A Critical Introduction to Media and Communication Theory

The study of the media has led scholars to apply a humbling array of theories in their efforts to analyze messages, media systems, audiences and media themselves. One of the strengths of media studies has been its flexibility as it incorporates humanist and social scientific ideas in our work. This series is focused on theories, methods, schools of thought, domains of intellectual struggle, and individual thinkers whose importance to the study of the media can be reconfigured, reinvented, and refocused. Each of the specially commissioned books in the series shares a concern for the heritage of thought in the field of communication. These books provide sophisticated discussions of the relevance of particular theorists or theories, with an emphasis on reinventing communication and media studies, whether by incorporating ideas thought by some to be 'outside' the field, or by providing fresh analyses of ideas that have long been considered central to media studies. Though theoretical in focus, the books are at all times concerned with the applicability of theory to empirical research and experience, and are designed to be accessible, yet critical, for students -undergraduates and postgraduates - and scholars.

17 publications

Information und Interpretation

6 publications

Literary and Cultural Theory

The objective of the Literary and Cultural Theory series is to publish works, collections of articles, and conference proceedings which aim at transgressing boundaries of single disciplines and at creating common space within which themes and methodologies of those single disciplines merge and contribute to the production of a novel approach to culture, literature, and philosophy. Within thus conceived area of the humanities we place particular emphasis on: first, interdisciplinarity (both in terms of topics and methodology) and, secondly, on theoretical (or theorizing) approach, i.e., an approach which not only aims at describing cultural and literary phenomena, but also at revealing their mechanisms and multiple interrelationships, visible sometimes only when boundaries of disciplines are transgressed, and when areas of overlap are identified. Those priorities do not exclude publication of volumes within what has traditionally been considered the realm of literary studies, as long as the critical and theorizing attitude is maintained. Editors Homepage : Prof. Dr. Wojciech Kalaga

62 publications

Communication, Sport, and Society

ISSN: 2576-7232

0 publications

Bridging Theory and Practice

0 publications

Histoire des Échanges, Communications, Postes et Territoires / History of the Exchanges, Communications, Post Offices and Territories

The Postal Service, guardian of a French-styled public service, has become, under the influence of Europe, a universal service, and by its history and by its roots in its environment, presents an opportunity to reflect on the manner in which traditional and contemporary societies have resolved the issues of communication, exchanges and control of territories. Thanks to the Committee for the history of the Post-Office, researchers in the humanities and social sciences have been allowed to reflect on its past and to shed light on the changes in the societies linked within its network. Thus, now active for nearly two decades, the committee has encouraged and promoted research on the Postal Service, its «tools/instruments» of exchanges, its diplomatic agents, its politics, economy, culture and even its land settlements, without forgetting its legislative and legal aspects. This series brings together work – doctorates, acts of symposia, biographies, testimonials – in French and in English, that specifically deal with the Post-Office and, more broadly, of the problems of commerce, communications and the control of territories. It is a platform for critical analyses of a world in perpetual motion. All the publications in this collection are subject to double peer review. Gardienne d’un service public à la française devenu, sous l’influence de l’Europe, un service universel, la Poste, par son histoire et par son ancrage dans son environnement, permet de réfléchir sur la façon dont les sociétés traditionnelles et contemporaines ont résolu les questions de communication, d’échanges et de maîtrise des territoires. Grâce au Comité pour l’Histoire de la Poste, il est donné aux chercheurs en sciences humaines et sociales à réfléchir sur son passé et à éclairer les mutations des sociétés qu’elle relie grâce à son réseau. Ainsi, actif depuis plus de deux décennies, le comité suscite et encourage les recherches sur les Postes, « outils/instruments » d’échanges, et aussi agent de la diplomatie, de la politique, de l’économie, de la culture ou encore de l’aménagement des territoires, sans oublier les aspects législatifs et juridiques. Cette collection rassemble les travaux – doctorats, actes de colloques, biographies, témoignages –, en français et en anglais, traitant spécifiquement de la Poste/des postes et, de façon plus large, des problématiques des échanges, des communications et de la maîtrise des territoires. Elle se veut une plateforme d’analyses critiques d’un monde en perpétuel mouvement. Toutes les publications de cette collection sont soumises à une double évaluation à l’aveugle.

14 publications

Mass Communication and Journalism

The series focuses on broad issues in mass communication, giving particular attention to those in which journalism is prominent. Included are examinations of the product of the full range of media organizations and of individuals engaged in various types of communication activities. Each of the commissioned books deals in depth with a selected topic, raises new issues about that topic, and provides a fuller understanding of it through the new evidence provided. The series contains both single-authored and edited works.

