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Dana Cloud

University of Cincinnati, School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies, Faculty Member

California State University, Fullerton, Human Communication Studies, Adjunct

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Director, School of Communication, Film, and Media Studies
National Communication Association Distinguished Scholar
Phone: 5127311025

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The University of Texas at Austin

School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Chiara Valentini

University of Jyväskylä

University of Tsukuba

The American University of Paris (AUP)

Benjamin Isakhan

Deakin University

Emad Abdul Latif د. عماد عبد اللطيف

Qatar University

Central European University

Scott R. Stroud

The University of Texas at Austin

Università degli Studi di Palermo

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Papers by Dana Cloud

Concordance, complexity, and conservatism: Rejoinder to Condit

Critical studies in mass communication, Jun 1, 1997

... Headers len?e to difference and complexity. ... an analysis of lüseanne, this perspec "c... more ... Headers len?e to difference and complexity. ... an analysis of lüseanne, this perspec "complex" (read, "textualist" or "dis-tive de-emphasizes the constraining course-oriented") definition of equal-role of economic and dominant politi-ity, advanced in the book Crafting cal interests ...

Perspectives on the Therapeutic

SAGE Publications, Inc. eBooks, Mar 4, 2014

The Therapeutics of Feminism: From Self-Esteem to Suicide

SAGE Publications, Inc. eBooks, Mar 4, 2014

Resistance against Racism and the Figure of the Moor

Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 2018

“The Feeble Strength of One”

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2017

The period after the 1995 strike was one during which management regrouped and the Boeing workfor... more The period after the 1995 strike was one during which management regrouped and the Boeing workforce settled in after their victory. To some extent, managerial and official union intimidation, along with the ongoing pressure on workers in the plants, can explain the difficulty that activists had in sustaining their reform organizations. This chapter describes how the activists themselves were caught up in the dilemmas of representation. Their commitment to democracy informed their critique from below of the discourse and practices of union leadership. Yet their taking on the tasks of leading a rank-and-file movement put them in a position to replicate, in form if not in goal, some of the habits they decried. In particular, focusing on getting elected to powerful union posts, making decisions on behalf of members of rank-and-file organizations, using top-down and double-edged legal tools to reform the official union, and decrying the passivity of the membership all contributed to the burnout and eventual retreat from dissident activity of many of the activists whose voices are chronicled here.

Carrying the Memory of Agitation

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2017

This chapter presents an exchange between the author and Keith Thomas, which both have referred t... more This chapter presents an exchange between the author and Keith Thomas, which both have referred to as a “postmortem” on Unionists for Democratic Change. The exchange was edited and compiled from two conversations: The first is a recorded interview between Cloud and Thomas in Wichita, Kansas, on July 17, 2001, the evening after a small demonstration at the union hall earlier that afternoon; the second source is a series of letters exchanged in summer 2006. Here Thomas complicates the author&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s arguments that mistakes and misdirected focus were to blame for the decline of the union democracy movement at Boeing. His observations will also encourage readers to understand the limitations of the movement in the contexts of the real lives of activists set against a renewed employer&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s offensive and a very powerful and change-resistant union bureaucracy.

History and Class Consciousness / A Defense of the History of Class Consciousness: Tailism and the Dialectic

Quarterly Journal of Speech, Jan 2, 2015

One-Way Street's publication coincided with the publication of Benjamin's "failed" Habilitation t... more One-Way Street's publication coincided with the publication of Benjamin's "failed" Habilitation thesis, Origin of German Tragic Drama. [4] Eiland and Jennings, A Critical Life, 301; One-Way Street, 449. In part, this is to say that One-Way Street very much embodies Benjamin's thinking in his 1920 essay, "The Concept of Criticism," and his magisterial work of 1924, "Goethe's Elective Affinities." [5] With respect to the latter, it is well worth an afternoon to read an introductory textbook, such as Robert Dahl and Bruce Stinebrickner, Modern Political Analysis (6th ed.) (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002). [6] The dynamic "speaks" to the "secret" interests that drive the production of the book review. [7] The other aphorism is: "Arc Lamp-The only way of knowing a person is to love that person without hope." Taken together, these two lines are nothing less than an allegory of Benjamin's 1916 essay, "On Language As Such and on the Language of Man." [8] Benjamin, "The Role of Language in Trauerspiel and Tragedy," in

