Mark P Orbe
Biographic Data
| ID | 4418634 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark P Orbe |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark P |
| FAMILY NAME | Orbe |
| SIGNATURE | ORBE M P |
| AFFILIATIONS | Western Michigan University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4979-5118 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 35 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 78 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 32 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
Introduction: Academic freedom and critical pedagogy in an age of educational intimidation
Pedagogy of the taboo in the midst of anti-Deia politics: Manifesting the democratic classroom
Race matters’ in applied communication research: Past, Present, and Future
Micro-Protests as Co-cultural Communicative Practice
In this article, I utilize phenomenologically-based creative nonfiction to present a case study of what micro-protest looks like for an African American faculty member working in a predominantly white university. Drawing from observations and informal information-gathering techniques over a 20+ year period, I present a layered account to share snippets from a larger narrative that vividly capture the nuanced ways co-cultural group members navigat…
African American Female Pilot on the Flight Deck
Utilizing phenomenological creative nonfiction, this study explores the communicative experiences of an African American female military pilot on the flight deck and within the civil, commercial aviation industry. Presented in narrative form, the findings explore a phenomenological approach to critical-cultural narratology in qualitative research methodologies in terms of descriptive depth, theoretical rigor, and heuristic value. The narrative of…
Becoming
In this introduction to the special issue the authors craft a critical autoethnography to chronicle their relationship and/to critical autoethnography. They use Michelle Obama’s book and documentary Becoming to reflect on how the critical reflexivity inherent in autoethnographic work can be used to document relationships, moments of revelation, and self-empowerment. They then preview four articles that map experiences of becoming linked to racial…
Embracing Intersectionality in Co-Cultural and Dominant Group Theorizing: Implications for Theory, Research, and Pedagogy
It can be difficult to identify consequential social identities when both conversation participants feel culturally disadvantaged. This phenomenon is especially present in intercultural interactions that are power-laden, but are also present when there are multiple perceptions of social disadvantage at play within a given interaction. Depending on the saliency of a cultural marker such as race or sex, for example, an African American man may feel…
The Normative Nature of Racial Microaggressions in the Legal Field: Exploring the Communicative Experiences of U.S. Attorneys of Colour
In the midst of heightened racial tensions across the United States, this study documents the prevalence of racial microaggressions as reported by 17 attorneys of colour (African American, Asian American, and Latinx) from across different national regions. Qualitative data provides insight into to how these race-based messages are situated within assumptions of inferiority, similarity, and criminality. Through a co-cultural theoretical lens, the …
Critical Autoethnography: Intersecting Cultural Identities in Everyday Life
The quest for normalcy: Signifying interracial romantic alliances in ABC’s Scandal
The objective of this analysis is to analyze the first six seasons of Scandal to examine the signification of interracial relationships within a contemporary mass-mediated (con)text where post-racialism has become part of the dominant non-diegetic discourse. More specifically, I assume a semiotic analytic frame to focus on the interracial romantic alliance between high profile DC political players, Olivia Pope and Fitzgerald Grant (aka “Olitz”). …
Intercultural Theorizing for a Global Communication Curriculum: A Short-term Study Abroad Pedagogical Template
In a world where nationalism has surged as a response to advanced commitments to multiculturalism, educators have an opportunity – and responsibility – to broaden the cultural perspectives of their
Two Sides of the Same Coin: Conceptualizing Dominant Group Theory in the Context of Co-Cultural Theory
Through this theoretical essay, we conceptualize what constitutes dominant group theory. We review existing literature on two essential aspects of dominant group theory: (1) power, privilege, and communication, and (2) co-cultural theory. Drawing from data from two recent studies, we then use the conceptual framework of co-cultural theory to generate an extension that explores the communicative strategies of majority group members. More particula…