47 publications

Communication, Sport, and Society

ISSN: 2576-7232

Communication, Sport, and Society features works that are anchored in and engage with the disciplinary traditions of communication and media studies while showcasing the rapidly-growing field of communication and sport. Foremost, this series considers communication broadly in relation to sport; reliant on burgeoning media studies engagement in the area, and going beyond it to understand interpersonal, group, organizational, and rhetorical dynamics at play in an increasingly digitized and social communication environment. Moreover, this series aims to understand the social and cultural ramifications of sport through the broadly defined communication discipline, providing a place for scholars to study and discuss sport within specific subareas of communication, such as journalism, media studies, speech communication, public relations, advertising, politics, and information sciences. Timely and topical, Communication, Sport, and Society will appeal to students and researchers who are intrigued by this emerging field and its prevalence in modern culture.

30 publications

Studies in Literary Criticism and Theory

The focus of this series is on studies of all literary genres that elucidate and interpret works of art in the context of criticism and theory. Theory and criticism are held to provide the hermeneutically most rewarding access to specific authors, works, and issues under consideration. Studies of a comparative nature with special reference to issues of literary history, criticism, and postmodern theory are the distinctive features of this monograph series. Emphasis is on subjects that may set trends, generate discussion, expand horizons beyond present perspectives, and/or redefine previously held notions about "major" and "minor" authors and their achievements within or outside the canon. Approaches may center on works, authors, or abstract notions of criticism and/or theory, including issues of a comparative nature concerning world literature. The focus of this series is on studies of all literary genres that elucidate and interpret works of art in the context of criticism and theory. Theory and criticism are held to provide the hermeneutically most rewarding access to specific authors, works, and issues under consideration. Studies of a comparative nature with special reference to issues of literary history, criticism, and postmodern theory are the distinctive features of this monograph series. Emphasis is on subjects that may set trends, generate discussion, expand horizons beyond present perspectives, and/or redefine previously held notions about "major" and "minor" authors and their achievements within or outside the canon. Approaches may center on works, authors, or abstract notions of criticism and/or theory, including issues of a comparative nature concerning world literature. The focus of this series is on studies of all literary genres that elucidate and interpret works of art in the context of criticism and theory. Theory and criticism are held to provide the hermeneutically most rewarding access to specific authors, works, and issues under consideration. Studies of a comparative nature with special reference to issues of literary history, criticism, and postmodern theory are the distinctive features of this monograph series. Emphasis is on subjects that may set trends, generate discussion, expand horizons beyond present perspectives, and/or redefine previously held notions about "major" and "minor" authors and their achievements within or outside the canon. Approaches may center on works, authors, or abstract notions of criticism and/or theory, including issues of a comparative nature concerning world literature.

21 publications

Studies in Communication and Politics

ISSN: 2197-1625

Technological development and the emergence of new notions of media and media-like services (blogs, online gaming, social networks, wikis, virtual worlds etc.) have changed the nature of communication, making it more open, personalized, fragmented and interactive. At the same a shift in paradigms in relation to traditional concepts of democracy, political communication and public participation has been observed. All of this has an impact on the functioning of contemporary societies and offers a wide range of opportunities for reexamination and redefinition of several concepts in social science. In Studies in Communication and Politics the editors are particularly interested in changing approaches to democracy, communication, political participation and media. By publishing collaborative works and monographs they aim at supporting and promoting interdisciplinary research, offering comparative approach and/or examining national factors for communication and politics development. Hence, the emphasis here is being put on the changing approaches to democracy and its institutions, political actors, electoral campaigns, as well as citizens' participation in political processes, electoral behavior, and so on. Having in mind the changing media landscape and the rise of media ecologies we also aim at investigating emerging communication and media policies, evolution of journalism culture, changing patterns of users' behavior and media innovations in the digital and multiplatform scenario. All of this when taking into account interrelations between communication and as well as the role of media in contemporary politics. The editors believe that the topic presented here will stimulate international and interdisciplinary research changes and challenges facing communication and politics today. We also hope that the wide range of approaches presented in each collection will be of interest for researchers, academic experts as well as policy makers and media professionals who might be particularly interested in taking a part in the debate on emerging theories and practices.

