In Nancy Blyler’s (1998) article “Taking a Political Turn: The Critical Perspective and Research in Professional Communication.,” she promoted that “research in professional communication ought to take an increasingly political turn” (p. 1). Blyler investigated the resistance of political communication in a pedagogy setting along with the possibilities, the sources of power, the ethical benefits, the goal of research, the necessary relationship between knowledge and politics, self-conscious recognition, empowerment and emancipation, the relationship between researcher and participant, free and open communication, ideology and subjectivity, disciplines, theoretical perspectives, and methodology. Blyler’s purpose was to demonstrate the realization that “the same benefits in our research that accrue to us from our political turn in our pedagogy: the benefits of empowerment, emancipation, and social action” (p. 12). Blyler’s intended audience was scholars involved in professional communication who may have been weary of incorporating political features. Blyler’s innovative perspective appeared possible in the article, but it would be interesting to see how the funding issues and political logistics evolve.
Tag: Political
Rude, C. D. (2009). Mapping the research questions in Technical Communication. Journal of Business and Technical Communication, 23(2), (pp. 174-215). https://doi.org/10.1177/1050651908329562
In Carolyn D. Rude’s (2009) article “Mapping the Research Questions in Technical Communication,” she proposed “a central research question and four areas of related questions for technical communication” (p. 175). Rude inspected the four directions of research, the mapping metaphor, analyzed the field, asked the central question and broke it down, how the prefix re functions, the role of power, the evolution of the job title, pedagogy questions, conceptual questions, and political questions. Rude’s purpose was to “suggest the coherence of the field’s research and its promise for the future as well as its connections to other areas of inquiry and to other communication specializations, including rhetoric and composition” (pp. 175-176). Rude’s intended audience was professors and scholars of technical communication seeking a metaphor to better understand and map out the field of study. Rude’s analysis of technical communication was thought-provoking, but she asked more questions than the amount of answers she provided.