Communication: Colonization and the Making of a Discipline

In this book I use communication studies as a case study to show how an epistemology shapes how we perceive, legitimize, and experience knowledge, in this case what we commonly define as communication knowledge. I also showcase how an epistemology becomes a hegemon and controls how we make sense of things (in this case the studying and teaching of communication), and the consequences that come from this hegemon, such as the loss of other ways of studying and teaching communication that can potentially expand our sense of possibility. Ultimately, I highlight the history and ideology that frames communication studies and show how both work to create an impression of communication studies as being devoid of history and ideology, and perpetuate an understanding of communication that remains in harmony with a worldview that values colonization. This book is designed for any introductory communication course that aspires to present a different narrative of communication studies that begins on the premise that the study of knowledge is really the study of the politics of knowledge.