Departments & Programs

Communication and Culture

Introduction

The Department of Communication and Culture (CMCL) advances the study of communication as a cultural practice and teaches an array of perspectives that enable students to prepare broadly for a variety of careers. Requirements for the major and minor are flexible in order to promote individualized programs of study in three interrelated aspects of communication: rhetoric and public culture, film and media, and performance and ethnographic studies.

Rhetorical studies orient students to the strategic dimension of human communication associated with deliberation, advocacy, and persuasion in a variety of social, political, and professional settings. Studies of media focus primarily on film and television, with additional emphasis on topics such as radio, recorded music, and interactive digital technologies. Performance and ethnographic studies explore an array of communicative practices, from the conversations and disputes of everyday life to artful performances at cultural events, which are the competencies essential for participation in social life.

Students in the department make use of these approaches to the study of communication to examine links among social, corporate, and governmental organizations; to study the formation of individual and group identity in contemporary culture; to explore the connections between ideology and politics; and to bring intercultural and transnational considerations into focus by examining how diversity and differences of various kinds are negotiated across boundaries. Students prepare to become productive citizens of a democratic culture while gaining a thorough understanding of the theory, history, production, and critique of public communication.

Majors, Minors, and Programs

Contact Information

Communication and Culture
Indiana University
800 E. 3rd St.
Bloomington, IN 47405

(812) 855-1072
cmcl [at] indiana [dot] edu

http://www.indiana.edu/~cmcl/