(Trans)national Advocacy in the Ousting of Milošević: The Otpor Movement's Glocal Recursions

Over the past decade a remarkable number of revolutions worldwide imitated the touchstone youth movement Otpor, which played an influential role in ousting Serbian President Slobodan Milo?evi? in 2000. Given the continual presence of Western organizations and resources in Otpor's uprising, I argue that the movement demonstrates a type of communication termed glocal recursion—a rhetorical strategy that invites social change by imitating global methods of resistance, with slight variations, in local contexts. In addition to its time-based connotations (in which activists ground new messages in old texts), glocal recursion advances a space-based understanding of recursive appeals (with activists creating local messages from global structures). This essay analyzes four aspects of Otpor's glocal recursions, including its technological conditions, structured spontaneity, indigenous adaptations, and dialectical reappropriations. Various implications are drawn for communication research.     

Testing a mediational model of the effect of family communication patterns on student perceptions of the impact of the college transition through social communication apprehension

An undergraduate college student’s ability to transition successfully to college has been identified as one of the most pressing concerns for institutions of higher education. To understand the challenges associated with transitioning to college and suggest interventions from a communication perspective, we test a mediational model based on family communication patterns theory (FCP) and the communication apprehension perspective (CA). The model examines the influence of FCP and CA on students’ perceptions of the impact of the college transition on their lives. A survey of 2252 students about to transition to college indicated that conversation orientation was associated with lower CA. Both conversation orientation and conformity orientation were associated with more positive perceptions of the impact of the transition to college. An indirect effect was found from conversation orientation to the perceived impact through CA. Practical implications for college retention specialists and educators, families, and students including a pre-transition visualization intervention are discussed.     

Framing the Revolution: Circulation and Meaning of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

This article analyzes the circulation and contingent social production of meaning of The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, the documentary film that chronicles the 2002 coup d'état in Venezuela and its dramatic reversal. Drawing on interviews and observations with distributors and activists in New York City in 2004 and ethnographic fieldwork with community media producers in Caracas between 2003 and 2007, I explore how social actors contribute to the ongoing production of Revolution's impact. In this multisited account, I argue that the work of activists and distributors to frame the importance and authenticity of Revolution has been vital in molding debates and facilitating public discussion not only about Venezuelan politics but also about the role of media producers in shaping truth. This article draws attention to the ironies and complexities that filmmakers, distributors, and activists face when they use documentary film to challenge mediated depictions of the historical world.     

Transforming Work into Play and Play into Work within the Domestic Sphere

This paper examines representations of urban domestic sphere and communication technologies in Playboy during the 1950s and 1960s. I argue that Playboy carved out a space for a seamless relationship between work (production) and leisure/free time (reproduction) in the domestic sphere, specifically the bachelor pad, which contributed to current notions of the live–work lifestyle. Combining work, consumption, and leisure through technology within the home permits the erosion of boundaries between work and free time. Consequently, advances in communication and entertainment technologies, consumerism and Playboy's celebration of the urban bachelor pad contributed to current definitions of the good life and reflected the paradigm shift to the post-industrial economy and the subsequent emergence of the knowledge economy.     

The rhetorical functions of consciousness‐raising in third wave feminism

The rhetorical practice of consciousness‐raising has changed since communication theorists first began to apply its functions and style, as a small group, face‐to‐face practice, in the early 1970s. In this essay, we argue that in feminist activism and theory, the practice of consciousness‐raising has evolved in response to shifting cultural conditions. Our examination of consciousness‐raising rhetoric produced by self‐labeled “third wave” feminists reveals how contemporary social contexts have generated different rhetorical problems and discursive responses for feminists. Specifically, we show how third wave feminist consciousness‐raising instills a critical perspective that focuses on personal and social injustices. We argue that these rhetorical responses raise consciousness in the public sphere, through mass media, popular culture, and college classrooms, fostering both public and private dialogue about gender inequities that aims at self‐persuasion.     

Integrating critical and trans-affirming pedagogies in argumentation and debate: A heuristic narrative

Courses: Storytelling, persuasion, gender and communication, argumentation and debate.

