Resilience in Marginalized Communities During Crises: A Literature Review of Communication Scholarship

Hui Zhao and Jesper Falkheimer
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Hui Zhao: Department of Communication, Lund University, Sweden / School of Communication and Culture, Aarhus University, Denmark
Jesper Falkheimer: Department of Communication, Lund University, Sweden

Media and Communication, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: This article reviews how communication scholarship conceptualizes and examines resilience among marginalized populations in crisis contexts. Based on 45 peer-reviewed articles published between 2010 and 2025, it maps the research landscape across journals, crisis types, and groups, and analyzes how resilience is theorized and enacted through communication. The findings show that while resilience is widely invoked, it is often framed narrowly as coping or adaptation. At the same time, the review identifies recurring communicative practices, including the reestablishment of normalcy, affirmation of identity, mobilization of networks, development of counter-narratives, and legitimization of emotion, that reveal resilience as a relational and discursive process shaped by inequality. Yet structural power dynamics, intersectional vulnerabilities, and community-led practices remain under-studied. The study contributes to the field by consolidating fragmented research, extending the communication theory of resilience (CTR) through critical perspectives, and outlining directions for future inquiry. By centering marginalized voices, it advances a more inclusive and equity-oriented agenda for crisis communication.

Keywords: communication theory of resilience; community resilience; crisis communication; digital media; inequality; marginalized populations; resilience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:meanco:v14:y:2026:a:11437

DOI: 10.17645/mac.11437

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