The Compass of Friendship: Narratives, Identities, and Dialogues / Edition 1

by William K Rawlins

Overview

2012 Recipient of the Gerald R. Miller Book Award from the Interpersonal Communication Division of the National Communication Association (NCA)

2009 Recipient of the David R. Maines Narrative Research Award from the Ethnography Division of the National Communication Association (NCA)

"The book is a valuable addition to the literature on friendship. Faculty who teach relationship development will find useful material for themselves and their students. Relationship researchers will find dozens of possible studies in these pages. Finally, any thoughtful person interested in relationship quality could profit from reading this interesting treatment of one of life's most valuable attributes—our friends. " - Phil Backlund, University of Denver

Exploring how friends use dialogue and storytelling to construct identities, deal with differences, make choices, and build inclusive communities, The Compass of Friendship examines communication dialectically across private, personal friendships as well as public, political friendships. Author William K. Rawlins uses compelling examples and cases from literature, films, dialogue and storytelling between actual friends, student discussions of cross-sex friendships, and interviews with interracial friends. Throughout the book, he invites readers to consider such questions as: What are the possibilities for enduring, close friendships between men and women? How far can friendship's practices extend into public life to facilitate social justice? What are the predicaments and promises of friendships that bridge racial boundaries? How useful and realistic are the ideals and activities of friendship for serving the well-lived lives of individuals, groups, and larger collectives?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412952972
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	08/22/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

William K. Rawlins (Ph.D., Temple University) is Stocker Professor in the School of Communication Studies at Ohio University. His book, Friendship Matters: Communication, Dialectics, and the Life Course, was selected as an Outstanding Academic Book for 1993 by the editors of Choice, and received the Gerald R. Miller Book Award in 1994 from the Interpersonal and Small Group Interaction Division of the National Communication Association. In 2002 he received The Theory That Has Left a Legacy Award: “The Dialectical Perspective” from the Communication Theory Interest Group of the Central States Communication Association. Over the past 25 years, Professor Rawlins has published extensively about the unique challenges and dialectical tensions of communicating in friendships.

Bill teaches courses in communication in friendships across the life course, interpersonal and relational communication, communication theory, dialogue and experience, interpretive and ethnographic inquiry, communication and narrative, and Gregory Bateson and communication theory. While at Purdue University, he received the W. Charles Redding Award for Excellence in Teaching from the Department of Communication five times, the School of Liberal Arts Departmental Educational Excellence Award for 2000-2001, and the School of Liberal Arts Educational Excellence Award for 2002-2003.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Living Friendship
2. Making Choices as Communicators: Similarity, Difference, Individuation, and Participation
Perceiving Similarities and Differences
Negotiating Contexts, Making Choices, and Creating Meanings
Constructing Similarities and Differences of Self and Others
Achieving and (Mis)Perceiving Identities Through the Dialectic of Individuation and Participation
Categories and Identity Construction
Modes of the Dialectic of Individuation and Participation
3. Communicating Friendship: A Dialogue of Narratives and a Narrative of Dialogues
Storytelling Between Friends
Practicing Dialogue Between Friends
Narratives, Dialogues, and Friendships
Interweaving Narrative and Dialogue in Discourses of Friendship
Conclusion
4. Making Meanings With Friends: Two Women's Storytelling and Dialogue
Beginning the Conversation and the Story of Karen and Chris's Friendship
Narrating Diverging Life Paths
Sharing Stories of Divorces and Traveling Together
Side Two of the Tape-Conversing About Pets and Policies
Performing a Dialogue of Narratives About Conjunctive Freedoms
Interweaving Narratives and Dialogue in the Talk of Two Friends
5. Talking With College Students About Frontiers and Frustrations of Cross-Sex Friendships
Debating Cross-Sex Friendship
Addressing Students? Positions on Cross-Sex Friendship
Conclusion
6. Pursuing Cross-Race Friendships in Personal, Sociocultural, and Historical Contexts
Constrained Cross-Race Friendship
Blacks and Whites Engaging in Friendships: Asymmetrical Challenges and Edifying Practices
Recognizing Meaningfully Whole Persons and Contingent Identities
Accomplishing Cross-Race Friendship
Making Choices, Learning Lessons, and Serving Social Becoming Through Cross-Race Friendships
7. Embracing Ethical and Political Potentials of Friendships
Ethical Practices of Friendships
Political Practices of Friendships
Friendships and Social Change
Limitations of Political Friendships
8. The Compass of Friendship

Editorial Reviews

"His research is solid, his writing is clear and accessible, and his insights into the human condition-and most specifically that dialogical-narrative and negotiated relationship we call friendship-are keen. His" next word" on friendship has been long awaited and much needed in the field of communication studies. "

Dr. Christopher N. Poulos

"[R]awlins’s book provides a detailed and accessible explanation of friendship.[It] is intended for varying audiences, including students, professionals, social psychologists, and individuals curious about the nature of friendship. It is a good read, a textbook that will be useful to anyone seeking to know how to form friendships. "

Sherine Ramzy

"Author William K. Rawlins uses compelling examples and cases from literature, films, dialogue and storytelling between actual friends, student discussions of cross-sex friendships, and interviews with interracial friends."

Family Therapy