Objectives: In this essay, I map a unit-specific activity for an undergraduate class in argumentation and debate. I argue for the integration of a trans-affirming pedagogy as a key rhetorical frame in communication studies courses. Such pedagogical commitments push instructors to integrate a critical communication methodology while challenging structures that continue mitigating trans experiences, embedding critical interrogation of systemic injustice. Borrowing from LeMaster (Discontents of being and becoming fabulous on: Queer criticism in neoliberal times. Women’s Studies in Communication 2015;32:167–186. DOI: 10.1080/07491409.2014.988776), I use trans heuristically, whereby “trans and transgender are not necessarily intended exclusively as identities?… In this way, trans and transgender have two functions: as heuristics and as identities” (p. 169). Thus, as a pedagogical approach, a trans sensibility extends instruction methods to consider, criticize, and analyze binaries of thought, mundane performances of identity, and unlikely communicative phenomena that “get at gender in unsuspecting ways” (LeMaster, B., & Mapes, M. Transing priestly performances: Re-reading gender potentiality in Erdrich’s the last report on the miracles at little no horse. In S. Howard (Ed.), Critical articulations of race, gender, and sexual orientation. Lanham, MD: Lexington, 2014, pp. 161–177). Using an activity from the unit “Argumentation with and as Narrative,” I draw on Enke (Enke responds to Nakamura. In V. Muñoz & E. K. Garrison (Eds), Transpedagogies: A roundtable discussion. Women’s Studies Quarterly 2008;36:288–308. DOI: 10.1353/wsq.0.0093) to ask, “How do we engage with the privileged spaces we occupy as trans and nontrans educators as a way to build alliances that are liberatory rather than oppressive to one another?” (p. 303).     

Young adults’ contact experiences and attitudes toward aging: age salience and intergroup anxiety in South Korea*

From the theoretical perspectives of communication accommodation and intergroup contact, this study examined South Korean young adults’ (N?=?301) perceptions of their communication experiences with a frequently-contacted grandparent, as well as attitudes toward older adults and own aging. Findings from structural equation modeling indicated that the participants’ attitudes towards older adults were positively predicted by contact frequency with the grandparent and negatively predicted by perceptions of the grandparent’s non-accommodative communication. Analyses of indirect effects revealed that young adults’ intergroup anxiety explained these associations. Although the direct effects of contact frequency and the grandparent’s non-accommodation on attitudes toward own aging were nonsignificant, the indirect effects through intergroup anxiety were significant. Moderation analysis indicated that these direct and indirect associations between non-accommodation and aging attitudes were significant only when age salience was low – a finding contrary to existing theory and research. Results are discussed in terms of intergenerational communication and culture, and theories of intergroup contact.     

The SK-II #changedestiny campaign and the limits of commodity activism for women’s equality in neo/non-liberal China

This article examines one market-based intervention to combat gender discrimination in China, beauty brand SK-II’s #changedestiny campaign, and in particular an accompanying video, Marriage Market Takeover, which attempts to challenge the cultural stigma of “leftover women” (single women over 25). By mobilizing affect and highlighting the self-optimizing subject, SK-II, through the #changedestiny campaign, positions itself as a key instigator of women’s empowerment, and ultimately of not only familial, but also societal, change. In this regard, it follows the logic of what Banet-Weiser and Mukherjee (in Commodity activism: Cultural resistance in neoliberal times [NYU Press, 2012]) call commodity activism, or the merging of consumer behavior with efforts at social change within neoliberal brand culture. However, in a context we call “neo/non-liberal China,” modes of authoritarian and therapeutic governance intersect, and consumer subjects, not consumer citizens, are encouraged. We argue that through offering resistance to, and a resolution situated within familial relationships, the #changedestiny campaign does little to challenge the patriarchal “leftover women” discourse. We further argue that gender discrimination is raised in the #changedestiny campaign as a way to rationalize a neoliberal emphasis on consumption, self-care, and personal fulfillment, and that ultimately gender—as well as class—norms are reaffirmed despite the campaign’s efforts to promote meaningful social change.     

