Eric Peterson

Eric Peterson, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
Email: peterson@maine.edu

Department of Communication and Journalism
University of Maine
Orono, ME 04469

Eric Peterson served in a variety of faculty and administrative roles in the department from 1980 to 2016, including as Department Chair for 11 years, as Graduate Coordinator for 5 years, and as chair/member of numerous college and university committees. He taught in areas of communication and mass communication, with a particular focus on media consumption, critical and cultural communication studies, and qualitative research methods. His scholarship draws upon traditions in the human sciences, particularly phenomenology and semiotics, to examine communication phenomena that range from popular culture and identity politics to pedagogy and classroom communication. He is co-author with Kristin Langellier of a book, Storytelling in Daily Life: Performing Narrative, and a series of journal essays and book chapters on family storytelling. 

Selected Publications

Books

  • Langellier, K. M., & Peterson, E. E. (2004). Storytelling in daily life: Performing narrative. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University.
  • McCauley, M. P., Peterson, E. E., Artz, B. L., & Halleck, D. (Eds.). (2002). Public broadcasting and the public interest. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe. 

Journal Articles

  • Peterson, E. E., & Langellier, K. M. (2018). Communicology and the practice of coding in qualitative communication research. In A. R. Smith, I. E. Catt, & I. E. Klyukanov (Eds.), Communicology for the human sciences: Lanigan and the philosophy of communication (pp. 159-176). New York: Peter Lang.
  • Peterson, E. E., & Langellier, K. M. (2014). Member comments on a local newspaper website: The challenge of moral action in the mediated public sphere. In E. E. Peterson & A. Monnich (Eds.), Communicator opportunities and responsibilities in volatile times. Proceedings of the 2012 International Colloquium on Communication (pp. 44-50). http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ICC/2012/ICC2012Peterson.pdf
  • Peterson, E. E., & Langellier, K. M. (2012). Storytelling: Analog and digital. In E. C. Fine & G. W. Selnow (Eds.), The evolving media’s impact on rhetoric and society: Critical and ethical issues. Proceedings of the 2010 International Colloquium on Communication (pp. 26-32). http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ICC/2010/ICC2010Peterson.pdf
  • Peterson, E. E. (2011). How conversational are weblogs? Language@Internet, 8, article 8. http://www.languageatinternet.org/articles/2011/Peterson
  • Peterson, E. E. (2008). My body lies over the keyboard: Agency and efficacy in weblog storytelling. Atlantic Journal of Communication, 16, 149-163.
  • Peterson, E. E., & Langellier, K. M. (2006). Storytelling. In G. J. Shepherd, J. St. John, & T. Striphas (Eds.), Communication as . . .: Perspectives on theory (pp. 123-131). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 
  • Peterson, E. E., & Langellier, K. M. (2006). The performance turn in narrative studies. Narrative Inquiry, 16, 173-180.
  • Peterson, E. E. (2000). Narrative identity in a solo performance: Craig Gingrich-Philbrook’s “The First Time.” Narrative Inquiry, 10 , 229-251.
  • Peterson, E. E., & Langellier, K. M. (1997). The politics of personal narrative methodology. Text and Performance Quarterly, 17, 135-152.
  • Peterson, E. E. (1995). Ethnicity and the new racism in the basic interpersonal communication course. Women and Language, 18, No. 1, 41-44.
  • Peterson, E. E. (1994). Nonsexist language reform and “political correctness.” Women and Language, 17, No.2, 6-10.
  • Peterson, E. E. (1994). Diversity and Franco-American identity politics. Maine Historical Society Quarterly, 34, 58-67.
  • Peterson, E. E. (1991). Moving toward a gender balanced curriculum in basic speech communication courses. Communication Education, 40, 60-72.
  • Peterson, E. E. (1988). The technology of media consumption. American Behavioral Scientist, 32, 156-168.
  • Peterson, E. E. (1987). Media consumption and girls who want to have fun. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 4, 37-50.
  • Peterson, E. E., & Langellier, K. M. (1982). Creative double bind in oral interpretation. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 46, 242-253.