Date of Award

2005

Publication Type

Master Thesis

Degree Name

M.A.

Department

Communication Studies

Keywords

Speech Communication.

Rights

info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess

Abstract

This thesis is concentrated on enriching and complimenting The Theory of Communicative Action by Jurgen Habermas with the burgeoning field of Visual Culture Studies. In taking up the theoretical work of Habermas, the manner in which individuals are communicatively persuaded to perform certain actions according to the contents of their utterances is recognized. There is identified a linguistic bias in Habermas's theory that does not take into account the communicative capabilities of the visual imagetext. It is argued that the imagetext is inextricably imbued and saturated with language. Thus, the synaesthetic qualities of the imagetext, which admit an always already codependent relationship between the visual and the linguistic, allow it to be examined in light of the intricate theory offered by Habermas. By referencing the imagetexts that were a catalyst to the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in Iraq, and subjecting them to the stringent requirements of Habermasian theory, it is concluded that the imagetext is capable of coordinating the actions of individuals along parallel lines as the linguistically biased theory of communicative action. In focusing on the still, photographic imagetext, it is hoped that the conclusions offered here provide a solid, theoretically sound foundation to furthering the investigation into what happens, and what emerges, when the individual is put in relation to an imagetext.Dept. of Communication Studies. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2005 .B76. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, page: 1086. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2005.

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