Senior communication studies major Olivia Cox and Chair and Professor of Communication Studies J. Dean Farmer presented their paper The Stories He Did Tell: Analyzing Jimmy Buffett, Parrotheads, & Margaritaville from an Applied Symbolic Convergence Framework at the National Communication Association Conference in Denver on Nov. 20.
The paper investigated how a rhetorical community and vision builds through Jimmy Buffett’s discography. It explored how themes of escapism, reflection-retrospect and sojourn function to establish a rhetorical community among ‘Parrotheads’ and how these themes create, maintain and perpetuate the rhetorical vision, strengthening the rhetorical community even after Buffett’s death.
Cox will graduate from Campbell with a bachelor of arts degree in communication studies in May. While in Denver, she also attended NCA’s Graduate School Open House as she further explores graduate educational opportunities in Communication. Farmer has been a professor in the Department of Communication Studies since 2002 and chair since 2006. In addition to the Buffett paper and serving as chair of the session Fieldnotes from the fault lines: Positionality, power, and the politics of knowing in Denver, he has presented over 30 papers at national and regional conferences.