Research
Dr. Audra Nuru’s research explores communication in close relationships to reveal the common threads of human connection that resonate across all our interactions, from the everyday to the deeply personal.
Years of investigating interpersonal meaning-making have led Dr. Nuru to focus on the times when our identities and relationships are in process of transition—those unstable junctures when we are no longer the selves we once were and not yet the selves we are to become.
“I explore how we experience relational change and live within the uncertainties of in-betweenness.”
Dr. Nuru introduced the concept of “relational liminality” to describe the period between the “before” and the “after” of upheaval. Her Relational Liminality Theory captures how we reform our identities and ways of relating while existing in the gray areas of transition.
Dr. Nuru’s research provides insights into how we experience relational change or challenge, live within the uncertainties of in-betweenness, and come out the other side—if at all.
“We navigate upheavals in life by renegotiating our identities and ways of relating through conversation.”
She has published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, including Human Communication Research, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, Journal of Family Communication, Journal of Divorce & Remarriage, Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, Southern Communication Journal and Communication Studies.
Featured ArtIcles
Examining Difficult Conversations and Transitional Identities Through Relational Liminality Theory (PDF)
Nuru, A.K. (2023). Human Communication Research. doi: 10.1093/hcr/hqad012
Exploring How Couples Navigate the COVID-19 Pandemic Using Wefulness Theory (PDF)
Nuru, A.K., & Bruess, C.J (2021). Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 38(10), 2838-2862. doi: 10.1177/02654075211037742
“He Wanted Me to Achieve That for Our Family and I Did, Too”: Exploring First-Generation Students’ Experiences of Turning Points During the Transition to College (PDF)
Wang, T.R. & Nuru, A. K. (2017). Journal of Family Communication, 17(2), 153-168. doi: 10.1080/15267431.2016.1264401
The Experience and Expression of Stepchildren’s Emotions at Critical Events in Stepfamily Life (PDF)
Metts, S., Braithwaite, D.O., Schrodt, P., Wang, T., Holman, A.J., Nuru, A.K., & Stephenson Abetz, J. (2013). Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, 54(5), 414-437, doi: 10.1080/10502556.2013.800400
Upcoming Conferences
International Communication Association
June 2026
Cape Town, South Africa
International Association for Relationship Research
July 2026
Glasgow, Scotland
National Communication Association
November 2026
New Orleans, LA