War Scholar Discusses Communication’s Role in National Security
Professor Bryan Taylor, a renowned communication scholar with a specialty in studying the nuclear and (post-) Cold War rhetoric and culture, presented the Department of Communication’s 27th annual B. Aubrey Fisher Memorial Lecture, titled War Voice: Exploring Communication’s Intrinsic Resources for the Study of Security on Thursday, October 24th.
Taylor, a graduate alum of the U’s Department of Communication, is currently a Professor of Communication at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He will draw from his extensive research on the evolving relationships between media, institutions, power, and identity. Based on his interest in research sites characterized by controversy and crisis, most notably that of nuclear weapons organizations, his primary research investigates how various groups narrate the history of the Cold War and the production of nuclear weapons in the US. On Friday, October 25th, Taylor held an informal seminar open to the public titled “The Contribution of Communication Scholarship to the Interdisciplinary Study of Security.”
“Taylor’s research on discourse about national security and nuclear weapons offers an important message for the field of communication and the public at large, and we are thrilled to celebrate the 27th anniversary of the Fisher Lecture with Taylor as our distinguished lecturer,” said Department Chair Kent Ono before the lecture. “His pivotal research on nuclear-policy and a culture of secrecy and elitism that surrounds nuclear weapons organizations could not be more timely. On October 24th, Taylor will return to the U to carry on the scholarly legacy he began here years ago. Attending his lecture is an opportunity not to be missed.”
Taylor received two degrees from the U’s Department of Communication: a Master’s degree in Communication in 1987 and a Ph.D. in Communication in 1991. His research has been published in more than a dozen communication and interdisciplinary journals, and he is co-author of the book well known to Communication students and teachers, Qualitative Communication Research Methods, published in 2002. Early in his career, Taylor was the recipient of a “New Investigator Award” from the National Communication Association, as well as a National Science Foundation award for his work titled “Touring Nuclear History: A Field Study of the Bradbury Science Museum.”
The B. Aubrey Fisher Memorial Lecture was established by the Department of Communication in 1986 to recognize Fisher’s outstanding achievements as a communication scholar and to provide a forum for presenting original research and theory in communication. The Department of Communication is proud to celebrate 27 years of continued scholarly excellence celebrated by the B. Aubrey Fisher Memorial Lecture.