Writing long essays under deadline is often a process of working out your thinking as you go. Here is one paragraph i can believe in…
Engaging theoretical explanation as method poses a danger of intellectual isolationism. Theory too far removed from lived experience becomes self-referential and loses its potency. Wheaton (2007) purposefully limits her analysis of Surfers Against Sewage to exclude the group’s “real impact in policy terms” (p. 284). Perhaps such examination of the ‘real’ is taken up by the author elsewhere, but material outcomes, especially those concerning systems of power such as policy and legislation, must not be cast aside as insignificant to theoretical analysis. A challenge for communications scholars moving forward is to continue to develop sensitized concepts, while at the same time exploring ways to make our work accessible and relevant to the world beyond academic publications. Like the junior scholars in Latina/o studies referenced in Valdivia’s article, we must “envision an expanding scholarship that leads to greater social justice” (p. 7). Taking this goal seriously, we would do well to follow Gramsci, whose “theoretical writing was developed out of [an] organic engagement with his own society and times and was always intended to serve, not an abstract academic purpose, but the aim of ‘informing political practice’” (Hall, 1986, p. 5).
Hall, S. (1986). Gramsci’s relevance for the study of race and ethnicity. Journal of Communication Inquiry, 10(2).
Valdivia, A. (2008). Is my butt your island? The myth of discovery and contemporary Latina/o communication studies. In A. Valdivia (Ed.), Latina/o communication studies today. New York: Peter Lang.
Wheaton, B. (2007). Identity, politics, and the beach: Environmental activism in Surfers Against Sewage. Leisure Studies, 26(3).
