Socially Constructing Communication

by Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz (editor), Gloria J. Galanes

The idea for this book originated at NCA's summer institute Catching Ourselves in the A Collaborative Planning Session to Enrich our Discipline through Social Construction Approaches. The conference provided the opportunity to interact with like-minded others to discuss how social construction approaches influence, or should influence, our work. Another goal for the conference and for the book is to promote social construction approaches within the discipline. When we teach, how can we best clarify the social construction principles we believe in, and how can we convey the passion we feel for this approach. This book hopes to extend the conversation about social construction approaches and to invite others to participate in that conversation.

335 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2009

About the author

Wendy Leeds-Hurwitz is Director of the Center for Intercultural Dialogue, operating under the auspices of the Council for Communication Associations, and Professor Emerita at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. She has been Harron Family Endowed Chair of Communication at Villanova University, Chercheur invité at the Ecole normale supérieure de Lyon, France, Senior Fellow at the Collegium de Lyon Institut d’études avancées, and Fulbright Senior Specialist at the Instituto Politécnico de Coimbra, Portugal. She has served UNESCO as an expert on intercultural communication, presented at the World Forum on Intercultural Dialogue in Azerbaijan, and organized conferences on intercultural dialogue held in Istanbul, Turkey and Macau, China.

Leeds-Hurwitz is interested in how people construct meanings for themselves and others through interaction; how cultural identity is constructed and maintained; and how conflicting identities or meanings can be conveyed simultaneously. She studies disciplinary history to learn why scholars examine particular topics in specific ways, often stops to consider particular research methods or theories, and always takes an interdisciplinary approach to problems.