24 publications

Intersections in Communications and Culture

ISSN: 1528-610X

This series publishes a wide range of new critical scholarship, particularly works that seek to engage with and transcend the disciplinary isolationism and genre confinement that characterizes so much of contemporary research in communication studies and related fields. The Editors are particularly interested in manuscripts that address the broad intersections, movement, and hybrid trajectories that currently define the encounters between human groups in modern institutions and societies. The way these dynamic intersections are coded and represented in contemporary popular cultural forms and in the organization of knowledge is also explored in this series. Works that emphasize methodological nuance, texture, and dialogue across traditions and disciplines (communications, feminist studies, area and ethnic studies, arts, humanities, sciences, education, philosophy, etc.) are particularly welcome, as are projects that explore the dynamics of variation, diversity, and discontinuity in local and international settings. Topics covered by this series include (but are not limited to): multidisciplinary media studies; cultural studies; gender, race, and class; postcolonialism; globalization; diaspora studies; border studies; popular culture; art and representation; body politics; governing practices; histories of the present; health (policy) studies; space and identity; (im)migration; global ethnographies; public intellectuals; world music; virtual identity studies; queer theory; critical multiculturalism.

50 publications

Literary and Cultural Studies, Theory and the (New) Media

ISSN: 0935-4093

Literary and Cultural Studies, Theory and the (New) Media provides a forum for discussions on a variety of topics in literary, cultural, and media studies. Open to comparatist approaches, the series main venue is in anglophone literature and media, with a special emphasis on narratological, postcolonial, film and media studies. Dedicated to promoting innovative and theoretically informed analyses, the series publishes monographs as well as edited volumes versed in media and literary theory. It also encourages explorations within, as well as dialogues between, narratological, postcolonial, feminist and queer approaches. Other theoretical approaches (stylistics, New Historicism, ecocriticism, etc.) are welcome as are works on literary and cultural theory. All volumes in the series are peer-reviewed. Monographs: Only complete manuscripts are accepted for review. Edited volumes: A proposal with two essays is solicited; a final decision will be taken after all the essays have been submitted in their final form. Please address all queries to sekretariat.fludernik@anglistik.uni-freiburg.de or sieglinde.lemke@anglistik.uni-freiburg.de.

10 publications

Major Concepts in Politics and Political Theory

This series invites book manuscripts and proposals on major concepts in politics and political theory—justice, equality, virtue, rights, citizenship, power, sovereignty, property, liberty, etc.—in prominent traditions, periods, and thinkers. This series invites book manuscripts and proposals on major concepts in politics and political theory—justice, equality, virtue, rights, citizenship, power, sovereignty, property, liberty, etc.—in prominent traditions, periods, and thinkers. This series invites book manuscripts and proposals on major concepts in politics and political theory—justice, equality, virtue, rights, citizenship, power, sovereignty, property, liberty, etc.—in prominent traditions, periods, and thinkers.

26 publications

Studies in Sociology: Symbols, Theory and Society

"The series has been created by Elzbieta Halas and Risto Heiskala in order to stimulate and develop cooperation in research on the meaning, forms and functions of symbolism in society. The series is open to various theoretical and methodological orientations in the studies of social symbolism. The aim of the series is to show the central place of the problems of symbolization and symbolism in sociology - processes of symbolization in everyday life, in collective actions, social movements, organizations, in the public sphere of institutions, as well as in the construction of collective memories and identities, in the construction of the state and the nation, and in international relations and in globalization processes. The series presents theoretical and empirical questions of symbolic power, symbolic hegemony, symbolic control and symbolic politics; integrating as well as transforming and liberating functions of social symbolism in the processes of interactions and communication which shape knowledge, values and social sentiments."

15 publications

Lifespan Communication

ISSN: 2166-6466

From first words to final conversations, communication plays an integral and significant role in all aspects of human development and everyday living. Peter Lang Publishing’s Lifespan Communication: Children, Families and Aging book series seeks to publish authored and edited scholarly volumes that focus on relational and group communication as they develop over the lifespan (infancy through later life). The series will include volumes on the communication development of children and adolescents, family communication, peer-group communication (among age cohorts), intergenerational communication, and later-life communication, as well as longitudinal studies of lifespan communication development, communication during lifespan transitions, and lifespan communication research methods. The series also includes college textbooks as well as books for use in upper level undergraduate and graduate courses.

34 publications

Studies in Communication, Culture, Race, and Religion

Studies in Communication, Culture, Race, and Religion explores and examines the intersection of communication, culture, race, and religion. Books in this series demonstrate how communication and cultural frameworks, helps shape our understanding of race and religion—and in turn, how an understanding of race and religion shapes our understanding of how we communicate and interpret culture. This series will provide space for emerging, junior, or senior scholars engaged in research that studies the intersection of communication, culture, race, and religion to publish exciting and groundbreaking work. Grounded in communication methodology and theory, books in this series will also contribute to our understanding of how communication helps shapes culture and how culture shapes how we communicate. Moreover, this series understands that to further our knowledge of how communication helps to shape culture, an understand of race and religion becomes important. In this series, scholars are open to examine phenomena from either a historical or contemporary perspective and demonstrate how media and culture are intertwined with race and religion. Since these subjects are interdisciplinary, this peer-reviewed book series will invite proposals for and submissions of monographs and edited volumes from scholars across all academic disciplines using a plethora of communication methodologies and theories.

