ABSTRACT

Communication can be defined as the creation and exchange of meanings. Scholars investigate how we relate to others, express identity, and construct social rules through verbal and nonverbal practices. Traditional foci in communication have included the study of political speeches, stage fright, marital communication, telecommunication policy, and the effects of television on children. Other topics of research include studying the communicative components of music videos, dance, rituals, clothing, doctor-patient interaction, and intimacy. The field includes areas of study as diverse as mass communication, performance studies, journalism, argumentation, intercultural communication, organizational communication, political communication, and public relations. In this chapter, we address the increasing influence of women’s studies on four areas of communication study: rhetoric, interpersonal, cultural/media studies, and telecommunication. Feminist efforts to include women in communication scholarship over the past twenty years have expanded the discipline’s scope and revised fundamental tenets in each of these four areas.