Hello All,
We are soliciting micro-abstracts for an edited volume on communication.
Communication Studies at Crossroads: A Multidisciplinary Approach
Seungahn Nah (snah@ufl.edu) & Jasmine McNealy (jmcnealy@ufl.edu)
University of Florida
Overview
Among academic disciplines, communication (broadly defined) is young in comparison to its allied areas like sociology, anthropology, and political science. Although aspects of the study of communication can be traced back several centuries, the contested formalization of communication as a discipline finds its start in the West in the early 20th Century. Now thoroughly in its second century, communication – particularly mass communication – is ripe for reconsideration, revision, and reckoning with its past and possible futures. This edited volume examines not only the history of communication, but also where it might go to meet the questions of the 21st Century and beyond.
This book centers on communication studies. We operationalize this topic as including messaging, media, and human and organizational social interactions. This understanding of the field recognizes the broad reach of communications and the diverse areas of interest of communication scholars. It also acknowledges the various skills and expertise that communication scholars acquire during their studies, as well as the practical applicability of findings to areas like policy, health, and education. Because communication is inherently interdisciplinary, this edited volume assembles a global cadre of well-respected authors to examine the past, present and future of communication at its intersections.
Our objective with this volume is meta: as communication scholars, we want to think about our thinking about communication in a broad sense. We are not interested in considering our chosen area as a static field. Instead, we recognize how communication expands and contracts based on both internal factors like theoretical and methodological conflicts, and external factors like political and funding environments. We also recognize the importance of considering the field from scholars in geographic areas that have been neglected in history of communication studies. Overall, we hope this volume will serve as a useful resource for scholars, students, and those interested in the trajectory of communications, including mediated and moderated communications through media and technology.
We plan the following sections:
Part I: Foundations of Communication Studies
Chapter 1. Historical Perspectives on Communication Studies
Chapter 2. Core Theories in Communication Studies
Part II: Disciplinary Perspectives
Chapter 3. Psychological Insights into Communication
Chapter 4. Sociological Approaches to Communication
Chapter 5. Cultural and Critical Dimensions of Communication
Chapter 6. Technological Advances and Communication
Chapter 7. Communication in Organizational Settings
Chapter 8. Legal and Policy Perspectives on Communication
Part III: Interdisciplinary Integration
Chapter 9. Media and Communication Studies in Political Context
Chapter 10. Multidisciplinary Approaches to Health Communication
Chapter 11. Strategic Communication and Media Economics
Chapter 12. Information and Data Science Intersections with Communication
Chapter 13. Computational Communication
Chapter 14. AI and Communication
Part IV: Future Directions in Multidisciplinary Communication Research
Chapter 15. Communication Studies Across Different Contexts and Communities
If you are interested in participating, please use the following form to submit a micro-abstract by June 30, 2025. We will be reviewing submissions and will contact those who have submitted soon after that.
We plan to publish the book in 2026.
Thank you!
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Jasmine McNealy
Associate Professor
U of Florida
Gainesville FL
United States
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