[Still] The Only Conceivable Thing to Do

We Are the Union

This book engages union reformers at Boeing in Wichita and Seattle to reveal how ordinary workers... more This book engages union reformers at Boeing in Wichita and Seattle to reveal how ordinary workers attempted to take command of their futures by chipping away at the cozy partnership between union leadership and corporate management. Focusing on the 1995 strike at Boeing, the book renders a multi-layered account of the battles between the company and the union and within the union led by Unionists for Democratic Change and two other dissident groups. The book gives voice to the company's claims of the hardships of competitiveness the entrenched union leaders' calls for concessions in the name of job security, alongside the democratic union reformers' fight for a rank-and-file upsurge against both the company and the union leaders. Incorporating theory and methods from the fields of organizational communication as well as labor studies, the book methodically uncovers and analyzes the goals, strategies, and dilemmas of the dissidents who, while wanting to uphold the ideas and ideals of the union, took up the gauntlet to make it more responsive to workers and less conciliatory toward management, especially in times of economic stress or crisis.

The Irony Bribe and Reality Television: Investment and Detachment in<i>The Bachelor</i>

Critical Studies in Media Communication, Dec 1, 2010

Doing Democracy, Engaging the Material

Management Communication Quarterly, May 1, 2006

This colloquy results froma series of discussions between the authors concerning issues of (a) th... more This colloquy results froma series of discussions between the authors concerning issues of (a) the status of labor activity in organizational communication study, (b) the dimensions of and prospects for workplace democracy in practice, and (c) the need for the discipline of communication to attend more seriously to the material world. The authors write this essay using three voices: each of theirs plus a joint expression of interests. Above all, this conversation seeks to strengthen engagement of possibilities for robust democratic practices in the work of today's globalizing market economy and to challenge communication scholars to see economic and labor phenomena as more than can be perceived through the lens of unbridled discursive and symbolic constructionism. Although this essay ranges across questions of ontological status, epistemological choices, disciplinary mythos, and theoretical preferences, it is ultimately practical with a call for (organizational) communication scholars and activists to engage the misguided pursuits, injustices, and hopes surrounding contemporary corporate-consumer capitalism.

“To veil the threat of terror”: Afghan women and the ⟨clash of civilizations⟩ in the imagery of the U.S. war on terrorism

Quarterly Journal of Speech, Aug 1, 2004

... To veil the threat of terror. And check the show of pride.1 Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man&a... more ... To veil the threat of terror. And check the show of pride.1 Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man&amp;amp;#x27;s Burden,” McClure&amp;amp;#x27;s Magazine 12 (February 1899 ... View all notes. Following the photograph of a bald white man with a serious expression on his face, a photo shows a dark‐skinned man ...

“To Get to Boeing, We First Had to Take on the Union”

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2017

This introductory chapter begins with a review of the state of labor unions in the United States.... more This introductory chapter begins with a review of the state of labor unions in the United States. Unionization rates in the United States declined steadily from the late 1940s (when unions represented 36 percent of U.S. workers) until the present economic recession (12.4 percent). Favorability ratings of labor unions fell sharply between 2007 and 2010—years of heightened economic crisis—to an all-time low of 42 percent. There are many factors in this decline, including the postwar pact labor leaders made with American business, the McCarthyist purge from unions of the most progressive activists during the Cold War, and a relentless employers&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; offensive dating from the 1970s that included rampant union busting alongside the off-loading, subcontracting, and outsourcing of previously unionized work. The chapter then sets out the book&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s purpose, which is to situate the struggle at Boeing inside broader narrative frames, one about the history of unions and movements for union democracy, and the other about the history of the Boeing Company and its unions in particular. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.

The Doxicon: Image, Strategy, and the Undoing of Consent

Introduction: Evil in the Agora

Rhetoric and public affairs, 2003

Beyond Evil: Understanding Power Materially and Rhetorically

Rhetoric and public affairs, 2003

Materiality of Discourse

Encyclopedia of Communication Theory, Oct 5, 2012

The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy, Oct 23, 2016

Deranged Loners and Demented Outsiders? Therapeutic News Frames of Presidential Assassination Attempts, 1973-2001