From ‘poison’ to ‘seeder’: the gap between propaganda and xuanchuan is cultural*

Propaganda has been perceived as ‘poison’ in the field of communication study. Xuanchuan, propaganda’s counterpart in China with a master metaphor of ‘seeder,’ however, has different histories and traditions that do not fit into the ideology-charged theoretical framework. Drawing upon Chinese thought and scholarship on xuanchuan/propaganda, the author demonstrates a deep conceptual and perceptual gap, rooted in culture, between propaganda and xuanchuan. Revelation of the gap is of paramount importance for studying China’s propaganda, both theoretically and empirically.     

SlutWalk as perifeminist response to rape logic: the politics of reclaiming a name

Questions about the meaning and value of SlutWalk have generated considerable public debate. This article explores how SlutWalk subverts rape logic, rendering it apparent and absurd while circulating counterclaims to oppose sexual violence. By reclaiming “slut” through performative protest and political mobilization, SlutWalk offers trenchant critiques of rape logic's conflation of clothes and consent. Although media and feminist commentators alike met this protest strategy with skepticism, I argue that SlutWalk enacts a perifeminist response to rape logic that demonstrates the subversive power of reclaiming a name.     

Neutralizing Protest: The Construction of War,Chaos, and National Identity through US Television News on Abortion-Related Protest, 1991

This paper examines how US TV news on abortion-related protest forecloses possibilities for democracy and political action. Representing abortion-related activism as a battle, news segments portray activists, correspondents, and viewers as villains, witnesses, and victims in a tale of a nation decimated by civil war. While activists describe their work militaristically, the news's war is not the war that activists describe. News discourse represents activists as threatening the American family/community/nation. Applying Hannah Arendt's and Mary Douglas's work shows how the news eclipses public spheres by mapping a pollution narrative onto those who threaten myths of national homogeneity and proper citizenship.     

‘I stared at him in defiance:’ Hollaback! movement and the enactment of reflexive,resilient countervisuality

Hollaback! is an international movement seeking to end street harassment. Its website invites women to share narratives of their experience of street harassment as well as photos of the men who harassed them. We treat Hollaback! as an exemplar of feminist online activism and aim to identify lessons for other feminist online activists and organizations. In particular, we argue that the site’s narrative-image posts provide a powerful means of enacting countervisuality in public spaces. After analyzing 26 narrative-image postings on the Hollaback! website, we identify three collective rhetorical effects of countervisuality: Altering the traditional dichotomy of male/observer and female/observed, enacting feminist rhetorical agency through mobility in public spaces, and generating women’s solidarity through shared experience. We then argue that Hollaback!’s strategy of countervisuality insufficiently enacted the core principles of feminist rhetorical resilience, especially the concept of mêtis. We conclude by offering recommendations for feminist online activists and scholars.     

Supporting Mexican immigrants’ resettlement in the United States: an ethnography of communication approach to building allies’ communication competence

This research explores interactions among Mexican immigrants and their U.S.- and Mexican-born allies at an immigrant support center (ISC) in the U.S. Southwest. I propose that to support Mexican immigrants in resettling, allies who work at this ISC must apply cultural knowledge about competent communication for Mexican speakers to structure their strategic actions (Sprain & Boromisza-Habashi, 2013). Taking an ethnography of communication (EOC) approach, I investigate the means and meanings of communication (Hymes, 1972) for speakers that point to cultural knowledge about competent communication. Data for this study include 7 months of observation, interviews with 37 community and staff members, and public documents collected during fieldwork. Findings reveal five means of communication that are meaningful for speakers at ISC. This research demonstrates the practical utility of the EOC in understanding how cultural expectations for communication may both assist and limit ISC’s efforts to support resettlement.     

