Does PHILCOM Matter?: Notes for an “Investigative Audience”

Abstract

In PHILCOM's twentieth anniversary as an established suborganization of ICA, I take the occasion to reflect upon the division's history and struggles, through inviting past PHILCOM chairs and keen observers to contribute to this endeavor. The contributors mix institutional and personal reflections, revisit the division's mission, and imagine its future. I hope this special issue will re-focus the division's energy for a more diverse and rigorous future.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Richard Lanigan, PHILCOM's first chair, who made available to me some valuable original documents of the group. I would also like to thank Greg Wise, a former PHILCOM chair, for having the foresight to suggest an occasion for past PHILCOM chairs to discuss the division's history and future. Thanks also to Larry Grossberg and Greg Wise for their comments on an earlier draft.

Notes

1. The organizational impetus of forming the Philosophy of Communication Interest Group (a body that preceded its divisional status) existed in the late 1970s. Particularly, at the ICA 1977 conference in Berlin, some thirty persons formed an Action Caucus on the “Philosophy of Communication Interest Group” for the purpose of seeking additional membership so as to begin sponsoring a regular series of panels at the annual ICA conferences (see Lanigan, 1985, 5).

2. As of 2005, the ICA currently shows sixteen divisions and four interest groups.

3. Past chairs of PHILCOM, according to the ICA's record, are: Richard Lanigan (Interest Group Chair, 1977–80; Division Chair, 1981–83); Lawrence Grossberg (1983–84); Richard L. Conville (1984–85); Jennifer Daryl Slack (1985–87); Lawrence Grossberg (1987–89); Astrid Kersten (1989–91); Joseph Pilotta (1991–93); Martin Allor (1993–95); Anne Balsamo (1995–97); Briankle Chang (1997–99); Greg Wise (1999–2001); Toby Miller (2001–3); and John Nguyet Erni (2003–5).

4. For an account of the philosophical positions articulated through the term “philosophy of communication” (which is not necessarily the same as those articulated through PHILCOM), see Anderson and Baym (2004).

5. PHILCOM's public statement as found on ICA's website reads: “Philosophy of Communication is…committed to providing a space for those emergent interests which challenge the common sense assumptions of the discipline. The Division seeks exchange, education and debate, and it encourages differences. Its members come from many divisions…And they bring many different philosophical orientations to bear upon them…The result is that the Division offers a lively forum for contemporary ideas, from cultural studies and postmodernism, to semiotics and the philosophy of language, to phenomenological and interpretive study of communication events.” See http://www.icahdq.org/divisions/index.html#DIVISION9