What Cultural,Critical and Communication Might Mean—And Why Cultural Studies Is a Bit Like Rave Culture

Responding to the editor's request for reflections on the key terms in the title of this journal, this somewhat autobiographical and possibly self-indulgent piece reflects on their changing meanings and on the ways in which cultural studies has changed and declined since the early 1990s. Cultural studies, the piece asserts, is a bit like rave culture, because like that subcultural formation of music and dance, it was big and quite innovative in the 1990s, but lost its edge in the twenty first century – although interesting offshoots continue beyond the places where it ‘originated’. The piece also suggests some reasons for the decline of cultural studies. More importantly, it tries to understand the term ‘critical’ via politics. It expresses some preferences, in terms of what constitutes good critical writing, and outlines some key elements of good critical analysis of culture.     

Thinking Culture and Cultural Studies—from/of the Global South

ABSTRACT

This essay invites us to consider the need to rethink culture and some theoretical/intellectual assumptions in Cultural Studies when we bring up the issue of the “Global South.” The essay makes a case for “going South” in Cultural Studies. It advances a notion of the South that is based on a frame of dispossession. The first section offers a historical overview of the Global South and considers where the Global South is today. The second section attempts to rethink the notion of ‘culture’ and some intellectual orientations in Cultural Studies when we move to the Global South.     

Fighting the Prison–Industrial Complex: A Call to Communication and Cultural Studies Scholars to Change the World1

Collectively authored by the members of Prison Communication, Activism, Research, and Education (PCARE), an NCA-based group of scholars and activists, this essay argues that the prison–industrial complex has grown into a dire threat to the practices of US democracy. The essay “maps” the crises spawned by the prison–industrial complex and then offers a comprehensive action plan for pursuing new forms of scholarship, pedagogy, and activism. The essay therefore hopes to launch nothing less than a revolution in communication and cultural studies scholarship and a new wave of peace-and-justice activism.     

传者何在?传播(Communication)观念探讨

即便是在结构功能的视角下,怎样看待传者就又会产生对交流的不同定义,然而,传者究竟是名词,还是动词;是主体,还是过程;这个命题可以这样问,抑或不可以这样问,都是理解交流的切入口。同样,如何看待这个问题的视角,则是触碰到作者各自持有的不同理论关怀,出发点与落脚点。因而本研究试图探讨,"传者是谁"或者"传者何在"?     

The Discussion Coding System (DCS)—A New Instrument for Analyzing Communication Processes

The Discussion Coding System (DCS) is a new instrument for coding face-to-face communication processes. The DCS was developed with several goals in mind: a well-grounded theoretical background, economical coding, the inclusion of nonverbal behavior into the coding, the ability to code different sized groups engaged in a variety of task types, and high ease of use. Important aspects of communication behavior are covered: the directly observable aspects of who speaks to whom, the functions of a statement for the interaction process, and the interpersonal meaning of an act on the two basic behavioral dimensions of affiliation and dominance. Furthermore, coding software was developed that greatly enhances the efficiency of coding as well as the creation of data files. The reliabilities are strong if video is used. The reliabilities for real-time coding are considerably lower but still satisfactory if special measures are taken. The validity of the DCS was established in several studies.     

Neither Cited nor Foundational: Niklas Luhmann’s Ecological Communication; A Critical Exegesis and Some Theoretical Suggestions for the Future of a Field

In this paper I critically explicate Niklas Luhmann’s treatise Ecological Communication (1989). Locating this rather neglected treatise against the backdrop of the embryonic and amorphous academic field of environmental (or ecological) communication (EC), I argue that the treatise provides the only comprehensive conceptual definition of ecological or environmental communication—and it thus deserves attention as well as scrutiny. Past my detailed explication of Luhmann’s key concepts, I register my deep disagreements with his philosophy and speculate about why his treatise may have suffered neglect within EC. Briefly mentioning critical traditionalism, I also suggest alternatives to Luhmann’s theoretical framework. I devote the last section of the paper to my vision for the future of EC.     

Annals of Library and Information Studies: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Journal and a Comparison with the Top Library and Information Studies Journals in Asia and Worldwide (2011–2017)

ABSTRACT

This article presents a thorough bibliometric analysis of research published in Annals of Library and Information Studies (ALIS), an India-based journal, for the period 2011–2017. Specifically, it compares this journal’s trends with those of other library and information science (LIS) journals from the same geographical area (India, and Asia as a whole) and with the 10 highest-rated LIS journals worldwide. The source of the data used was the multidisciplinary database Scopus. To perform this comparison, ALIS’ production was analyzed in order to identify authorship patterns; for example, authors’ countries of residence, co-authorship trends, and collaboration networks. Research topics were identified through keyword analysis, while performance was measured by examining the number of citations articles received. This study provides substantial information. The research lines detected through examining the keywords in ALIS articles were determined to be similar to those for the top LIS journals in both Asia and worldwide. Specifically, ALIS authors are focusing on metrics, bibliometrics, and social networking, which follows global trends. Notably, however, collaboration among Asia-based journals was found to be lower than that in the top-indexed journals in the LIS field, showing lesser internationalization. The results obtained present a roadmap for expanding the research in this field.     