Communication, Culture & Critique, Mar 1, 2009

There were 7 assassination attempts on U.S. presidents between 1973 and 2001. In this article, we... more There were 7 assassination attempts on U.S. presidents between 1973 and 2001. In this article, we critically examine coverage of each attack in the New York Times and the Washington Post, describing how the coverage employs therapeutic discourse frames that position the president as vulnerable and portray the attackers as lonely and demented outsiders. Noticing contradictions in this pattern, we also identify counter-frames, including those acknowledging the political motivations of the assassins, the diminished public sphere that is a context for those actions, and the contradictions in a legal system that denies the insanity pleas of those framed so extensively as mentally ill. Political science, psychology, and law enforcement researchers have recognized that assassination attempts are often driven by rational political and economic concerns. Our analysis thus points to the need for further research exploring therapeutic framing techniques of other instances of political violence that may discourage publics from thinking critically about protest, violence, and tragedy in the United States.

Therapy, Silence, and War: Consolation and the End of Deliberation in the “Affected” Public

Poroi, Aug 1, 2003

Concordance, complexity, and conservatism: Rejoinder to Condit

Critical studies in mass communication, Jun 1, 1997

... Headers len?e to difference and complexity. ... an analysis of lüseanne, this perspec "c... more ... Headers len?e to difference and complexity. ... an analysis of lüseanne, this perspec "complex" (read, "textualist" or "dis-tive de-emphasizes the constraining course-oriented") definition of equal-role of economic and dominant politi-ity, advanced in the book Crafting cal interests ...

Perspectives on the Therapeutic

SAGE Publications, Inc. eBooks, Mar 4, 2014

The Therapeutics of Feminism: From Self-Esteem to Suicide

SAGE Publications, Inc. eBooks, Mar 4, 2014

Resistance against Racism and the Figure of the Moor

Departures in Critical Qualitative Research, 2018

“The Feeble Strength of One”

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2017

The period after the 1995 strike was one during which management regrouped and the Boeing workfor... more The period after the 1995 strike was one during which management regrouped and the Boeing workforce settled in after their victory. To some extent, managerial and official union intimidation, along with the ongoing pressure on workers in the plants, can explain the difficulty that activists had in sustaining their reform organizations. This chapter describes how the activists themselves were caught up in the dilemmas of representation. Their commitment to democracy informed their critique from below of the discourse and practices of union leadership. Yet their taking on the tasks of leading a rank-and-file movement put them in a position to replicate, in form if not in goal, some of the habits they decried. In particular, focusing on getting elected to powerful union posts, making decisions on behalf of members of rank-and-file organizations, using top-down and double-edged legal tools to reform the official union, and decrying the passivity of the membership all contributed to the burnout and eventual retreat from dissident activity of many of the activists whose voices are chronicled here.

Carrying the Memory of Agitation

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2017

This chapter presents an exchange between the author and Keith Thomas, which both have referred t... more This chapter presents an exchange between the author and Keith Thomas, which both have referred to as a “postmortem” on Unionists for Democratic Change. The exchange was edited and compiled from two conversations: The first is a recorded interview between Cloud and Thomas in Wichita, Kansas, on July 17, 2001, the evening after a small demonstration at the union hall earlier that afternoon; the second source is a series of letters exchanged in summer 2006. Here Thomas complicates the author&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s arguments that mistakes and misdirected focus were to blame for the decline of the union democracy movement at Boeing. His observations will also encourage readers to understand the limitations of the movement in the contexts of the real lives of activists set against a renewed employer&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s offensive and a very powerful and change-resistant union bureaucracy.

History and Class Consciousness / A Defense of the History of Class Consciousness: Tailism and the Dialectic

Quarterly Journal of Speech, Jan 2, 2015

One-Way Street's publication coincided with the publication of Benjamin's "failed" Habilitation t... more One-Way Street's publication coincided with the publication of Benjamin's "failed" Habilitation thesis, Origin of German Tragic Drama. [4] Eiland and Jennings, A Critical Life, 301; One-Way Street, 449. In part, this is to say that One-Way Street very much embodies Benjamin's thinking in his 1920 essay, "The Concept of Criticism," and his magisterial work of 1924, "Goethe's Elective Affinities." [5] With respect to the latter, it is well worth an afternoon to read an introductory textbook, such as Robert Dahl and Bruce Stinebrickner, Modern Political Analysis (6th ed.) (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2002). [6] The dynamic "speaks" to the "secret" interests that drive the production of the book review. [7] The other aphorism is: "Arc Lamp-The only way of knowing a person is to love that person without hope." Taken together, these two lines are nothing less than an allegory of Benjamin's 1916 essay, "On Language As Such and on the Language of Man." [8] Benjamin, "The Role of Language in Trauerspiel and Tragedy," in

