Elizabeth A. Dickinson PhD Candidate & Instructor Department of Communication & Journalism University of New Mexico
Home Research CV Teaching Misc The trouble with the maples (and they’re quite convinced they’re right) They say the oaks are just too lofty And they grab up all the light But the oaks can’t help their feelings If they like the way they’re made And they wonder why the maples Can’t be happy in their shade? “The Trees” – Rush	ACADEMIC PROFILE My research meets at the intersection of two flows of study—environmental communication and communication and culture, with a central interest in consumption/consumerism, rhetoric, and media studies flowing throughout both. Primarily rhetorical and qualitative, my research utilizes critical and interpretive approaches and methods such as textual analysis, participant observation, rhetorical criticism, in-depth interviewing, and critical theorizing. Within environmental communication, I am interested in eco-theory and philosophy; “green” media studies; the social construction and simulation of nature; environmental consumerism; epistemologies of science, politics, economics, and environmental “knowledge;” and environmental education. My goal is to examine how humans construct knowledge and meaning about the natural world and how systems, histories, and power influence environmental issues. In the area of communication and culture, I study how cultural ideologies are produced, performed, reproduced, and resisted through communication. Specific research interests include critical-cultural studies; consumer, economic, cultural, and political uses and interpretations of media; cultural and social identity in media and popular culture; and gender. DISSERTATION Title: “Constructing and Consuming Nature: A Critical Examination of Environmental Education Practices in North Carolina’s Educational State Forests” Description: In August 2009, I finished a 5-month period of fieldwork and data collection in the North Carolina Educational State Forest (ESF) system. I used participant observation, in-depth interviewing, and collected various texts to investigate conservation-based environmental communication practices in the forest sites. I am examining the rhetorical strategies of and contexts surrounding forest environmental education and how they shape how visitors come to understand and consume nature. I explore the reproduction of the consumption of nature, including how state conservationist approaches rhetorically frame nature-based messages. Click here for an extended abstract of the project and here for dissertation site pictures. Dissertation Timeline: I wrote and defended the first three chapters in March 2009. I just completed data analysis and began writing the remaining two chapters. I will defend in March 2010. RESEARCH & PROJECTS See all publications, working papers, and individual and collaborative projects here. TEACHING I am currently teaching online courses (“Fundamentals of Communication” and “Business and Professional Communication”). I taught Persuasive Communication (undergraduate) and Teaching the Basic Course (graduate level) in spring 2009 at UNM. In the past I have taught courses in fundamentals, public speaking, business and professional, intercultural, interpersonal, persuasion, nonverbal, and conflict. See more information about my teaching here. BACKGROUND I was born and raised in California. After earning a BA from CSUSB in 1996 in Organizational Communication, I completed my MA from New Mexico State University in 1998 with an emphasis in Intercultural Communication and Social Change. I lived and taught English in Aomori, Japan for two years with the JET Program before moving to Los Angeles. I worked as a university instructor in Communication Studies in Beijing for two semesters through the University of Colorado Denver’s ICB program at China Agricultural University. I have experience in academic, nonprofit, and business settings. Prior to joining the UNM Communication and Journalism Department as a PhD student in fall 2006, I worked at a nonprofit in San Diego and then moved to Miami where I was an instructor in Communication Studies at Florida International University and Miami-Dade College. I currently live near my dissertation site in Carrboro, North Carolina, where I am completing my dissertation and working on various projects.		CONTACT INFORMATION Elizabeth A. Dickinson Department of Communication & Journalism University of New Mexico MSC 03 2240 Albuquerque, NM 87131 edickins@unm.edu www.unm.edu/~edickins
“The primary human reality is persons in conversation.” (Rom Harre, 1983)		Website developed and maintained by Elizabeth Dickinson Send e-mail to: edickins@unm.edu Modified: October 30, 2009