Difficulties in co‐opting a complex sign: Our Lady of Guadalupe as a site of semiotic struggle and entanglement

The Cult of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the product of appropriations authored by both the Aztecs and the Roman Catholic Church, has served as a tool of empowerment, dominion, and accommodation. Central to this contested cult is an indigenous reinvention of the Virgin Mary that is simultaneously index, icon, and symbol. This study demonstrates the difficulties in attempting to selectively appropriate the desirable features of such a sign while excluding those deemed undesirable. In attempting to appropriate certain features of the Virgin it deemed desirable, the authors argue, the Church also annexed aspects of the Aztec religious tradition at odds with the teachings of Catholicism. While Catholicism's attempt to co‐opt this Virgin extended the influence of the institutional Catholic Church, the authors suggest, it also undermined the integrity of the faith the Church promotes by fostering a form of popular Catholicism contrary to the teachings and practices of orthodox Catholicism. This study is grounded in data obtained through interviews conducted with pilgrims in the vicinity of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe immediately prior to, during, and after the Virgin's annual feastday (December 12). The authors also draw upon anthropological, historical, and religious studies scholarship to make sense of the pilgrims’ beliefs and place them within the broader historical and religious contexts in which they operate.     

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The purpose of this‐study was twofold: 1) To quantify the nature and extent of in‐house communication training, and 2) To collect such data from those individuals who actually conduct in‐house training. Data were obtained from questionnaires mailed to 118 members of the Pittsburgh chapter of the American Society for Training and Development. This sample represented 97 different corporations, some of which are the largest and most successful in the world. Results focused on the following major topics: 1) The relative importance of various communication skills, 2) The number of respondents offering training in the various communication skills, 3) The goals of communication training, 4) The barriers in implementing communication training, 5).The target groups receiving communication training, and 6) The attitudes of trainers towards communication training.     

Communicative adaptability: A measure of social communicative competence

The purpose of this research was to reassess the validity and increase the variance accounted for by the Communicative Adaptability Scale (CAS). Previous research produced two factors, social confirmation and social experience, accounting for 28% of the variance. The present study tested the inclusion of four additional dimensions: social composure, articulation, wit, and appropriate disclosure. The Communicative Adaptability Scale was administered to adult and student populations. The relationships among the dimensions of the CAS, self‐esteem, and communication apprehension were investigated. This project indicated a stable factor structure and consistent results across samples.     

Editor's page, 2001–2003

On August 8, 1974, having been toppled from power by the Watergate scandal, Richard M. Nixon became the first President to resign his office before completing his term. In his resignation speech, Mr. Nixon attempted to vindicate himself before the American people. Analysis of Mr. Nixon's address reveals that his strategies of denial of intent and transcendence to a larger context were largely unsuccessful in securing closure with his audience.     

Holistic Media Education: An Assessment of the Effectiveness of a College Course in Media Literacy

The general purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a college course in media literacy. Specifically, the course took a holistic approach to media literacy and was designed to heighten college students' awareness of media structures, content, and impact, as well as to encourage students to become more critical/informed participants in the media environment. A pre-test, post-test, control group post-test only, quasi-experimental design was employed to assess the effectiveness of this approach to media literacy education. Overall, students' responses produced significant differences between the control group and the experimental groups' post-test scores on most (but not all) dependent measures. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research were discussed.     

Simmering on the Back Burner: Communication with and Disclosure of Relationship Alternatives

The term “back burner” describes a desired potential romantic/sexual partner with whom one communicates with the intent of establishing a future romantic or sexual connection. Contemporary communication technologies (e.g., mobile phones, social networking applications) facilitate connections with back burners. Two survey studies (Ns = 347, 374) showed that back burner communication is relatively common among college students; however, college students also have many romantic or sexual interests that they do not consider back burners. Additionally, although most college students will not fully disclose their communication with back burners to their partners, approximately half fully disclose communication with romantic or sexual desirables to their partners. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that back burners can be distinguished from those with whom we would entertain having a romantic or sexual connection. Theoretically, they can also be distinguished from other types of casual sexual relationships.