[Still] The Only Conceivable Thing to Do

We Are the Union

This book engages union reformers at Boeing in Wichita and Seattle to reveal how ordinary workers... more This book engages union reformers at Boeing in Wichita and Seattle to reveal how ordinary workers attempted to take command of their futures by chipping away at the cozy partnership between union leadership and corporate management. Focusing on the 1995 strike at Boeing, the book renders a multi-layered account of the battles between the company and the union and within the union led by Unionists for Democratic Change and two other dissident groups. The book gives voice to the company's claims of the hardships of competitiveness the entrenched union leaders' calls for concessions in the name of job security, alongside the democratic union reformers' fight for a rank-and-file upsurge against both the company and the union leaders. Incorporating theory and methods from the fields of organizational communication as well as labor studies, the book methodically uncovers and analyzes the goals, strategies, and dilemmas of the dissidents who, while wanting to uphold the ideas and ideals of the union, took up the gauntlet to make it more responsive to workers and less conciliatory toward management, especially in times of economic stress or crisis.

The Irony Bribe and Reality Television: Investment and Detachment in<i>The Bachelor</i>

Critical Studies in Media Communication, Dec 1, 2010

Doing Democracy, Engaging the Material

Management Communication Quarterly, May 1, 2006

This colloquy results froma series of discussions between the authors concerning issues of (a) th... more This colloquy results froma series of discussions between the authors concerning issues of (a) the status of labor activity in organizational communication study, (b) the dimensions of and prospects for workplace democracy in practice, and (c) the need for the discipline of communication to attend more seriously to the material world. The authors write this essay using three voices: each of theirs plus a joint expression of interests. Above all, this conversation seeks to strengthen engagement of possibilities for robust democratic practices in the work of today's globalizing market economy and to challenge communication scholars to see economic and labor phenomena as more than can be perceived through the lens of unbridled discursive and symbolic constructionism. Although this essay ranges across questions of ontological status, epistemological choices, disciplinary mythos, and theoretical preferences, it is ultimately practical with a call for (organizational) communication scholars and activists to engage the misguided pursuits, injustices, and hopes surrounding contemporary corporate-consumer capitalism.

“To veil the threat of terror”: Afghan women and the ⟨clash of civilizations⟩ in the imagery of the U.S. war on terrorism

Quarterly Journal of Speech, Aug 1, 2004

... To veil the threat of terror. And check the show of pride.1 Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man&a... more ... To veil the threat of terror. And check the show of pride.1 Rudyard Kipling, “The White Man&amp;amp;#x27;s Burden,” McClure&amp;amp;#x27;s Magazine 12 (February 1899 ... View all notes. Following the photograph of a bald white man with a serious expression on his face, a photo shows a dark‐skinned man ...

“To Get to Boeing, We First Had to Take on the Union”

University of Illinois Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2017

This introductory chapter begins with a review of the state of labor unions in the United States.... more This introductory chapter begins with a review of the state of labor unions in the United States. Unionization rates in the United States declined steadily from the late 1940s (when unions represented 36 percent of U.S. workers) until the present economic recession (12.4 percent). Favorability ratings of labor unions fell sharply between 2007 and 2010—years of heightened economic crisis—to an all-time low of 42 percent. There are many factors in this decline, including the postwar pact labor leaders made with American business, the McCarthyist purge from unions of the most progressive activists during the Cold War, and a relentless employers&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39; offensive dating from the 1970s that included rampant union busting alongside the off-loading, subcontracting, and outsourcing of previously unionized work. The chapter then sets out the book&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s purpose, which is to situate the struggle at Boeing inside broader narrative frames, one about the history of unions and movements for union democracy, and the other about the history of the Boeing Company and its unions in particular. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.