Digitizing the Social Contract: Producing American Political Culture in the Age of New Media

Campaigns are complex exercises in the creation, transmission, and mutation of significant political symbols. However, there are important differences between political communication through new media and political communication through traditional media. I argue that the most interesting change in patterns of political communication is in the way political culture is produced, not in the way it is consumed. These changes are presented through the findings from systematic ethnographies of two organizations devoted to digitizing the social contract. DataBank.com is a private data mining company that used to offer its services to wealthier campaigns, but can now sell data to the smallest nascent grassroots movements and individuals. Astroturf-Lobby.org is a political action committee that helps lobbyists seek legislative relief to grievances by helping these groups find and mobilize their sympathetic publics. I analyze the range of new media tools for producing political culture, and with this ethnographic evidence build two theories about the role of new media in advanced democracies-a theory of thin citizenship and a theory about data shadows as a means of political representation.     

Stealing fame: lifestyle celebrity and the dubious cultural politics of Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring

ABSTRACT

In this essay, I theorize the lifestyle celebrity as a figure whose fame is premised on their aspirational status. I offer lifestyle celebrity as a complementary analytic to ordinary celebrity that allows for more precise distinction between celebrity figures. I engage Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring as a film that positions the desire for lifestyle celebrity as dangerous and irresponsible. I argue that the film places the burden of maintaining a “healthy” relationship with celebrity culture entirely on consumer-participants and affirms the class and gender performance hierarchies that structure the valuation and distribution of lifestyle celebrity.     

The Office was asking for it: “that’s what she said” as a joke cycle that perpetuates rape culture

In this essay, we argue that the popular joke, “that’s what she said” is a symbolic representation of rape that contributes to and insulates rape culture. Drawing on Joseph Boskin’s notion of the “joke cycle” and extant literature on rape culture and misogynistic humor, we critique several instances of the joke on the popular television series The Office. From there, we extend our critique of the joke cycle, noting the conspicuous absence of concern over the joke and its implications in other scholarly treatments of the program. Our primary contention is that the joke cycle, which may be the most prominent cycle in recent decades, reinscribes rape culture by normalizing discourses that dismiss and silence rape victims, justify violence against women, and even blame victims for having been assaulted. “That’s what she said” avoids the critical eye because it disguises itself as a joke like any other.     

Improving Communication Between Postgraduate Researchers and the University Library: A Case Study at De Montfort University Library and Learning Services

ABSTRACT

A well-established postgraduate researcher development program has existed at De Montfort University for many years. Library and Learning Services include modules on literature searching skills and critical appraisal. However, we recognized that researchers seemed to be disengaged with the services on offer. This concern informed a research project that considered the ways we could communicate better with researchers based on their needs. This paper explores the essential components of successful communication, such as context, timeliness and communication channels. An action-research approach was taken including focus groups and online surveys. The outcomes highlighted three significant crisis points, emphasizing the key times when researchers might need some intervention. The findings of this research identified the distinct needs of Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) and how relevant and timely communication from the library can meet these needs. It also considers the impact of how communication has improved with researchers as a result of some of our interventions.     

CHICANA/O STUDENT JOURNALISTS MAP OUT A CHICANA/O JOURNALISM PRACTICE

Research documenting the media under-representation of people of color indicates that unless journalists re-imagine the way they report on communities of color, those growing segments may be left without a stake in the “public imaginary.” In this paper, I suggest that journalism educators turn their attention to Chicano/a student journalists in order to begin the process of re-envisioning newsgathering and writing in ways that more accurately depict and inform Latino/a communities. Driven by a collaboration between myself and undergraduate student producers of Venceremos, a bilingual Chicano/a student publication at a western state university, this paper builds a case for why these student journalists are an important source of knowledge and inspiration for journalism educators concerned with improving mainstream coverage of diverse communities. The essay also summarizes my association with the Venceremos staff in order to model how journalism educators can team up with alternative student journalists and it demarcates traits that typify their evolving Chicano/a journalism practice.     

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.     

The scholar's anthology: A research agenda for communication education

These five papers summarize and provide a focus for concerns about research in communication education, and identify critical areas for additional research. The authors also specify areas where educators and scholars should he implementing existing research findings in speech communication instruction.