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How can we better include the experiences of women in our understanding of communication?
Today, Karen and Sonja share the story of how they came to be so passionate about the intersection of feminism and communication. Abbie, Karen, and Sonja discuss the need to rethink the assumptions of theories in the discipline of communication that are based on the historic communication patterns of men. Karen and Sonja offer a definition of feminism, including the roles of understanding, critique, and transformation. Finally, Karen and Sonja explain some of the different types of feminisms.
ABOUT THIS EPISODE
How can we communicate in a way that acts as an invitation for others?
Today, Abbie, Karen, and Sonja discuss the importance of remembering our choices when it comes to both feminism and communication. Abbie explores the connection between Karen and Sonja’s understanding of feminism and CMM, comparing the process of understanding, critiquing, and transforming with the CMM-ish process of imagination, genuine inquiry, and embodiment (presented by Alex Jagiello in Ep. 22). Karen and Sonja describe the feminist values of equality, self-determination, and immanent value. Finally, Abbie, Karen, and Sonja consider caring wildly about the things we care about as an “ethical version of persuasion.”
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How can we be asking ourselves, “Is this a world in which I want to be living?” What do we do when the answer is “no”?
Today, Abbie, Karen, and Sonja discuss “interpretation” as the core of Karen and Sonja’s work and lives. Karen and Sonja present strategies for making new choices, including reframing, appreciation, enactment, and more. Abbie, Karen, and Sonja discuss what it means to “live today as you want the world to be,” what it means to always be denying reality, and what it means to “joyfully allow.” Finally, Abbie expresses appreciation for the ways that Karen and Sonja have made these important ideas accessible, asks about what it’s like for Karen and Sonja to work so closely, and considers what this work means for what a better social world looks like.
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Welcome to The Academic Life! In this episode you’ll hear about:
Our guests are: Dr. Sonja K. Foss and Dr. William Waters. Sonja and William are the coauthors of Destination Dissertation: A Traveler’s Guide to a Done Dissertation (Rowman & Littlefield). They offer writing retreats and present workshops at universities throughout the country on topics such as completing dissertations, publishing, and advisor advising and do individual coaching of scholars working on dissertations, articles, and books.
Play: How to Finish your Dissertation
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“Be the change you want to see in the world” is a great phrase, but it lacks something: how?
How does a person go about changing themselves and the world? There are plenty of examples out there, and some good ones from feminism are collected in a new book, Feminism in Practice: Communication Strategies for Making Change. The book considers the work of feminists from several ways as a blueprint for strategies for change. Alena Ruggerio from Southern Oregon University is one of the authors, along with Sonja Foss and Karen Foss, both former university professors themselves.
The three authors visit with an outline of their work.
Play: Using Feminism’s Blueprint as a Guide to Changing Society
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This week, we have two revolutionaries: Sonja Foss and Karen Foss, twin sisters and partners in the feminist revolution. Originally, they grew up in Eastern Oregon in a very traditional family with traditional parents. As twins, they modeled equality and embodied feminism before they had the language to label it. Now, both Sonja and Karen are rhetorical scholars in the communications discipline, working to tangibly create the feminist reality we envision for the future.
Karen and Sonja share stories from their childhood that exemplify their evolution into feminism today. Together, they also share their insights into how feminism functions in academia and in various spaces within society as well. Feminism, to them, means learning to deal with and transform the intersectional systems of oppression, challenging the ideology of oppression as a characteristic of culture. In addition, they share some change strategies and examples of what it looks like to cultivate a positive feminist reality and find the joy in feminism again.