Communication Studies beyond the National: Connections and Disconnections between Research Communities and How to Study Them

Abstract

This essay is dealing with a self-reflection in communication studies on existing blind spots between national communication research communities and milieus. The author presents recent debates on communication studies under international comparison, including their focus on historical developments and disciplinary boundaries of the field. She discusses the lack of knowledge about transnational influences between scientific communities in the field of communication research as well as central categories to grasp the social as well as the body of knowledge in Science (like “generation” a term which understands scientific milieus as experience communities in the sense of Karl Mannheim). The underlying argument is, that only a meta-science perspective from an historical viewpoint allows the understanding of our actual theory building and methodological settings which is confronted with future problems, especially the transnationalization of communication flows as well as of scientific knowledge.