Critical Autoethnography: Intersecting Cultural Identities in Everyday Life
Theorizing the Cultural Contracts Performed through Racialized Masculinities
In this manuscript, we engage the topic of racialized masculinities through collective autoethnography—a methodological approach that values how life narratives organically reflect both interpersonal and intercultural dimensions. More specifically, we embrace a layered account whereas our individual and collective points of self-reflexivity inform, and are informed by, cultural contracts theory. Our goal here is not to document racialized and gen…
Interracial Communication: Theory Into Practice
This Third Edition of Interracial Communication: Theory Into Practice guides readers in applying the contributions of recent communication theory to improving everyday communication among the races. Authors Mark P. Orbe and Tina M. Harris offer a comprehensive, practical foundation for dialogue on interracial communication, as well as a resource that stimulates thinking and encourages readers to become active participants in dialogue across racia…
Competing Cultural Worldviews in the United States: A Phenomenological Examination of the Essential Core Elements of Transnationalism and Transculturalism
The objective of this study was to explore inductively the complex ways in which everyday discourse reflects larger - and often competing - cultural worldviews. A phenomenological framework was used to analyze transcripts generated through 13 focus group discussions involving 100 individuals. This particular analysis highlights how individuals who adopted a transnational worldview worked to transform cultural divisions through criticism of existi…
Identity Research and Communication: Intercultural Reflections and Future Directions
The concept of identity has steadily emerged in importance in the field of intercultural communication, especially over the last two decades. In a transnational world marked by complex connectivity as well as enduring differences and power inequities, it is imperative to understand and continuously theorize how we perceive the self in relation to the cultural other. Such understandings play a central role in how we negotiate relationships, build …
Identity research and communication: Intercultural reflections and future directions
Introduction: Identity Research in Communication Part I. Identity Pedagogy, and Praxis Chapter 1. Performative Pedagogy as a Pedagogy of Interruption: Difference and Hope Chapter 2. Intersectionality: Power, Privilege, and Identity in Political Activist Communities Chapter 3. Understanding Identity through Dialogue: Paulo Freire and Communication Pedagogy Chapter 4. (Academic) Families of Choice: Queer Relationality, Mentoring, and Critical Commu…
Communication Realities in a Post-Racial Society: What the U.S. Public Really Thinks of President Barack Obama
This book seeks to go beyond existing public polls regarding Barack Obama, and instead offers a comprehensive treatment of public perceptions that resist mass generalizations based on race, gender, age, political affiliation, or geographical location. Drawing from a large national qualitative data set generated by 333 diverse participants from twelve different states across six U.S. regions, Mark P. Orbe offers a comprehensive look into public pe…
Understanding Interpersonal Manifestations of “Reverse Discrimination” Through Phenomenological Inquiry
This article reports on a study that explores the ways individuals describe being the targets of ‘reverse discrimination’—times when those traditionally discriminated against turn the tables against majority group members. Using an inductive, phenomenological form of inquiry, the study examines 104 narratives of ‘reverse discrimination’ (based on race, gender, age, and sexual orientation) collected as part of a larger study on uncertainty in oppr…
Race Matters” in the Obama Era
Barack Obama's improbable journey from Illinois State Senator to President of the United States of America has been documented through an abundance of national and international media outlets. The
Analyzing Strategic Responses to Discriminatory Acts: A Co-Cultural Communicative Investigation
This qualitative content analysis explores the multiple ways in which individuals respond to acts of discrimination based on race, sex, age, sexual orientation, and disability. This study examines 258 stories of discrimination using a co-cultural theoretical frame of analysis to empirically assess those interactive structures that perpetuate the communicative system of how co-cultural discriminatory acts become reproduced in everyday life. Specif…
Defining discrimination across cultural groups: Exploring the [un-]coordinated management of meaning
Exhaling So That We Can Catch Our Breath and Sing: Reflections on Issues Inherent in Publishing Race-Related Communication Research
