Volume: 2  Number: 2  Page: 89–107  doi:10.2167/md090.0

Beyond the Failures of Western Communication Theory

Ronald D. Gordon Department of Communication, University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Hawai'i

What more is ‘human communication’ than what it has been said to be? It is suggested that ‘American’ communication theory has conflated itself to the status of ‘human’ communication theory, and that an international, multicultural, multiperspectival scholarly dialogue needs to flourish in the 21st century to move toward ‘human’ communication discourses that can sustain humanity. By drawing especially on resources outside the Western mainstream, I identify four areas that have been insufficiently attended to within the dominant discourse of ‘human’ (i.e. American) communication theory: (1) the ‘relational’ self, (2) human ‘feeling’ and the human ‘body,’ (3) ‘nature’ and ‘spirit’ and (4) more ‘communal’ and less ‘agentic’ discourses of the core term ‘communication’. Interdisciplinary and multicultural scholars from around the world are encouraged to enrich the ‘communication’ conversation.

Keywords: multicultural discourses, alternative discourses, culture and communication, communication theory

© 2007 R.D. Gordon

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