From ethnography to evolution

Abstract

The author reflects on the development of his epistemic approach to the study of communication and culture first by recounting key experiences he had as a boy and young man, especially travel. He traces the trajectory of his empirical study of media, culture, and communication by citing key scholars and literature as well as his experiences as a professional communicator. Professor Lull’s doctoral dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, an innovative ethnography of family life with television, set him on the path of qualitative empirical research for much of his early career. He mentions his article “The Social Uses of Television” and his ethnography of the arrival of television in urban China as his major research accomplishments. In the late 1980s, his focus turned to Latin America, where he has given numerous presentations, seminars, and workshops. His collaboration with the Brazilian-American communications professor Eduardo Neiva helped bring about a transition to his most recent work, the introduction of evolutionary communication as a theoretical alternative in the field.