2020). 听International Journal of Communication,听14, 1398鈥1420.
Sonnevend, J. (2019)听. Information, Communication & Society,听听22(5), 695-701.
Sonnevend, J. (2018).听.听Media,听Culture & Society听40(1),听122-126.
Sonnevend, J.听(2018). 听.听Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism听19(1),听75-92.
Sonnevend, J.听(May 25, 2017).听.听E-International Relations听(also published on听Public Seminar).
Sonnevend, J.听(2015).听.听Divinatio,听39-40, 223-233 (also translated into Bulgarian)
Sonnevend, J.听(2013).听.听Journalism Studies, 14(3), 336-354.
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Special issues in peer-reviewed journals:
Sonnevend, J.听(2018). 鈥淢edia Events Today鈥,听Media, Culture & Society, 40(1), 110-113
Bodker, H., &听Sonnevend, J.听(2018).听鈥淭he ShiftingTemporalities of Journalism鈥,听Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism,听19(1), 3-6
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Peer-reviewed bibliography:
Sonnevend, J.听(2017). Media Events. In Moy, P. (Ed.)听Oxford Bibliographies in Communication. New York: Oxford University Press.
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Book chapters:
Sonnevend, J. & Steiert, O. (2022) 鈥淪eeing a Crisis Through Media: Narrating the Coronavirus Pandemic鈥, In听J. Witte, S. Pickard, & M. Welker (Eds),听The Impact of the Media on Character Formation, Ethical Education, and the Communication of Values in Late Modern Pluralistic Societies. (pp. 137-150). Evangelische Verlangsanstalt: University of Heidelberg.
Sonnevend, J. (2020). The East in You Never Leaves. In Laczo, F. & Gabrijelcic, L. L. (Eds.)听The Legacy of Division: East and West After 1989. Budapest: CEU Press. [also published on听Eurozine听and听Public Seminar, and translated into Slovene]
Sonnevend, J.听(2018). Facts (Almost) Never Win Over Myths. In Boczkowski, P. & Papacharissi, Z. (Eds.)听. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sonnevend, J.听(2016). Event. In Peters, B. (Ed.),听(pp. 109-118). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Balkin, J. M., &听Sonnevend, J.听(2016). The digital transformation of education. In Greenhow, C.,听Sonnevend J., & Agur, C. (Eds.),听(pp. 9-25). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Sonnevend, J.听(2016). More hope! Ceremonial media events are still important in the 21st听century. In Fox, A. (Ed.),听听(pp. 132-141). Hershey, PA: IGI Global.
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Selected Media
听The Atlantic, October 26, 2024
The New Yorker, September 24, 2024
Time Magazine, October 2, 2024.听
Time Magazine, August 8, 2024.
"" SSRC Items, September 27, 2020
"" 24, August 13, 2019
"," Public Seminar, March 16, 2019
"," Public Seminar, March 6, 2018
"," 24, February 21, 2019
Cited in "," Pop Matters, October 29, 2018
"," Research Matters, July 5, 2017
"," Public Seminar, June 16, 2017
Awards And Honors
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2024
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鈥淐harm鈥 named to New Yorker鈥檚 鈥淏est Books We鈥檝e Read in 2024鈥 list听
Nominated for Carnegie Fellowship
Nominated by students for University-wide Distinguished Teaching Award (2023-2024)
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2021鈥2022
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Democracy Institute Fellow, Central European University, Budapest
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2020
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Nominated for University-wide Distinguished Teaching Award due to excellence in online teaching
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2015
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Leibniz Fellowship, Centre for Contemporary History, Potsdam
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2013鈥2014
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Lady Davis Postdoctoral Fellowship, Hebrew University of Jerusalem听
Associate Postdoctoral Fellowship, Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace
Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations, (declined)
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2011鈥2013
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PepsiCo Junior Fellowship, Harriman Institute, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, 2011-2012; 2012-2013
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2011
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Milton Wolf Essay Competition Winner (awarded by the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the Diplomatic Academy Vienna), 2011
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