Today I study “What makes interpretive theory good?”
I have a paper due in a couple of days, and I need to choose a topic to do a literary review on and review it in the context of communication theory. It has been an interesting process to define what theory relates to my personal topic of interest. My topic has something to do with these words:
Magic . Nature . Taboo . Linguistics . Connection . Meaning of words . Semantics . Cultural barriers
I base this inquiry on a personal story. As I work my way down this rabbit hole of inquiry, I find that in the most magical ways, things are coming together. For instance when I started, I asked some fellow students, which topic would you choose…
“Why it is taboo to say magic, healing, sacred and spirit when promoting a nature based activity?”
OR
“Is there a need to educate teachers on how to take kids outdoors on overnight camping trips or do we just make an educationally reformed mandate in the school system that requires all children to go on over night camping trips.”
And for some reason, all 5 chose the Taboo conversation and suggested that it suited me better. So since then, I have been muddling through this idea. Then as I met with a couple of other classmates just now, I asked “How do I look up information for this Literature Review?” And their genuine wish to help me succeed sent us all on a tangent that helped us realize that wasn’t the answer. Hahaha, what a silly process of elimination. Time-consuming and tiring, and yet, it is allowing myself to be in the mess of these pages and the words, that I am now starting to find words that come together.
Already I am learning that I need to take every piece of advice with a grain of salt because each person’s interpretation of my inquiry will come with their own views and current thoughts and either will help or hinder my process, but at least I am moving forward.
Thankfully one fellow student handed me a book called “A first look at communication theory” by Em Griffin. She suggested one theory, and once I started digging into it, although the title looked good, it wasn’t relevant. Then, upon flipping a page I was tickled to find this description:
“… there are no universally approved models for interpretive theories, rhetoricians, critical theorists, and other interpreters repeatedly urge that theories should accomplish some or all of the following functions: create understanding, identify values, inspire aesthetic appreciation, stimulate agreement, reform society, and conduct qualitative research.”
As I sit in the library and read this to myself, I find myself squeaking out loud and giggling because I have found it… the VERY FIRST piece of literature that relates to my interest. EEEEEEEeeeh! Thank you Cheryl Re, you are a Ray of hope!
More to come…