Virtual Invisibility: Race and Communication Education

Abstract

Articles published in Communication Education (CE) from 2000 to 2013 yielded four major themes: teacher/instructor to student communication, public speaking, technology, and identity. An analysis of the articles within each major theme revealed a notable absence of research investigating the experiences of students of color and the pedagogical approaches of professors of color in the classroom. Consequently, utilizing muted group and standpoint theories, the authors explore who is heard in CE, from what standpoint, and how the trend of not publishing race-related research is reproduced.

Keywords:

• Virtual Invisibility
• Race
• Communication Education

Acknowledgments

Literature review database search conducted by Shelia S. Massey and graduate research assistant, Marcus Hassell.

Notes

[1] Students and professors of color “refer[s] to people who have been racially marked or identified as different than the norm of American white by physical or cultural characteristics, the term used is people of color” (Heider, 2000, p. 7).

[2] All 163 articles cannot be cited given the page limitation associated with this manuscript. Consequently, a representative group of articles are cited within each theme.

[3] This same article on 9th-grade Hispanic students is duplicated in the subcategory “race/ethnicity” under the identity major theme and immediacy under Teacher–Student Communication major theme.

[4] Mackinley (2003) can be placed in any of the three subcategories under the identity theme—international, race/ethnicity, or gender. We have placed it under “race/ethnicity.”

[5] Eight articles were originally placed in the identity subcategory “gender”; however, two were removed as they were duplicated elsewhere—the 2003 articles by Johnson and Bhatt and MacKinlay were analyzed under “race/ethnicity.”

[6] Qin Zhang is sole author or coauthor on six of these articles.

[7] Consistent with the published aim and scope of CE, the National Communication Publications Board can improve on encouraging submissions presenting the postsecondary experiences occurring in other countries.

[8] The bias against qualitative, interpretive methods of conducting research will not be addressed in this manuscript.

[9] Eurocentrism is a form of ethnocentrism, as there is a focus on “one's own ethnic group and its social standards as the basis for evaluative judgments concerning the practices of others—with the implication that one views one's own standards as superior” (Joseph, Reddy, & Searle-Chatterjee, 1990, p. 1).

[10] In other words, Eurocentrism either identifies cultures as the subordinate other or ignores them altogether.

[11] While our focus is on the U.S., the same concerns may be relevant to students and professors of color in other nations.