Description
Book SynopsisA Communication Universe: Manifestations of Meaning, Stagings of Significance presents a new theoretical understanding of communication. Igor E. Klyukanov conceptualizes the process of communication in terms of space and time, i.e., as a continuous process of meaningful spatiotemporal transformation. He goes on to examine four fundamental transformations and the four theoretical perspectives on the nature of communication. From the first perspective communication appears to be ''pure space,'' then time comes into play more and more actively, and from the fourth perspective communication appears to be ''pure time.'' Following the fourth transformation communication is seen as returning back to the first stage where it again appears as ''pure space;'' however, now its reality contains all meanings created in the process of the previous transformations. Based on these four transformations, the process of communication is understood as a universe, meaning ''whole,'' ''entire,'' ''turned in
Trade ReviewThis is a profound and even revolutionary treatise that will challenge all those disciplines centrally or marginally concerned with discourse. The range of knowledge drawn upon to make the book's argument is simply breathtaking. Scholars in communication, anthropology, linguistics, psychology, sociology and cultural studies must read this absolutely new and refreshing philosophy of discourse. Without doubt, this book advances the human sciences. -- Isaac E. Catt, Isaac E. Catt, Visiting Scholar, Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center at Duquesne University, Fellow, International Communicology Institute, and co-editor, Communicology: The New Science of Embodied Discourse
A meditation on the most fundamental issues of communication, Igor Klyukanov’s book is imbued with a rich spirit of humanity. It is an odyssean wandering through the thickets of thought with several surprises and treasures along the way. The reader will reemerge wiser than before. -- John Durham Peters, A. Craig Baird Professor, The University of Iowa
In this erudite and yet strikingly original contribution to the philosophy of communication, Igor E. Klyukanov theorizes communication as an experience of meaning that unfolds through a series of dialectical transformations. Following the author's journey through five "stagings" of communication from instrumental objectivity to blissful unity, we gather nuggets of epigram, etymology, and theoretical insight along the way. Klyukanov addresses the notoriously fragmented field of communication theory as a whole and offers a unifying vision. -- Robert T. Craig, University of Colorado at Boulder
This book provides a systemic way of thinking about communication that is lacking in recent theory. By emphasizing the multi-dimensional and integrated manifestations of communication, how one ‘staging’ takes precedence over others under certain guises, or overlaps in other guises, Igor E. Klyukanov reveals what is so often taken for granted or otherwise glossed as essential to meaningful communication. -- Andrew R. Smith, Edinboro University
In this complex exploration of communication theory, Klyukanov (Eastern Washington Univ.) asserts that communication is happening in "spacetime"—meaning it is constantly changing, restoring people and making them whole. Rejecting ontology, the author offers seven chapters in which he proposes that communication is a continuously moving process (meaningful experiences happen in "spacetime"); frames the stages of communication as naming via "invocation," "conversation" in the present moment, "construction" of a common world order, and "resignation" via self-awareness and initiation of meaning; asserts that the character of communication is ecological; and emphasizes that the voice of every single person matters. In the final chapter, Klyukanov briefly mentions the ethical position of "first, do no harm" and declares that the universe and communication are consubstantial, both everlasting and ever changing. Klyukanov analyzes the foundation of theory building in communication but exercises the rather unexpected tangential metaphors of air, water, earth, and fire. This is a book for those interested in investigational communication theory. Summing Up: Recommended. * CHOICE *
A novel approach to the process of communication take by Igor Klyukanov in his groundbreaking study "A Communication Universe: Manifestations of Meaning, Stagings of Significance" is visible as soon as one opens the book and glances at the Contents....The major perspective Klyukanov explores in his book is naturalistic and evolutionary - in contrast to the multiplicity of revolutionary "turns" as man-made "stages" pertaining to the history of communication. * International Journal of Communication *
This is a must-read for social and human scientists aline in our discipline. * Atlantic Journal of Communication *
Table of ContentsPart 1 Part One: The Future Behind Us: Perspectives on Communication Part 2 Chapter 1. Toward the Nature of Communication: Unforgetting Chapter 3 Communication Unfolding Chapter 4 The Identity (Crisis) of Communication Study Chapter 5 An Impressive Disarray Part 6 Chapter 2. Communication Theorizing: Being-(on)-the-Way Chapter 7 The (De)Fault of Ontological Assumptions Chapter 8 A Pathway to/of Communication Chapter 9 Communication as a Moving Experience Chapter 10 All a Matter of Perspective Part 11 Part Two: The Staging(s) of Communication Part 12 Chapter 3. Up in the Air: Communication as Invocation Chapter 13 The Call of Communication Chapter 14 The Medium is Not the Message Chapter 15 The Noise of Time Part 16 Chapter 4. Down the Stream: Communication as Conversation Chapter 17 Communication, Actually Chapter 18 The Presentation of the Other Chapter 19 Communication in Situ Chapter 20 That Which Befalls One Chapter 21 Through the Looking-glass, Darkly Part 22 Chapter 5. Of this Earth: Communication as Construction Chapter 23 Terra Firma Chapter 24 Toward the Common Denominator Chapter 25 Playing the Devil's Advocate Chapter 26 Communication as Poetic Justice Part 27 Chapter 6. Through the Fire: Communication as Resignation Chapter 28 The (Un)Bearable Lightness of Being Chapter 29 The Gift that Keeps on Giving Chapter 30 The Proteism of Communication Chapter 31 The Author is Dead - Long Live the Author! Chapter 32 To Be and Not to Be Chapter 33 The Present of the World Part 34 Part Three: The Past Before Us: Communication Being Part 35 Chapter 7. Airy Nothing: Communication as Transformation Chapter 36 Return: Back to the Things Themselves Chapter 37 The Breath of Pleroma Chapter 38 Communion with Eternity Chapter 39 Democracy of Transspecies Chapter 40 Love Equals Communication Chapter 41 Becoming Undead Part 42 Chapter 8. Communication: Infinite Return Chapter 43 Figuring It All Out Chapter 44 The Dialectics of (the Study of) Communication Chapter 45 Communication Being Successful Chapter 46 For the Time and Space Being