11 publications

Equity in Higher Education Theory, Policy, and Praxis

A BOOK SERIES FOR EQUITY SCHOLARS & ACTIVISTS Beth Powers-Costello, General Editor Globalization increasingly challenges higher education researchers, administrators, faculty members, and graduate students to address urgent and complex issues of equitable policy design and implementation. This book series provides an inclusive platform for discourse about – though not limited to – diversity, social justice, administrative accountability, faculty accreditation, student recruitment, admissions, curriculum, pedagogy, online teaching and learning, completion rates, program evaluation, cross-cultural relationship-building, and community leadership at all levels of society. Ten broad themes lay the foundation for this series but potential editors and authors are invited to develop proposals that will broaden and deepen its power to transform higher education: (1) Theoretical books that examine higher education policy implementation, (2) Activist books that explore equity, diversity, and indigenous initiatives, (3) Community-focused books that explore partnerships in higher education, (4) Technological books that examine online programs in higher education, (5) Financial books that focus on the economic challenges of higher education, (6) Comparative books that contrast national perspectives on a common theme, (7) Sector-specific books that examine higher education in the professions, (8) Educator books that explore higher education curriculum and pedagogy, (9) Implementation books for front line higher education administrators, and (10) Historical books that trace changes in higher education theory, policy, and praxis. Expressions of interest for authored or edited books will be considered on a first come basis. A Book Proposal Guideline is available on request. For individual or group inquiries please contact editorial@peterlang.com.

39 publications

Art – Knowledge – Theory

ISSN: 2235-2759

Art Knowledge Theory is a book series that explores artistic modes of expression as forms of knowledge production. It focuses on transdisciplinary, epistemological and methodological approaches to contemporary art. Linking artistic and scientific practices, tools, techniques and theories, the volumes investigate the cultures of aesthetics and science studies as they relate to works of art. Art Knowledge Theory analyzes the role of art in contemporary culture by probing the philosophical, historical and social parameters by which images are accessed and assessed. As an amplification - as well as intervention or even a correction to historical research, this series questions the state of the art and knowledge within a culture, characterized by technology and science.

8 publications

Internet Communication

6 publications

Communication Law

ISSN: 2153-1390

Acknowledging the variety of ways in which the disciplines of communication and law converge, the aim of this series is to publish books at the nexus of these two areas with particular attention paid to communication in law in the changing media landscape. Utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, volumes in this series provide analysis of issues at the interdisciplinary and international level such as free and responsible speech, media law, regulation and policy, press freedoms and governance of new media.

12 publications

Visual Communication

ISSN: 2153-277X

Visual communication is the process through which individuals in relationships, organizations, and cultures interpret and create visual messages in response to their environment, one another, and social structures. This series seeks to enhance our understanding of visual communication and it explores the role of visual communication in culture. Topics of interest include visual perception and cognition; signs and symbols; typography and image; research on graph ic design, use of visual imagery in education. On a cultural level, research on visual media analysis and critical methods that examine the larger cultural messages imbedded in visual images is welcome. By providing a variety of approaches to the analysis of visual media and messages, this book series is designed to explore issues relating to visual literacy, visual communication, visual rhetoric, visual culture, and any unique method for examining visual communication.

16 publications

Urban Communication

ISSN: 2153-1404

Cities are inherently places of communication, meeting spaces for interaction and/or observation. The nature of any communication venue is altered by social and technological circumstances and the urban environment is altered, in turn, by changes in communication patterns. We need to understand relationships among these significant forces – communication, technology, and the urban, suburban, rural environment – as they shape each other. Communication systems and urban social systems can be examined at multiple levels as scholars and planners examine interaction in public spaces, neighborhood communication patterns, and urban systems of transport. The focus of this series is on social relationships in a swiftly changing communication environment. Media coverage of urban issues, conflict resolution and contested urban space, visual communication, rhetorical dimensions of urban life, film and the city, journalism, the ethnic press, local media and public policy are just some areas of relevance. Volumes in this series provide a forum to explore and discuss the challenges created by the intersection of communication and urban life, focusing on what communication scholarship has to offer for enhanced understanding of cities and for the development of a public policy that takes into account communication needs and practices.

14 publications