The Doxicon: Image, Strategy, and the Undoing of Consent

Introduction: Evil in the Agora

Rhetoric and public affairs, 2003

Beyond Evil: Understanding Power Materially and Rhetorically

Rhetoric and public affairs, 2003

Materiality of Discourse

Encyclopedia of Communication Theory, Oct 5, 2012

The International Encyclopedia of Communication Theory and Philosophy, Oct 23, 2016

Deranged Loners and Demented Outsiders? Therapeutic News Frames of Presidential Assassination Attempts, 1973-2001

Communication, Culture & Critique, Mar 1, 2009

There were 7 assassination attempts on U.S. presidents between 1973 and 2001. In this article, we... more There were 7 assassination attempts on U.S. presidents between 1973 and 2001. In this article, we critically examine coverage of each attack in the New York Times and the Washington Post, describing how the coverage employs therapeutic discourse frames that position the president as vulnerable and portray the attackers as lonely and demented outsiders. Noticing contradictions in this pattern, we also identify counter-frames, including those acknowledging the political motivations of the assassins, the diminished public sphere that is a context for those actions, and the contradictions in a legal system that denies the insanity pleas of those framed so extensively as mentally ill. Political science, psychology, and law enforcement researchers have recognized that assassination attempts are often driven by rational political and economic concerns. Our analysis thus points to the need for further research exploring therapeutic framing techniques of other instances of political violence that may discourage publics from thinking critically about protest, violence, and tragedy in the United States.

Therapy, Silence, and War: Consolation and the End of Deliberation in the “Affected” Public

Poroi, Aug 1, 2003

Marxism and Communication Studies: The Point is to Change It

by Steve Macek and Dana Cloud

Civility Soft Repression Far Right - Dana Cloud

In Press, Do Not Cite

In this paper I argue that “civility” is an ideograph: <civility>. The ideograph is a concept ori... more In this paper I argue that “civility” is an ideograph: <civility>. The ideograph is a concept originated by rhetorical scholar Michael McGee in 1980, who defined the ideograph as a word or slogan sufficiently abstract to win adherence of “the people,” but with a critical and ideological edge when deployed in specific ideological contexts. McGee calls on critics to study such terms both synchronically (as the operate in the present moment) and diachronically (as they have emerged and been used across history).

This paper preforms both a diachronic and synchronic analysis of <civility>, in which I argue that the term has its origins, ironically, in Enlightenment thought, in which civil public deliberation for the common good was the sine qua non of democratic life. The irony comes when <civility>, a property held by citizens, is by definition exclusive of those not counted among citizens: women, slaves, and the poor. The other irony is that the Western ideal of <civility> became the ideological basis for imperialism, in which the West claimed to be “civilizing” the natives of other continents. These are founding exclusions in Enlightenment thought, which is why antagonistic women and “uppity” Black activists (among others) are defined as out of public bounds by charges of incivility.

Spiral of Survival

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UN)Disciplining the Scholar Activist: Policing the Boundaries of Political Engagement

by Amy Young and Dana Cloud

Quarterly Journal of Speech, 2010

Sixteen years ago, Carole Blair, Julie R. Brown, and Leslie A. Baxter argued in the Quarterly Jou... more Sixteen years ago, Carole Blair, Julie R. Brown, and Leslie A. Baxter argued in the Quarterly Journal of Speech that disciplinary territoriality grants legitimacy to specialists while denying it to out-of-the-mainstream scholars who challenge disciplinary norms. 1 Demonstrating how the practices of writing, publication, and reward defining what ''counts'' as scholarly discourse systematically disadvantage women, ''Disciplining the Feminine'' called on scholars ''to scrutinize and evaluate their own rules for engagement and practice.'' 2 Political activism among scholars likewise calls into question unspoken collective rules, often meeting with a hostile response not unlike those lobbed at women scholars. Despite a rich and storied tradition of public intellectualism in our field, we are most rewarded for attending ''annual conferences to compare notes. .. constitut[ing our] own universe.'' 3 As activists, we understand ''engagement'' to entail working toward positive social change in a sometimes uncivil, aggressive manner. As scholars, however, our enthusiasm for engagement is often policed by our affiliate institutions via various forms of depoliticization and/or apoliticization inside the academy. Put differently: Agency as ''publicly engaged'' scholars becomes subject to depoliticizing norms when we transgress the border between scholarship and politics. So, we might ask: What are these norms? How do communication scholars negotiate this boundary and with what consequences? What do these consequences reveal about the norms and values of scholarly associations, particularly our own? Here, we argue that policing the border between activism and scholarship impedes most significantly the activist scholar who understands ''engagement'' as unavoidably and inherently political, who recognizes objectivity and apoliticization as institutional smokescreen. Honoring the interdisciplinary history of communication studies, we