Communication Studies Graduate Students

Matthew Thatcher

Program: Interpersonal Communication and Relationships
Began program in 2000
Area of Study: Health, Relationships, Dialogue, Social Support
Office: 122 BCSB
E-Mail: matthew-thatcher@uiowa.edu

Most of my work focuses on the role of dialogue in the constitution of identities and relationships in the areas of health and social support. My work is firmly grounded in the dialogism theory of Mikhail Bakhtin, which focuses on the multivocal complexities at play in the construction of meaning in human experience.

I came to Iowa with my wife Julie and step-son Zach in August, 2000. In the years since, we have experienced the birth of a son, Keaton, as well as a daughter, Charlotte. In my spare time...(right, I have no spare time.)

publications

(In press). "Bakhtin applied: Employing dialogism to analyze the interplay of the ideologies of individualism and community within the discourse of Alcoholics Anonymous." To be published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research.

(1998) "Ha...you think:" Defining the surrealist act in film. Berkeley, CA: UC Berkeley Library.

courses

Persuasive Communication
Communication and Conflict
Core Concepts of Communication
Theory and Practice of Argument
Mass Media and American Democracy

affiliations

National Communication Association
Western Communication Association
Central States Communication Association