The Many-Sided Franklin Ford and the History of a Post-Discipline

Dominique Trudel (1) , Juliette de Maeyer (2)

1 Audencia Business School
2 UdeM - Université de Montréal

Building on recent works emphasizing the “post-disciplinary” status of communication research, this article explores the implications of this thesis for the history of communication studies. While a portion of the existing historiography fits the disciplinary framework, the post-disciplinary thesis raises theoretical, methodological, and empirical challenges. In order to meet those challenges, we argue that historical research should also be directed toward intellectual and institutional projects that predated or transcended the institutionalization of communication as a discipline. To this end, we revisit the contribution of American journalist Franklin Ford (1849–1918) as an entry point into a historical moment when the study of communication was considered intellectually, socially, and institutionally relevant—for reasons that differ from the post-World War II institutionalization of communication as a discipline. Based on archival research, our approach emphasizes how Ford’s project diverges from the conventional disciplinary histories.

Mots clés: historiography; intellectual history; Journalism; normative theory; political theory; post-discipline; John Dewey; post-discipline International Communication Association Communication Theory

Domaines: Sciences de l'information et de la communication; Histoire, Philosophie et Sociologie des sciences

Dominique Trudel, Juliette de Maeyer. The Many-Sided Franklin Ford and the History of a Post-Discipline. Communication Theory, In press, ⟨10.1093/ct/qtac007⟩. ⟨hal-03688220⟩