It’s 2:00 a.m. on a random night in late March. Most of the Kean community is asleep in their beds resting up for another day of classes, work, and activities. But not Dr. Joshua Guitar, and the Anarchoic Chamber. While 2:00 a.m. is sleep time for the rest of the campus, it shifts to crunch time for the Chamber.
“One of my favorite memories (is) being in the Chamber room until around 2 a.m., in our pajamas, eating pizza and working together until the very last minute before submitting our paper,” Chamber member Melody Cadet said. “It was stressful in the moment, but it is one of those experiences I know I’ll never forget.”
“It really showed me the sense of community and teamwork that comes with being part of the Chamber,” she added.
The Anarchoic Chamber is a research group housed in Communications, Media, and Journalism where undergraduate and graduate students alike learn research under Guitar.
The crucial deadline that kept the Chamber up is from the National Communication Association Convention. The NCA is the biggest communication association in the country, the “behemoth of their field” according to Guitar. The deadline is midnight in California, which is 3:00 a.m. in New Jersey.
“For that whole week, I’m in the lab all day,” Guitar said. “Everyone comes together. Like, everyone leaves exhausted, but then we all talk about those moments months and years later.”
This year’s convention is a notable one for the Chamber. Two of its research papers will receive Top Paper awards. Illegal, Unconstitutional, Unlawful: Exposing How the Rhetoric of Legalism Ideologically Strangles Criticism won Top Paper in the Freedom of Expression division while Concealing Material Facts: Interrogating the Rhetoric of Legalism in (De)Naturalization Discourses won Top Paper in the Communication and Law division.
This, according to Guitar, speaks to the collaborative efforts of the Chamber. Interrogating the…(De)Naturalization Discourses has six “Chambermates” on it, while Illegal, Unconstitutional…Strangles Criticism has three, including Cadet. The Chamber is consistently expanding and winning prestigious awards, but the journey started even before Kean. Before he got hired at Kean University, Guitar led a research team at Georgia’s Young Harris College.
Creating a community of researchers meant a lot to Guitar. So much so that, the summer before his first semester, he asked the then executive director of the Communications department to reach out to students to inquire about their interest in research. By his first semester in September of 2022, Guitar had a small research team.
His first paper at Kean was a continuation of his in-depth study of congressional committee hearings and the five contributing factors which typically lead to the hearings to making it to the public discourse. Democracy and the democratic process are the core of the Chamber’s research.
“I’ve always felt that my intellectual labor needed to also contribute directly to the advancement of a more civil society where people can actualize their liberty, (voice, and autonomy),” Guitar said, “(and a society where) they do feel like their voice matters equally with everybody else. We are not there yet, and we have never been there. (But) I do feel like my work as a researcher, even if it’s in small ripples, can eventually help influence the train of progress to move forward.”
Guitar employs this philosophy when working with students. He does this in several ways. From empowering graduate students like CJ Petersen to chair a conference and showing him how well he can command a room of scholars to forcing chambermates to see all sides of complicated issues, and teaching Cadet that her perspective as a young Black woman has value.
“I don’t think I’ve ever thought this hard before, not even in some of my classes, and I’m pretty sure my brain has asked for overtime pay a few times,” Cadet said.
The fruit of the Chamber’s labor presents itself in three ways. First, the previously mentioned award acceptances and journal publications. Second, the Chamber has helped multiple students prepare for graduate school.
When CJ Peterson heard the requirements for a literature review, her experience with the Chamber lead him to not stress. Her friend and classmate, who did not partake in the Chamber, viewed it as a lot of work and freaked out.
For both Cadet and fellow Chambermate Ava Broux, the Anarchoic Chamber is why they are continuing their education.
“I owe all of my future success to Dr. Guitar and this group that showed me what academia is really about,” Broux said. “(It is) not just (about) learning and absorbing knowledge but creating and contributing to it.”
The third and final fruit is the collaboration the Chamber has fostered. Collaboration is the standard in the Chamber, and even outside of it. Two former Chambermates are even collaborating on a paper completely outside of the Chamber.
“Every moment with my Chambermates is something I will hold on to,” Petersen said. “It really makes everything special knowing I get to do it with my friends. We help each other not just through the work of the papers, but in getting through a conference by cheering each other on and making sure each other is okay.”
The Chamber intends to continue with the “Wheel of Chaos.” This, as explained by Guitar, is the act of having papers in every stage of production. From the first ideas that come through coffee shop brainstorm sessions, to finished papers ready to be sent for publication, and everything in between.
Any student with an interest in joining can speak with Guitar, and if the money or class credit is there, they can embark on the Wheel of Chaos.
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