Welcome to the Figure/Ground Communication Scholarly Interview Series!
The idea to create a collection of scholarly interviews first dawned on me when, as an MA candidate at Simon Fraser University School of Communication, I stumbled upon the Bryan Magee series on YouTube. McGee had made an important contribution to the popularization of philosophy in Britain, and rediscovering his TV series inspired me to emulate his work in a different medium and across multiple disciplines, in the spirit of interdisciplinary studies and methodological pragmatism.
With that in mind – and against the background of the Marshall McLuhan Centennial - the Figure/Ground Communication™ scholarly interview series were launched in June, 2010 with the short-term goal of gathering preliminary data for my doctoral research proposal. Gradually, however, this exploratory phase took on a life of its own: in time, it became a valuable exercise in academic journalism serving to inform and entertain a highly literate audience of university professors as well as graduate and undergraduate students considering an academic career. In all cases, the primary aim of the Figure/Ground interviews is to showcase the career choices and research/teaching activities of scholars from various fields, and to collect expert opinions on the changing nature of academia and scholarship in an age of information, digital interactive media and academic capitalism.
Past interviewees include internationally renown scholars such as Eric McLuhan, Douglas Kellner, Noam Chomsky, Douglas Rushkoff, Simon Critchley, Alphonso Lingis and John Searle, among other luminaries.
To learn more about our project, download the feature article, Figure/Ground Communication: The Meaning of Meaning is Relationship, published by the University of Southern California’s International Journal of Communication.
Your feedback is welcome and appreciated! If you like what you see, please consider commenting or donating to help this section grow. For specific suggestions regarding future/potential interviewees or to obtain permission to republish any of the interviews already on the site, write to laureano@alumni.sfu.ca.
Bon appetit!
Laureano Ralon,
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
Figure/Ground Communication™
ISSN: 2291-1332