This article features a cyberspace discussion involving four communication scholars reflecting a variety of perspectives based on race, gender, age, regionality, and tenure within the academy. After reading each of the essays contained in this special issue, we engaged in an on-line discussion of our reactions to, perceptions of, and experiences with the issues raised by the collective voices contained in this volume. In short, this “finale piece…
Theorizing multidimensional identity negotiation: Reflections on the lived experiences of first-generation college students
Drawing from recent research on first-generation college (FGC) students, this chapter advances an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for understanding how these students enact multiple aspects of their personal, cultural, and social identities. I use dialectical and cross-cultural adaptation theories as a foundation to extend examinations of how diverse FGC students negotiate the alien culture of the academy against that of home. In this reg…
From The Standpoint(s) of Traditionally Muted Groups: Explicating A Co-cuItural Communication Theoretical Model
Journal Article From The Standpoint(s) of Traditionally Muted Groups: Explicating A Co-cultural Communication Theoretical Model Get access Mark P. Orbe Mark P. Orbe 1Mark P. Orbe is an assistant professor o f communication and diversity, Department of Communication, at Western Michigan University. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Communication Theory, Volume 8, Issue 1, 1 February 1998, Pages 1–26, https://…
The Complexity of Our Tears: Dis/enchantment and (In)Difference In the Academy
Journal Article The Complexity of Our Tears: Dis/enchantment and (In)Difference In the Academy Get access Brenda J. Allen, Brenda J. Allen Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Mark P. Orbe, Mark P. Orbe Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Margarita Refugia Olivas Margarita Refugia Olivas 1Brenda J. Allen (PhD, Howard University, 1989) is an associate professor and associate …
Constructions of reality on MTV's “the real world: An analysis of the restrictive coding of black masculinity
This article gives critical consciousness, via a semiotic analytical lens, to the representations of Black masculinity on MTV's THE REAL WORLD. My primary objective is to reveal the problematic nature of how African American male cast members are signified on the show, and how these images work to maintain the “typification “ of Black men as inherently angry, potentially violent, and sexually aggressive. Attention is also given to the uniqueness …
Two Sides of the Same Coin: Conceptualizing Dominant Group Theory in the Context of Co-Cultural Theory
Through this theoretical essay, we conceptualize what constitutes dominant group theory. We review existing literature on two essential aspects of dominant group theory: (1) power, privilege, and communication, and (2) co-cultural theory. Drawing from data from two recent studies, we then use the conceptual framework of co-cultural theory to generate an extension that explores the communicative strategies of majority group members. More particula…
Accepting the Challenge of Centralizing Without Essentializing: Black Feminist thought and African American Women’s Communicative Experiences”
Black feminist thought represents one of several feminist standpoint theories. Collins’ (1986) conceptual framework of Black feminist thought renders an insightful vantage point into the experiences of “ordinary” African American women, and the focus of this essay is to offer a collaborative analysis of the salience and utility of Black feminist thought in communication research. A recent case study that focused on African American women’s commun…
Centralizing diverse racial/ethnic voices in scholarly research: The value of phenomenological inquiry
Embracing Intersectionality in Co-Cultural and Dominant Group Theorizing: Implications for Theory, Research, and Pedagogy
It can be difficult to identify consequential social identities when both conversation participants feel culturally disadvantaged. This phenomenon is especially present in intercultural interactions that are power-laden, but are also present when there are multiple perceptions of social disadvantage at play within a given interaction. Depending on the saliency of a cultural marker such as race or sex, for example, an African American man may feel…
Race matters’ in applied communication research: Past, Present, and Future
Exhaling So That We Can Catch Our Breath and Sing: Reflections on Issues Inherent in Publishing Race-Related Communication Research
