Communication studies is a fragmented field. As a result of its roots in
various disciplinary traditions, it is built on fluid intellectual
boundaries with no theoretical or analytical center. Should we worry
about this state of dispersion or be concerned that the discipline does
not meet the basic conditions that define an academic field of inquiry?
Silvio Waisbord argues that communication studies is a post-discipline
and that it is impossible to transcend fragmentation and specialization
through a single project of intellectual unity. What brings
communication studies together is an institutional architecture of
academic units, professional associations, and journals, rather than a
shared commitment to a common body of knowledge, questions, and debates.
This should not, Waisbord argues, be a matter of concern. Communication
studies is better served by recognizing dispersion, embracing pluralism,
fostering cross-cutting lines of inquiry, and tackling real-world
problems, rather than hoping to meet conditions which would qualify it
as a discipline.
Communication: A Post-Discipline is important reading for scholars and
advanced students of communication studies, as well as anyone interested
in the state of this fascinating and vital academic field.
