Chris Russill
Biographic Data
| ID | 354620 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Chris Russill |
| GIVEN NAMES | Chris |
| FAMILY NAME | Russill |
| SIGNATURE | RUSSILL C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Carleton University |
| ORCID | 0009-0001-4921-0151 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 31 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 64 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 31 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Displacements of Care in Climate Crisis
In this paper, the relationship of care and crisis is discussed with respect to tipping points and strategic mobilizations of the concept by climate communicators including scientists, policymakers, and activists. The displacement of care in our conceptions of crisis is evident during key moments of intermediation for the tipping point concept, a series of historical developments usually bracketed off in stories about the onset of climate change …
Greenwashing, net-zero, and the oil sands in Canada
Net-zero plans, or the target of negating an organization's carbon emissions by 2050, have proliferated among large oil and gas companies. These plans have led to misleading and unverifiable claims to climate protection and have spurred concerns by researchers about greenwashing. This article examines net zero greenwashing using the case of Pathways Alliance, a coalition of six companies representing 95 % of oil sands production in Canada, one of…
Alarmism and Accountability in Climate Communication During Extreme Events
The attribution of extreme events to climate change is now a recurrent feature of public communication. These statements are part of a wider refashioning of science and societal institutions to address the catastrophic risks of climate change. This incorporation of catastrophe into climate communication has heightened the tension between scholars concerned with undue alarmism and scholars emphasizing accountability to those most at risk or harmed…
A History of the Idea of Speaking into the Air
The following is a conversation that took place between John Durham Peters (JDP) and the editors of this special issue, Chris Russill (CR), Hannah Dick (HD), and Liam Cole Young (LCY) on November 18, 2021. The conversation transcript has been edited for clarity
Introduction
In this introduction to the Into the Air special issue of Media Theory, the editors reflect on the resonances and rhythms of John Durham Peters’ Speaking into the Air (1999). We consider what was in the air at the time of the book’s original publication, and during our time assembling this special issue. Drawing on publication and marketing materials from the book, as well as work in cultural studies, Black studies, and postcolonial theory, we ex…
On Black Canadian Media Studies
On February 17, 2022, the Canadian Journal of Communication met with Cheryl Thompson (2021) via Zoom to discuss her latest book, Uncle: Race, Nostalgia, and the Politics of Loyalty, and the possibilities of a Black Canadian media studies. Dr. Thompson is a professor in the School of Performance in X University,1Toronto, Canada, and author of Beauty in a Box: Detangling the Roots of Canada’s Black Beauty Culture. She has published articles in Emer…
Multicultural Snake Oil” and Black Cultural Criticism
This article presents a wide-ranging and reflective dialogue between Daniel McNeil and Chris Russill on the ideological, institutional, and cultural dimensions of multiculturalism in Canada, particularly as they intersect with Black cultural criticism. McNeil critiques the banal and bureaucratic deployment of multiculturalism as a state strategy and media discourse, characterising it as “multicultural snake oil”—a symbolic and ideological product…
Pandemic Publishing
Putting Race at the Forefront of Communication Studies
Black Studies and/as Media Theory
Harassment as Occupational Hazard
Regional
Covid-19 Testing
Founded in 1974, the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC) aims to publish Canadian research and scholarship in the field of communication studies. The purview of the journal is the entire field of communication studies as practiced in Canada or with relevance to Canada
Communication < Data
Looking for the Horizon
Pragmatism
Pragmatism, as an intellectual tradition developed from philosophy, is reviewed in its historical and contemporary significance for communication theory. The importance of James's psychology, Peirce's logic of scientific inquiry, and pragmatist conceptions of community are discussed in order to situate the “revival” of pragmatism that emerged in the late 1970s. The key contributors to the revival—Bernstein, Rorty, Habermas, Carey—are reviewed, as…
Climate change tipping points
The article reviews the origins, precursors, and main proponents of climate change tipping points, and the debates that the tipping point concept has occasioned. The importance of dynamical systems theory, GAIA theory, and abrupt climate change to the main proponents of tipping point warning systems is noted and situated in historical context. The ‘semantic confusion’ that animates contemporary debates, it is suggested, results not simply from a …
Forecast Earth
