ABSTRACT

Drawing from Siepmann's writings as well as archival materials and interviews with his former students, this chapter situates his scholarship within historical and contemporary contexts by examining his role during the early field of communication in addition to his participation in significant media policy debates. It also considers Siepmann's implications for and position within the field of communication research and focuses on three general objectives. First, it discusses the existing historiography of the field of communication while drawing attention to Siepmann's absence. Second, it provides an overview of Siepmann's career and give a brief intellectual biography, beginning with his British origins and then his expatriation to the U.S. Third, it shows how Siepmann's public policy work serves as a research tradition missing from existing communication study histories, and a potentially valuable new historiographical direction. Locating critical scholars like Charles Siepmann in the history of communication research teaches something about the narratives about people's field.