Christopher N. Poulos

**Education: Ph.D. Human Communication Studies, University of Denver: June, 1999--M.A. Religious Studies, University of Denver: June, 1993--B.A. Philosophy, University of Colorado: May, 1982 **Scholarly Interests: I am an ethnographer and philosopher of communication with interests in relational and family communication, dialogue, communication ethics, and film.

There are 21 included publications by Christopher N. Poulos :

TitleDateViewsBrief Description
Accidental Dialogue 2008 1926 This autoethnographic story highlights the eruption of dialogic moments in everyday encounters. It is a story of the spontaneous uprising of dialogic spirit in everyday life. It is a story of the transformation of ordinary time and space into extraor...
The Death of Ordinariness: Living, Learning, and Relating in the Age of Anxiety 2002 2104 On September 11, 2001, ordinariness died. In its place, a new anxiety was born. In this personal story of anxiety and response, the author reflects on events as they have unfolded in the days following September 11. Focusing on the possibilities invo...
Disruption, Silence, and Creation: The Search for Dialogic Civility in the Age of Anxiety 2004 2381 This article searches the contours of anxiety, asking whether anxiety can serve as a springboard to creative engagement in dialogue. Specifically, the article explores the university classroom as a possible site where anxiety might be transformed int...
Fire and Ice: Flaming Passion, Reified Structure, and the Organizing Body 2003 1951 In this paper, I engage methods of critical phenomenology and personal narrative in the investigation of a commercial organization. My aim is to come to a richer understanding of embodied organizing, through exploration of some key metaphors that mig...
Joy Notes 2012 1177 In this essay, I attempt to write the emergence of joy in my life, as I have stumbled into it, in little flashes and glimpses, in minor notes and in waves. I do not think that joy can be more than ephemeral, though I seek here to embrace it, to hold ...
Life, Interrupted 2012 1114 In this autoethnography, the author explores his experiences with the hard disruptions that occur when confronted by others in ways that lead him to question, at times, the very ground of his being, his identity, and his place and purpose in the worl...
The Liminal Hero 2012 1749 This critical autoethnography is about my encounters, throughout my life, with the “Western” (liminal) heroes and villains, who came to life on screens large and small. It is about the shifting visions of heroism, villainy, and violence in our cultur...
My Father’s Ghost: A Story of Encounter and Transcendence 2014 1275 This autoethnography is about my personal search for my father, who was an early presence in my life, but who gradually became a palpable absence. In many ways, I have been searching for my father all my life, and somehow hoping to rekindle a relatio...
Narrative Conscience and the Autoethnographic Adventure Probing Memories, Secrets, Shadows, and Possibilities 2008 5687 This article explores the common practice in families of keeping secrets close, allowing them to develop a life of their own. The problem with this practice is that the secrets often won‘t stay put, emerging into everyday life as (sometimes unwelcome...
Performance is a Good Breakfast: Metaphorical Plays on the Meanings of Performance 2010 1201 Performance is a good, hearty breakfast. I'm tempted to say it's a breakfast burrito. I'm sorely tempted to say it's a breakfast burrito with hurricanado sauce, stuffed with eggs instead of pork, wolfed down after a dissolute night of steamy, promisc...
Performing Mythic Identity: An Analysis and Critique of “The Ethnogs” 2011 1068 This article describes and critically examines the process of creating and performing alternative identities associated with a mythic band called “The Ethnogs.” Specifically, the authors tell individual narratives regarding their performances as rock...
Review of the book, Moments of meeting: Buber, Rogers, and the potential for public dialogue 2003 1839 As I write these words, Tel Aviv has just been bombed (again), the United States stands on the brink of war with Iraq, the United Nations is in a showdown over nuclear weapons with North Korea, and the threat of ter-rorism lurks at the edge of everyd...
Review of the book, Prejudiced communication: A social psychological perspective 2002 1811 The race problem is solved. Racism is dead. Now we just have the backlash problem: too many groups pushing too hard for special rights and special status. These, at least, are the beliefs of the "modern racist," according to Janet Ruscher.
Review of Death: The Beginning of a Relationship, by Christine S. Davis 2012 799 A review of the book “Death: The Beginning of a Relationship” by Christine S. Davis.
A Review of: “Leah Vande Berg & Nick Trujillo, Cancer and Death: A Love Story in Two Voices.” 2010 1912 A review of the book “Cancer and Death: A Love Story in Two Voices” by Leah Vande Berg and Nick Trujillo.
Spirited Accidents: An Autoethnography of Possibility 2010 3297 Kierkegaard says, "A human being is spirit. But what is spirit? Spirit is the self. But what is the self? The self is a relation …" This understanding of spirit-as-self-in-relation, leads, inevitably, to concerns for personal fulfillment, dialogue, c...
Stumbling into Relating Writing a Relationship with My Father 2012 1087 Father–son relationships can be tricky, often fraught with tension or bogged down in painful shared histories. Writing about these relationships is similarly tricky, and fraught with various tensions. As an accidental ethnographer who follows the org...
The Ties That Bind Us, the Shadows That Separate Us: Life and Death, Shadow and (Dream)Story 2006 2104 This is an autoethnographic account of a family‘s struggle to respond to a series of tragic losses and to fend off the encroaching shadow that descended on them in their grief. The story unfolds as a study of the redemptive power of story to penetrat...
Transgressions 2010 1996 This performance (auto)ethnography confronts the continuing controversy surrounding qualitative inquiry via examination of the tenure process in a particular case. The perils and delights of the performative/auto-ethnographic voice take center stage ...
Waiting for the Bus: Awakening a Social Justice Sensibility through Communication Activism 2010 1177 Engaging youth in civic life yields long term benefits for meaningful participation to sustain our democracy. In this essay, we report on how a critical service-learning model of communication activism inspired university and high school students to ...
Writing Through the Memories: Autoethnography as a Path to Transcendence 2012 1667 This autoethnography is about writing through the sometimes difficult or traumatic memories that show up in my life from time to time. It is about narrative healing and transformation through the practice of autoethnographic writing.