Biography

Michael Bruner (a.k.a. M. Lane Bruner) (Ph.D., University of Washington, 1997) is Associate Professor teaching in the doctoral Public Communication track and the M.A. sequences in Mass Communication and Human Communication & Social Influence. Bruner’s research focuses on such topics as collective identity construction (e.g. national identity), critical globalization studies (e.g. the relationship between economic globalization and global governance), and ideological criticism (including, but not limited to, “structuring fictions” such as the divine right of kings, state sovereignty, and free trade). His books, Strategies of Remembrance: The Rhetorical Dimensions of National Identity Construction (University of South Carolina Press 2002) and Market Democracy in Post-Communist Russia (Wisdom House 2005, co-edited with V. Morozov) engages debates related to national identity construction and transformations in political power, the communicative strategies involved in free market policy implementation, and the state of global governance. He is currently completing research for two books: (1) on the historical relationship between economic innovation and republican forms of government; and (2) on globalization discourse. His essays appear in Text & Performance Quarterly, National Identities, Rhetoric & Public Affairs, Controversia, The Quarterly Journal of Speech, Communication Studies, Discourse & Society, The Western Journal of Communication, Javnost, Argumentation & Advocacy, and Rhetorica. In 2003 the NCA Rhetorical and Communication Theory Division honored him with its New Investigator Award. Research Areas: rhetorical studies, critical political communication, ideological criticism, and statecraft. Degree Track Affiliations: Ph.D. (Public Communication), M.A. (Human Communication & Social Influence). Core Graduate Seminars Regularly Taught: Contemporary Theories of Discourse, Communication in a Global Context, Theories of the Public, Issues and Perspectives in Communication Theory.