This article features a cyberspace discussion involving four communication scholars reflecting a variety of perspectives based on race, gender, age, regionality, and tenure within the academy. After reading each of the essays contained in this special issue, we engaged in an on-line discussion of our reactions to, perceptions of, and experiences with the issues raised by the collective voices contained in this volume. In short, this “finale piece…
Situating Oneself in a Racialized World: Understanding Student Reactions to Crash through Standpoint Theory and Context-Positionality Frames
Through a thematic analysis of 136 student reactions to the movie Crash, this study examines how individuals situate themselves in terms of race, racism, and race relations in the film and how their racial locations inform this situatedness. We utilize principles of standpoint theories as the theoretical framework for the analysis. We first describe this situatedness in terms of six emergent genres of responses that varied across positionality an…
Becoming
In this introduction to the special issue the authors craft a critical autoethnography to chronicle their relationship and/to critical autoethnography. They use Michelle Obama’s book and documentary Becoming to reflect on how the critical reflexivity inherent in autoethnographic work can be used to document relationships, moments of revelation, and self-empowerment. They then preview four articles that map experiences of becoming linked to racial…
Analyzing Strategic Responses to Discriminatory Acts: A Co-Cultural Communicative Investigation
This qualitative content analysis explores the multiple ways in which individuals respond to acts of discrimination based on race, sex, age, sexual orientation, and disability. This study examines 258 stories of discrimination using a co-cultural theoretical frame of analysis to empirically assess those interactive structures that perpetuate the communicative system of how co-cultural discriminatory acts become reproduced in everyday life. Specif…
Defining discrimination across cultural groups: Exploring the [un-]coordinated management of meaning
Introduction: Academic freedom and critical pedagogy in an age of educational intimidation
Race Matters” in the Obama Era
Barack Obama's improbable journey from Illinois State Senator to President of the United States of America has been documented through an abundance of national and international media outlets. The
Evidence for the Construct Validity and Reliability of the Co-Cultural Theory Scales
Co-cultural theory provides a theoretical framework that examines the ways that members of co-cultural groups communicate when interacting with members of a dominant culture (Orbe, 1998a Orbe, M. 1998a. Constructing co-cultural theory: An explication of culture, power, and communication, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). The tenants of the theory were inductively derived via phenomenological analyses of focus group and inte…
The Fairy Tale Theme in Popular Culture: A Semiotic Analysis of Pretty Woman
(1993). The Fairy Tale Theme in Popular Culture: A Semiotic Analysis of Pretty Woman. Women's Studies in Communication: Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 86-104
The Fairy Tale Theme in Popular Culture: A Semiotic Analysis of Pretty Woman
(1993). The Fairy Tale Theme in Popular Culture: A Semiotic Analysis of Pretty Woman. Women's Studies in Communication: Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 86-104
Constructing Co-Cultural Theory: An Explication of Culture, Power, and Communication
An Introduction into Co-Cultural Communication Foundations of Muted Group and Standpoint Theory Explicating Phenomenological Inquiry Co-Cultural Communicative Practices Clarifying a Co-Cultural Communication Process Limitations, Extensions and Future Directions
From The Standpoint(s) of Traditionally Muted Groups: Explicating A Co-cuItural Communication Theoretical Model
Journal Article From The Standpoint(s) of Traditionally Muted Groups: Explicating A Co-cultural Communication Theoretical Model Get access Mark P. Orbe Mark P. Orbe 1Mark P. Orbe is an assistant professor o f communication and diversity, Department of Communication, at Western Michigan University. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Communication Theory, Volume 8, Issue 1, 1 February 1998, Pages 1–26, https://…
Constructions of reality on MTV's “the real world: An analysis of the restrictive coding of black masculinity
This article gives critical consciousness, via a semiotic analytical lens, to the representations of Black masculinity on MTV's THE REAL WORLD. My primary objective is to reveal the problematic nature of how African American male cast members are signified on the show, and how these images work to maintain the “typification “ of Black men as inherently angry, potentially violent, and sexually aggressive. Attention is also given to the uniqueness …
The Complexity of Our Tears: Dis/enchantment and (In)Difference In the Academy