The author discusses the media developed to record and process sunlight as an environmental threat, especially ozone holes, ultraviolet indexes, and automated hazard alerts. These media are illustrative of how environmental precaution is produced by Earth-observing systems and indicative of how the politics of industrial transformations are shaped by the logistics of maintaining a data-processing infrastructure for observing dangerous environment…
Earth-Observing Media
Why haven't we seen the whole Earth-observing system yet?" O ne day in 1966, at the height of his fame, Marshall McLuhan was asked, "Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?" Stewart Brand, a Northern California hippie, had printed the question on pin-back buttons and sent one to McLuhan as part of a quirky liberation campaign (see Figure Brand's goal was not the emancipation of a people or a territory. He sought only to liberate …
Tipping Point Discourse in Dangerous Times
The concept of the tipping point has reshaped how crisis is perceived and understood in public discourse. We study this trend in selected instances, including the 2005 Iraqi elections, the 2005 flooding in Louisiana, and the climate-change crisis, before situating Malcolm Gladwell's theory of the tipping point in historical context. We discuss how Gladwell interprets key dimensions of the epidemiological approach in an overly selective manner in …
Truth and opinion in climate change discourse
In this paper, I discuss the “inconvenient truth” strategy of Al Gore. I argue that Gore’s notion of truth upholds a conception of science and policy that narrows our understanding of climate change discourse. In one notable exchange, Gore and NASA scientist, James Hansen, disagreed about whether scientific statements based on Hansen’s computer simulations were truth or opinion. This exchange is featured in An Inconvenient Truth, yet the disagree…
Stephen Schneider and the “Double Ethical Bind” of Climate Change Communication
Stephen Schneider’s perspective on climate change communication is distinguished by its longevity, a keen anticipation of research findings, historical understanding, and grounding in first-person experience. In this article, the author elaborates Schneider’s work in terms of its key claims, suggestive research directions, and lessons for scientists, journalists, and citizens. This article also evaluates his “double ethical bind” formulation to d…
The Ideology of the Epidemic
In recent years, epidemiology has made a leap from specialized literature to popular discourse. Thanks in part to Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling treatment of “social epidemics,” The Tipping Point, nearly every facet of social and political life—from fashion trends and crime waves to global warming and obesity rates—has been described as an epidemic. This paper explores the rise of an “epidemiological imaginary” in which the language of epidemiolo…
The tipping point trend in climate change communication
Tipping Point Forewarnings in Climate Change Communication
Prominent British and American sources now seek to structure public understanding of climate change by issuing “tipping point” forewarnings of danger with increasing frequency. This emerging trend announces a shift in the way we are likely to perceive and respond to climate change dangers. This paper reviews key statements to suggest a significant dimension of this trend is its enrollment of epidemiological terminology to communicate urgent and u…
The tipping point trend in climate change communication
Through a Public Darkly
Journal Article Through a Public Darkly: Reconstructing Pragmatist Perspectives in Communication Theory Get access Chris Russill Chris Russill 1Department of Writing Studies, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55108 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Communication Theory, Volume 18, Issue 4, November 2008, Pages 478–504, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2008.00331.x Published: 29 October …
Climate change tipping points
The article reviews the origins, precursors, and main proponents of climate change tipping points, and the debates that the tipping point concept has occasioned. The importance of dynamical systems theory, GAIA theory, and abrupt climate change to the main proponents of tipping point warning systems is noted and situated in historical context. The ‘semantic confusion’ that animates contemporary debates, it is suggested, results not simply from a …
Communication Problems in a Pragmatist Perspective
Keywords: James CareyJohn Durham PetersPragmatismProblematization Additional informationNotes on contributorsChris RussillChris Russill (PhD, Penn State) is an assistant professor appointed in environmental communication at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Tipping Point Discourse in Dangerous Times
The concept of the tipping point has reshaped how crisis is perceived and understood in public discourse. We study this trend in selected instances, including the 2005 Iraqi elections, the 2005 flooding in Louisiana, and the climate-change crisis, before situating Malcolm Gladwell's theory of the tipping point in historical context. We discuss how Gladwell interprets key dimensions of the epidemiological approach in an overly selective manner in …
