The Crisis in the Humanities and its Relevance to Communication Studies

Contemporary pressures on institutions of higher learning, including economic pressures, a highly competitive "rankings" environment and critiques of the high cost of a university education, are making it increasingly more difficult to maintain a focus on intellectual values traditionally held by liberal arts colleges and universities. The field of Communication has some apparent advantages in the more market-driven higher education environment, with its potential focus on skills training and practical pre-professional education. However, we argue that these very elements mean, ironically, that the field should re-focus on what can contribute to the liberal arts traditions to which it belongs. To do otherwise, and to focus on skills while other disciplines do not do so, is to sell ourselves short and to play into criticisms of the Communication Studies as one lacking in depth, rigor, and intellectual challenge. In the end, the value of the degree is undercut if practical principles are accepted above intellectual values and goals. The article argues that the Communication departments situated in schools of liberal arts, arts and sciences, or humanistic studies must eschew emphasis on skills-based course work and refocus attention on our intellectual traditions.Las presiones del mundo contemporáneo que se imponen en las instituciones de enseñanza superior, que incluyen dificultades económicas, un sistema altamente competitivo de ranking y las críticas a los elevados costes de la educación universitaria, hacen cada vez más difícil mantener el enfoque en los valores intelectuales tradicionalmente ocupados por las universidades y los estudios de humanidades y ciencias sociales. El campo de la comunicación tiene algunas ventajas en el entorno de la educación superior impulsada por el mercado por su potencial foco en la capacitación y en la educación práctica profesional. Sin embargo, este artículo propone que el campo debe volver a concentrar sus esfuerzos en aquello precisamente que puede contribuir a fomentar los valores de la tradición de las artes liberales a las que pertenece. Hacerlo de otra manera, y centrarse en las habilidades prácticas, es apostar por el corto plazo y dar pie a las críticas que acusan a estos estudios de carecer de profundidad, rigor y desafío intelectual. En último término, el valor del grado se verá socavado si los principios prácticos se anteponen a los valores intelectuales y objetivos. El artículo sostiene que los departamentos de comunicación situados en las universidades de artes liberales, ciencias sociales y humanidades deben evitar promover el tipo de trabajo basado en las habilidades prácticas y privilegiar, por el contrario, la atención a la tradición intelectual del campo

A new age of believing women? Judging rape narratives online

Book synopsis: This book critically examines the last few decades of discussion around sex and violence in the media, on social media, in the courtroom and through legislation. The discursive struggles over what constitutes "sexual violence", "victims" and "offenders" is normally determined through narratives: a selective ordering of events and participants. Centrally, the book investigates the social processes involved in the telling of stories of rape and its political implications. From a multidisciplinary feminist perspective, this volume explores what narratives about sexual violence are deemed legitimate at this historical juncture. This volume brings together feminist scholars working in a wide variety of disciplines including law, legal studies, history, gender studies, ethnology, media, criminology and social work from across the globe. Through situated empirical work, these scholars seek to understand currents movements between the criminal justice system and the cultural imagination

The Crisis in the Humanities and its Relevance to Communication Studies

Contemporary pressures on institutions of higher learning, including economic pressures, a highly competitive "rankings" environment and critiques of the high cost of a university education, are making it increasingly more difficult to maintain a focus on intellectual values traditionally held by liberal arts colleges and universities. The field of Communication has some apparent advantages in the more market-driven higher education environment, with its potential focus on skills training and practical pre-professional education. However, we argue that these very elements mean, ironically, that the field should re-focus on what can contribute to the liberal arts traditions to which it belongs. To do otherwise, and to focus on skills while other disciplines do not do so, is to sell ourselves short and to play into criticisms of the Communication Studies as one lacking in depth, rigor, and intellectual challenge. In the end, the value of the degree is undercut if practical principles are accepted above intellectual values and goals. The article argues that the Communication departments situated in schools of liberal arts, arts and sciences, or humanistic studies must eschew emphasis on skills-based course work and refocus attention on our intellectual traditions.Las presiones del mundo contemporáneo que se imponen en las instituciones de enseñanza superior, que incluyen dificultades económicas, un sistema altamente competitivo de ranking y las críticas a los elevados costes de la educación universitaria, hacen cada vez más difícil mantener el enfoque en los valores intelectuales tradicionalmente ocupados por las universidades y los estudios de humanidades y ciencias sociales. El campo de la comunicación tiene algunas ventajas en el entorno de la educación superior impulsada por el mercado por su potencial foco en la capacitación y en la educación práctica profesional. Sin embargo, este artículo propone que el campo debe volver a concentrar sus esfuerzos en aquello precisamente que puede contribuir a fomentar los valores de la tradición de las artes liberales a las que pertenece. Hacerlo de otra manera, y centrarse en las habilidades prácticas, es apostar por el corto plazo y dar pie a las críticas que acusan a estos estudios de carecer de profundidad, rigor y desafío intelectual. En último término, el valor del grado se verá socavado si los principios prácticos se anteponen a los valores intelectuales y objetivos. El artículo sostiene que los departamentos de comunicación situados en las universidades de artes liberales, ciencias sociales y humanidades deben evitar promover el tipo de trabajo basado en las habilidades prácticas y privilegiar, por el contrario, la atención a la tradición intelectual del campo

Social critique in Hong Kong popular culture: an analysis of Lau Lee Lee's comic art

Abstract not available

The emerging image of the modern woman in Hong Kong 1960s comics

Abstract not available

Critiques of gender ideology: women comic artists and their work in Hong Kong

Comic books in Hong Kong have traditionally been produced primarily by male artists for male audiences. Over the past 30 years of comic history in Hong Kong, only three works have been critical of dominant gender ideology. This paper examines these works and their varying approaches to gender politics in Hong Kong. It argues that these artists made use of a creative strategy that took into account the rapidly changing historical context and female audience to create messages that reflected dominant culture while also either subtly or directly questioning source elements of dominant gender ideology. In the 1960s and 1970s, the fashionable and at times frivolous imagery of Lee Wai-chun's 13-Dot Cartoons gave a newly emerging group of young women workers and students a confident feminine heroine and model of modern womanhood. In the late 1980s, the direct critique of Chan Ya capitalized on a moment of political insecurity to briefly introduce her unattractive but insightful characters and outsider perspective. Finally, in the late 1990s, Lau Lee-lee's self-proclaimed feminist work has combined a subtle and at times ambiguous style with shocking, taboo, and intensely personal themes, bringing them directly into the political realm

Constructions of ideal family size and composition in Hong Kong's family planning public service advertising campaign

Abstract not available

Ideological themes in Hong Kong public service announcements: implications for China's future

Abstract not available

Utilization of anti-drug APIs creative strategies: interactive game in CD-ROM

Interactive game on CD-ROM prepared for the Action Committee Against Narcotics, Hong Kong SAR Government

Anti-drug public service announcements in Hong Kong

Abstract not available