Family Communication as... Exploring Metaphors for Family Communication

by Manning, Jimmie; Allen, Jordan; Denker, Katherine J

• ISBN13: 9781119668398
• ISBN10: 1119668395
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2022-12-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

An innovative textbook that presents a novel and compelling examination of family communication studies

Family Communication as… Exploring Metaphors for Family Communication presents a series of metaphors through which students explore the nuances and complexities of family interaction. With a unique approach to the foundational theories and real-world practices of family communication, this easily accessible textbook helps students develop a clear understanding of what family communication is and what it can be.

Contributions by both prominent and newer scholars theorize about family communication, offer new perspectives, challenge long-held assumptions, and describe original research to provide students with an up-to-date representation of the leading thinking in the field. Each concise chapter focuses on a specific element of family life, engaging key metaphors to stimulate classroom discussion about family in contexts ranging from ritual and embodiment to estrangement and heteronormativity. Throughout the text, students examine family metaphorically—as memory, as social identity, as estrangement, as loss, as resilience, as raced, and more.

• Presents a metaphorical examination of creating, materializing, contextualizing, politicizing, and complicating family communication
• Offers an innovative alternative to standard textbooks on the subject
• Features a thorough introduction advocating for the use of metaphors in teaching
• Discusses the key topics and theoretical approaches that have defined the field
• Includes detailed references, additional readings, and an instructor’s companion website

Family Communication as… Exploring Metaphors for Family Communication is an excellent textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in courses including family communication, family studies, interpersonal communication, relational communication, and communication theory. It is also a highly useful resource for scholars in fields such as media studies, psychology, sociology, social work, counseling, and public health.

Author Biography

Jimmie Manning is Professor and Chair of Communication Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. He has authored more than 80 publications including Researching Interpersonal Relationships: Qualitative Methods, Studies, and Analysis. He has received numerous teaching honors including the National Communication Association Outstanding Mentor in Master’s Education Award.

Jordan Allen is Assistant Professor of Communication at Utah Valley University, where she teaches classes in interpersonal communication, family communication, research methods, and the dark side of interpersonal/family communication. Her program of research interrogates how nonnormative family relationships are symbolically and materially constituted in communication.

Katherine J. Denker is Professor, Basic Course Director, and Director of Graduate Studies in Communication Studies at Ball State University. She has received the Organization for the Study of Language Communication and Gender (OSCLG) Feminist Teacher Mentor Award. Her research program centers on issues of power and marginalization in instructional and interpersonal relationships.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents
Note: Ideal authors are listed. We have informally talked to about half of the authors listed in this table
of contents, and they have indicated an interest in contributing. We will make final selections, as well as
the addition or deletion of chapters, based on reviewer feedback and/or ideas from the publisher.
Introduction: Exploring Metaphors of Family Communication – Katherine J. Denker, Ball
State University; Jordan Allen, Utah Valley University; and Jimmie Manning, University of
Nevada, Reno
PART I: CREATING FAMILY: FAMILY COMMUNICATION AS…
1. Relationship – Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, University of South Carolina
2. Ritual – Dawn Braithwaite, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
3. Choice – Haley Horstman & Colleen Colaner, University of Missouri-Columbia
4. Practice – Valerie Manusov, University of Washington
5. Biology – Shardé Davis & Amanda Denes, University of Connecticut
PART II: MATERIALIZING FAMILY: FAMILY COMMUNICATION AS…
6. Memory – Robin Boylorn, University of Alabama
7. Idea – Blake Paxton, St. Xavier University
8. Boundary – Sandra Petronio, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis
9. Embodiment – Laura Ellingson, Santa Clara University
10. Social Identity – Jordan Soliz, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
11. Organization – Caryn Medved, State University of New York Baruch College
PART III: CONTEXTUALIZING FAMILY: FAMILY COMMUNICATION AS…
12. Dialogue – Beth Suter, University of Denver
13. Narrative – Jody Koenig Kellas, University of Nebraska, Lincoln
14. Performance – Bernadette Calafell, Gonzaga University
15. Structure – Rene Dailey, University of Texas, Austin
16. Mediated – Rebecca Johnson, University of Kansas
PART IV: POLITICIZING FAMILY: FAMILY COMMUNICATION AS…
17. Difference – Devika Chawla, Ohio University
18. Deliberation – Joan McAlister, Drake University
19. Deviance – Elizabeth Dorrance Hall, Michigan State University
20. Heteronormative – Robert Gutierrez-Perez, University of Nevada, Reno
21. Raced – Godfried Asante, Drake University
PART V: COMPLICATING FAMILY: FAMILY COMMUNICATION AS…
22. Forced – Julia Moore, University of Utah
23. Failure – Andrea Lambert South, Northern Kentucky University
24. Estranged – Kristina Scharp, University of Washington
25. Loss – Jillian A. Tullis, University of San Diego
26. Forgiveness – Vince Waldron & Douglas Kelley, Arizona State University
27. Resilience – Tamara Afifi, University of California-Santa Barbara