The Ideology of the Epidemic
In recent years, epidemiology has made a leap from specialized literature to popular discourse. Thanks in part to Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling treatment of “social epidemics,” The Tipping Point, nearly every facet of social and political life—from fashion trends and crime waves to global warming and obesity rates—has been described as an epidemic. This paper explores the rise of an “epidemiological imaginary” in which the language of epidemiolo…
Alarmism and Accountability in Climate Communication During Extreme Events
The attribution of extreme events to climate change is now a recurrent feature of public communication. These statements are part of a wider refashioning of science and societal institutions to address the catastrophic risks of climate change. This incorporation of catastrophe into climate communication has heightened the tension between scholars concerned with undue alarmism and scholars emphasizing accountability to those most at risk or harmed…
Greenwashing, net-zero, and the oil sands in Canada
Net-zero plans, or the target of negating an organization's carbon emissions by 2050, have proliferated among large oil and gas companies. These plans have led to misleading and unverifiable claims to climate protection and have spurred concerns by researchers about greenwashing. This article examines net zero greenwashing using the case of Pathways Alliance, a coalition of six companies representing 95 % of oil sands production in Canada, one of…
The Buoyancy of Failure
New Orleans and the Mississippi River are often described as a battleground in the war between man and nature. The authors argue that crisis displacement strategies disincline reflection on how this characterization contributes to catastrophic events. The authors outline three sites of crisis displacement: the Army Corps of Engineers, media coverage, and the philosophy of war of the United States government
Student Inquiries into Neglected Research for a Sustainable Society
By applying the interdisciplinary approach of science, technology, and society, students can solve often-neglected research problems of shifting society's operation toward a sustainable state. A recent Penn State University student research report titled The Mueller Report: Moving Beyond Sustainability Indicators to Sustainability Action contained a detailed ecological analysis of one campus building and addressed methods to optimize its ecologic…
The Buoyancy of Failure
New Orleans and the Mississippi River are often described as a battleground in the war between man and nature. The authors argue that crisis displacement strategies disincline reflection on how this characterization contributes to catastrophic events. The authors outline three sites of crisis displacement: the Army Corps of Engineers, media coverage, and the philosophy of war of the United States government
Communication Problems in a Pragmatist Perspective
Keywords: James CareyJohn Durham PetersPragmatismProblematization Additional informationNotes on contributorsChris RussillChris Russill (PhD, Penn State) is an assistant professor appointed in environmental communication at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Tipping Point Forewarnings in Climate Change Communication
Prominent British and American sources now seek to structure public understanding of climate change by issuing “tipping point” forewarnings of danger with increasing frequency. This emerging trend announces a shift in the way we are likely to perceive and respond to climate change dangers. This paper reviews key statements to suggest a significant dimension of this trend is its enrollment of epidemiological terminology to communicate urgent and u…
Sublimity and Solutions
This essay situates ICT for Development (ICT4D) perspectives in relationship to the neo-liberal rationality characteristic of the WTO, World Bank, and G8 economic frameworks. Using James Carey's (2005) pragmatist perspective and recent work on problematization, the essay proceeds in three steps: 1) it situates the emergence, role, and organization of the UN ICT Task Force in amplifying ICT4D perspectives, 2) it discusses the importance of problem…
Through a Public Darkly
Journal Article Through a Public Darkly: Reconstructing Pragmatist Perspectives in Communication Theory Get access Chris Russill Chris Russill 1Department of Writing Studies, University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, Minneapolis, MN 55108 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Communication Theory, Volume 18, Issue 4, November 2008, Pages 478–504, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2885.2008.00331.x Published: 29 October …
The Billion-Dollar Kyoto Botch-up
New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions have increased significantly since 1990. This article examines how the fact of increasing emissions is discussed and given significance in New Zealand's national public discourse on climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions became a serious public concern on 17 June 2005, when the New Zealand government estimated a $307 million Kyoto Protocol liability in its 2005 financial statements. Conservative media cove…