Journal Article The Complexity of Our Tears: Dis/enchantment and (In)Difference In the Academy Get access Brenda J. Allen, Brenda J. Allen Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Mark P. Orbe, Mark P. Orbe Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Margarita Refugia Olivas Margarita Refugia Olivas 1Brenda J. Allen (PhD, Howard University, 1989) is an associate professor and associate …
Accepting the Challenge of Centralizing Without Essentializing: Black Feminist thought and African American Women’s Communicative Experiences”
Black feminist thought represents one of several feminist standpoint theories. Collins’ (1986) conceptual framework of Black feminist thought renders an insightful vantage point into the experiences of “ordinary” African American women, and the focus of this essay is to offer a collaborative analysis of the salience and utility of Black feminist thought in communication research. A recent case study that focused on African American women’s commun…
Centralizing diverse racial/ethnic voices in scholarly research: The value of phenomenological inquiry
“The Syndrome of the Boiled Frog: ” Exploring International Students on US Campuses as Co-Cultural Group Members
Through the lens of co-cultural theory, this study explored how international students’ positionality as cultural outsiders affects their communicative practices. Sixty-two narratives composed by international students representing 30 countries were qualitatively analyzed following McCracken's (1988 McCracken, G. 1988. The long interview, Newbury Park, CA: Sage. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) guidelines. Five themes revealed international student…
Evidence for the Construct Validity and Reliability of the Co-Cultural Theory Scales
Co-cultural theory provides a theoretical framework that examines the ways that members of co-cultural groups communicate when interacting with members of a dominant culture (Orbe, 1998a Orbe, M. 1998a. Constructing co-cultural theory: An explication of culture, power, and communication, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). The tenants of the theory were inductively derived via phenomenological analyses of focus group and inte…
Theorizing multidimensional identity negotiation: Reflections on the lived experiences of first-generation college students
Drawing from recent research on first-generation college (FGC) students, this chapter advances an interdisciplinary theoretical framework for understanding how these students enact multiple aspects of their personal, cultural, and social identities. I use dialectical and cross-cultural adaptation theories as a foundation to extend examinations of how diverse FGC students negotiate the alien culture of the academy against that of home. In this reg…
Situating Oneself in a Racialized World: Understanding Student Reactions to Crash through Standpoint Theory and Context-Positionality Frames
Through a thematic analysis of 136 student reactions to the movie Crash, this study examines how individuals situate themselves in terms of race, racism, and race relations in the film and how their racial locations inform this situatedness. We utilize principles of standpoint theories as the theoretical framework for the analysis. We first describe this situatedness in terms of six emergent genres of responses that varied across positionality an…
Analyzing Strategic Responses to Discriminatory Acts: A Co-Cultural Communicative Investigation
This qualitative content analysis explores the multiple ways in which individuals respond to acts of discrimination based on race, sex, age, sexual orientation, and disability. This study examines 258 stories of discrimination using a co-cultural theoretical frame of analysis to empirically assess those interactive structures that perpetuate the communicative system of how co-cultural discriminatory acts become reproduced in everyday life. Specif…
Defining discrimination across cultural groups: Exploring the [un-]coordinated management of meaning
Exhaling So That We Can Catch Our Breath and Sing: Reflections on Issues Inherent in Publishing Race-Related Communication Research
This article features a cyberspace discussion involving four communication scholars reflecting a variety of perspectives based on race, gender, age, regionality, and tenure within the academy. After reading each of the essays contained in this special issue, we engaged in an on-line discussion of our reactions to, perceptions of, and experiences with the issues raised by the collective voices contained in this volume. In short, this “finale piece…
Communication Realities in a Post-Racial Society: What the U.S. Public Really Thinks of President Barack Obama
This book seeks to go beyond existing public polls regarding Barack Obama, and instead offers a comprehensive treatment of public perceptions that resist mass generalizations based on race, gender, age, political affiliation, or geographical location. Drawing from a large national qualitative data set generated by 333 diverse participants from twelve different states across six U.S. regions, Mark P. Orbe offers a comprehensive look into public pe…
