Professor Joshua Gunn, Department of Communication Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
"For the Love of Communication, with Continual Reference to Kenny and Dolly"

Drawing on the insights of psychoanalysis, in this presentation/performance Professor Gunn discusses transcendent love as an assumed basis and ideal for communication. Once we reckon with the idea of communication as love, Gunn argues, we will have to confront Communication Studies as fundamentally an ideology of kitsch.

Dr. Joshua G. Gunn (Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 2002) conducts research at the intersection of rhetorical and cultural studies, currently in pursuit of two, interrelated projects: (1) the integration of psychoanalysis and rhetorical/textual theory; and (2) a demonstration of the relevance and ubiquity of theological forms in public culture and daily life. His latest published research has focused on the role of theological form, from the apocalyptic, occult, and paranormal to the mundane religiosity of the "theory wars" in the humanities. These works include a book, Modern Occult Rhetoric: Mass Media and the Drama of Secrecy in the Twentieth Century (2005), and numerous articles in journals such as The Journal of Communication and Religion, Popular Music and Society, the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Telos, Text and Performance Quarterly, Rhetoric Society Quarterly, and Visual Communication.

Please note that this presentation/performance will include images of nudity, foul language, and adult themes. If it were a movie, it might be rated R.