The tipping point trend in climate change communication
Stephen Schneider and the “Double Ethical Bind” of Climate Change Communication
Stephen Schneider’s perspective on climate change communication is distinguished by its longevity, a keen anticipation of research findings, historical understanding, and grounding in first-person experience. In this article, the author elaborates Schneider’s work in terms of its key claims, suggestive research directions, and lessons for scientists, journalists, and citizens. This article also evaluates his “double ethical bind” formulation to d…
The Ideology of the Epidemic
In recent years, epidemiology has made a leap from specialized literature to popular discourse. Thanks in part to Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling treatment of “social epidemics,” The Tipping Point, nearly every facet of social and political life—from fashion trends and crime waves to global warming and obesity rates—has been described as an epidemic. This paper explores the rise of an “epidemiological imaginary” in which the language of epidemiolo…
Truth and opinion in climate change discourse
In this paper, I discuss the “inconvenient truth” strategy of Al Gore. I argue that Gore’s notion of truth upholds a conception of science and policy that narrows our understanding of climate change discourse. In one notable exchange, Gore and NASA scientist, James Hansen, disagreed about whether scientific statements based on Hansen’s computer simulations were truth or opinion. This exchange is featured in An Inconvenient Truth, yet the disagree…
Tipping Point Discourse in Dangerous Times
The concept of the tipping point has reshaped how crisis is perceived and understood in public discourse. We study this trend in selected instances, including the 2005 Iraqi elections, the 2005 flooding in Louisiana, and the climate-change crisis, before situating Malcolm Gladwell's theory of the tipping point in historical context. We discuss how Gladwell interprets key dimensions of the epidemiological approach in an overly selective manner in …
Forecast Earth
The author discusses the media developed to record and process sunlight as an environmental threat, especially ozone holes, ultraviolet indexes, and automated hazard alerts. These media are illustrative of how environmental precaution is produced by Earth-observing systems and indicative of how the politics of industrial transformations are shaped by the logistics of maintaining a data-processing infrastructure for observing dangerous environment…
Earth-Observing Media
Why haven't we seen the whole Earth-observing system yet?" O ne day in 1966, at the height of his fame, Marshall McLuhan was asked, "Why haven't we seen a photograph of the whole Earth yet?" Stewart Brand, a Northern California hippie, had printed the question on pin-back buttons and sent one to McLuhan as part of a quirky liberation campaign (see Figure Brand's goal was not the emancipation of a people or a territory. He sought only to liberate …
Climate change tipping points
The article reviews the origins, precursors, and main proponents of climate change tipping points, and the debates that the tipping point concept has occasioned. The importance of dynamical systems theory, GAIA theory, and abrupt climate change to the main proponents of tipping point warning systems is noted and situated in historical context. The ‘semantic confusion’ that animates contemporary debates, it is suggested, results not simply from a …
Pragmatism
Pragmatism, as an intellectual tradition developed from philosophy, is reviewed in its historical and contemporary significance for communication theory. The importance of James's psychology, Peirce's logic of scientific inquiry, and pragmatist conceptions of community are discussed in order to situate the “revival” of pragmatism that emerged in the late 1970s. The key contributors to the revival—Bernstein, Rorty, Habermas, Carey—are reviewed, as…
Looking for the Horizon
Communication < Data
Regional
Covid-19 Testing
Founded in 1974, the Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC) aims to publish Canadian research and scholarship in the field of communication studies. The purview of the journal is the entire field of communication studies as practiced in Canada or with relevance to Canada
Multicultural Snake Oil” and Black Cultural Criticism
This article presents a wide-ranging and reflective dialogue between Daniel McNeil and Chris Russill on the ideological, institutional, and cultural dimensions of multiculturalism in Canada, particularly as they intersect with Black cultural criticism. McNeil critiques the banal and bureaucratic deployment of multiculturalism as a state strategy and media discourse, characterising it as “multicultural snake oil”—a symbolic and ideological product…
Pandemic Publishing
Putting Race at the Forefront of Communication Studies
Black Studies and/as Media Theory
Harassment as Occupational Hazard
Political science (19 works) · Sociology (19 works) · Law (14 works) · Philosophy (11 works) · Computer Science (10 works) · Law (10 works) · Climate Change Communication and Perception (9 works) · Epistemology (8 works) · Philosophy (8 works) · Climate change (7 works)