Understanding Interpersonal Manifestations of “Reverse Discrimination” Through Phenomenological Inquiry
This article reports on a study that explores the ways individuals describe being the targets of ‘reverse discrimination’—times when those traditionally discriminated against turn the tables against majority group members. Using an inductive, phenomenological form of inquiry, the study examines 104 narratives of ‘reverse discrimination’ (based on race, gender, age, and sexual orientation) collected as part of a larger study on uncertainty in oppr…
Race Matters” in the Obama Era
Barack Obama's improbable journey from Illinois State Senator to President of the United States of America has been documented through an abundance of national and international media outlets. The
Identity Research and Communication: Intercultural Reflections and Future Directions
The concept of identity has steadily emerged in importance in the field of intercultural communication, especially over the last two decades. In a transnational world marked by complex connectivity as well as enduring differences and power inequities, it is imperative to understand and continuously theorize how we perceive the self in relation to the cultural other. Such understandings play a central role in how we negotiate relationships, build …
Identity research and communication: Intercultural reflections and future directions
Introduction: Identity Research in Communication Part I. Identity Pedagogy, and Praxis Chapter 1. Performative Pedagogy as a Pedagogy of Interruption: Difference and Hope Chapter 2. Intersectionality: Power, Privilege, and Identity in Political Activist Communities Chapter 3. Understanding Identity through Dialogue: Paulo Freire and Communication Pedagogy Chapter 4. (Academic) Families of Choice: Queer Relationality, Mentoring, and Critical Commu…
Competing Cultural Worldviews in the United States: A Phenomenological Examination of the Essential Core Elements of Transnationalism and Transculturalism
The objective of this study was to explore inductively the complex ways in which everyday discourse reflects larger - and often competing - cultural worldviews. A phenomenological framework was used to analyze transcripts generated through 13 focus group discussions involving 100 individuals. This particular analysis highlights how individuals who adopted a transnational worldview worked to transform cultural divisions through criticism of existi…
Interracial Communication: Theory Into Practice
This Third Edition of Interracial Communication: Theory Into Practice guides readers in applying the contributions of recent communication theory to improving everyday communication among the races. Authors Mark P. Orbe and Tina M. Harris offer a comprehensive, practical foundation for dialogue on interracial communication, as well as a resource that stimulates thinking and encourages readers to become active participants in dialogue across racia…
Critical Autoethnography: Intersecting Cultural Identities in Everyday Life
Theorizing the Cultural Contracts Performed through Racialized Masculinities
In this manuscript, we engage the topic of racialized masculinities through collective autoethnography—a methodological approach that values how life narratives organically reflect both interpersonal and intercultural dimensions. More specifically, we embrace a layered account whereas our individual and collective points of self-reflexivity inform, and are informed by, cultural contracts theory. Our goal here is not to document racialized and gen…
The quest for normalcy: Signifying interracial romantic alliances in ABC’s Scandal
The objective of this analysis is to analyze the first six seasons of Scandal to examine the signification of interracial relationships within a contemporary mass-mediated (con)text where post-racialism has become part of the dominant non-diegetic discourse. More specifically, I assume a semiotic analytic frame to focus on the interracial romantic alliance between high profile DC political players, Olivia Pope and Fitzgerald Grant (aka “Olitz”). …
Intercultural Theorizing for a Global Communication Curriculum: A Short-term Study Abroad Pedagogical Template
In a world where nationalism has surged as a response to advanced commitments to multiculturalism, educators have an opportunity – and responsibility – to broaden the cultural perspectives of their
Sociology (34 works) · Psychology (25 works) · Epistemology (18 works) · Political science (16 works) · Social science (15 works) · Gender Studies (13 works) · Gender Studies (13 works) · Aesthetics (12 works) · Social Psychology (12 works) · Social Psychology (11 works)