Research in the department

The Communication Department at UCSD is distinctive in a number of ways. Our department brings together faculty and graduate students from many different disciplinary backgrounds, and encourages research that cuts across standard boundaries between disciplines and subfields.

We emphasize research of broad intellectual and social significance, and have a strong focus on scholarship that deals with issues of democracy, diversity, justice and social change. We are particularly known for research that emphasizes historical, comparative, ethnographic and interpretive methods. Areas of particular emphasis in the department include:

Political economy and institutional analysis of cultural industries, news media and telecommunication
Cultural studies
Mediational theories of mind and of learning
Theories of globalization
Science and technology studies
Theory and practice of digital media
Political communication and journalism studies
Language, cognition and human interaction
Race and ethnicity
Comparative analysis of media systems
Gender and Sexuality
Visual culture and communication
Disability studies
Performance studies

Affiliated Institutions

Communication and Science.