批判的视野:媒介与社会性别研究(Media and Gender Studies)评述

一、研究动机、研究问题与研究方法在西方学术界,“社会性别”已经和“阶级”、“种族”一样成为研究人类社会与历史的一个基本的分析范畴,在各个人文社科领域被广泛运用。“社会性别”、“阶级”以及“种族”也是传播研究的一个论述领域,如格尔·戴尼斯与杰母·胡木滋(Gail Dines &     

Center for Czechoslovak Exile Studies in Olomouc: Survey of the Past Twenty Years of Activity (1993–2013)

The article describes activities of the Center for Czechoslovak Exile Studies in Olomouc particularly for the period 2004–2013. During this period the center acquired many significant archival collections.     

Homonationalism and Western progressive narrative: locating ‘conservative heartlands’ with Zenne Dancer (2012) and its Western reviews

In this paper, we analyze the Turkish film Zenne Dancer (2012), which is largely based on what has been called a first gay honor killing in Turkey. We employ a framing analysis to both the film's content and its Western reviews to compare how different media texts frame the murder. The results indicate that while both the film and the reviews recognize tradition, understood here as native and archaic values as well as Islamic religion, as a key factor behind the murder, they locate this tradition quite differently: the film relegates it to the eastern Turkey, and thus implicitly to Kurds, while the reviews tend to extend it to the entire country or even the whole Middle East. We relate these results to the Western progressive narrative that positions the West as a civic and moral ideal that could be achieved by others over time. In particular, we employ Puar's concept of homonationalism to show how different media texts challenge or exploit the Western imperative to ‘come out’ and what effects it has for the East–West juxtapositions.     

Action Research,Assessment, and Institutional Review Boards (IRB): Conflicting Demands or Productive Tension for the Academic Librarian?

This article puts forward an “assessment/action research/publication” cycle that integrates aspects of the assessment, research, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) processes to provide academic librarians with a systematic approach for balancing competing workplace demands and give library managers a roadmap for creating a “research culture” (Jacobs, Berg, and Cornwall) within their libraries. The article argues that librarians and library managers have much to gain by integrating action research into librarians’ everyday work loads, including increased ease in meeting publication demands for tenure and/or promotion, institutionalizing habits of reflective practice across all library service areas, and overall library improvement.     

A Goffmanian Analysis of (In)attentiveness as Involvement in Group Therapy Sessions A previous version of this manuscript was presented to the Language and Social Interaction Division for the annual meeting of the International Communication Association,New Orleans,LA, May 27–31, 2004.

This ethnographic investigation explores Goffman's concept of involvement in the group therapy sessions of a women's drug and alcohol treatment program (Goffman, 1963). The program counselors attempted to control the situational order such that clients’ main involvement was displaying attentiveness to the group therapy session itself. Clients’ involvements varied in considerable—though often subtle—ways, and they demonstrated understanding of an involvement idiom. “The rules” were observed and enforced to regulate involvement, and clients who were deviant in their involvement received negative sanctions. Thus, this investigation examines how clients displayed (in)attention and (dis)interest within the social occasion and how these displays were recognized, interpreted, and responded to by group members.     

Do Job Advertisements Reflect ACRL's Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators?: A Content Analysis

This study investigates the extent to which the skills and proficiencies mentioned in ACRL's Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators are represented in a current sample of instruction librarian job advertisements. Advertisements from U.S. academic institutions posted on the American Library Association's JobLIST site were collected over a period of six months. Results from a content analysis of these advertisements as compared to the Standards reveal trends in those skills which are in-demand. These results add support for the importance of collaboration, instructional design, leadership, and subject expertise as they relate to instruction and demonstrate that not all skills identified as crucial for instruction librarians within the Standards are typically indicated within the content of a job advertisement. This research will be of interest to library science students, job seekers, LIS faculty, and employers hoping to attract qualified candidates to fill library instruction-related positions.     

What is next for information world mapping? International and multidisciplinary approaches to understanding information behaviors/practices in context

As the use of arts-involved and data visualization methods increases in information science, it is essential to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of various methods. An international lineup of information researchers shares their experiences using the participatory, visual elicitation technique Information World Mapping (IWM) in their work. The authors begin with an overview of IWM, detailing its origins and emerging directions. They summarize their application of IWM to describe information behaviors/practices across various locations, cultures, disciplines, and technology access environments. The authors conclude by discussing key questions and areas of exploration for IWM in information research, including cultural influences, changes in media and methods for data collection, power dynamics, and researcher positionality and reflexivity. Insights offer new possibilities for the next phase of IWM in information research, including challenges and areas for innovation.