Norman Denzin

CONTEMPORARY THINKERS AND TOPICS
IN SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

Norman Denzin

Having received his Ph.D. in Sociology at the Iowa School under Manford Kuhn and Carl Couch, Norman Denzin is now a professor of Sociology, Cinema Studies, and Interpretive Theory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He has described himself as an ethnographer, an interpretive interactionist, a cultural critic, and an occasional social theorist (Denzin 2002: 256). Throughout his career, he has continued to integrate cultural studies with symbolic interactionism. His interpretive research focuses largely on culture, especially seen through cinema and the media. He believes that, in order for sociologists to understand individuals and society, they must critically investigate and interpret popular cultural texts, such as movies, because they represent the lived experiences in this moment of history (Denzin 1991). In a symbolic interactionist sense, movies are symbolic representations of our culture, as are many other components of popular culture. Denzin has also attempted to understand the way social structures, such as race and gender, are represented in the media and consequently "performed" by individuals, indicating their construction as real structures with real meanings and implications.

Recently, in Cowboys and Indians (2002), Denzin uses symbolic interaction and auto-ethnography to investigate and discuss the representation of Native Americans in popular culture. In auto-ethnography, he draws on personal experiences, such as growing up when Western, Cowboy and Indian movies were popular, attending Native American ceremonies, and teaching at a university where the mascot is, very controversially, a dancing tribal chief. He found himself continually employing techniques and thought processes of symbolic interaction, saying, "The process of writing was a process of self-construction and then reconstruction. This process was based on ongoing conversations with myself and with memories from my past. These memories were reconstructed through an interior dialogue [and] a meaningful reality was created out of this interpretive process" (Denzin 2002: 255).

In 1988, his book, The Alcoholic Self, won the prestigious Charles H. Cooley Award and, in 1997, Denzin himself was awarded the George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction.

Recent publications include:

Screening Race: Hollywood and a Cinema of Racial Violence, The Recovering Alcoholic, Interpretive Ethnography, Images of Postmodernism: Social Theory and Contemporary Cinema, and Interpretive Interactionism.

For more information on research discussed above see:

Denzin, Norman K. 1991. "The Postmodern Sexual Order: Sex, Lies and Yuppie Love." Social Science Journal 28:407-425.

Denzin, Norman K. 2002. "Cowboys and Indians." Symbolic Interaction 25:251-261.


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CONTEMPORARY THINKERS AND TOPICS IN SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM Norman Denzin Having received his Ph.D. in Sociology at the Iowa School under Manford Kuhn and Carl Couch, Norman Denzin is now a professor of Sociology, Cinema Studies, and Interpretive Theory at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He has described himself as an ethnographer, an interpretive interactionist, a cultural critic, and an occasional social theorist (Denzin 2002: 256). Throughout his career, he has continued to integrate cultural studies with symbolic interactionism. His interpretive research focuses largely on culture, especially seen through cinema and the media. He believes that, in order for sociologists to understand individuals and society, they must critically investigate and interpret popular cultural texts, such as movies, because they represent the lived experiences in this moment of history (Denzin 1991). In a symbolic interactionist sense, movies are symbolic representations of our culture, as are many other components of popular culture. Denzin has also attempted to understand the way social structures, such as race and gender, are represented in the media and consequently "performed" by individuals, indicating their construction as real structures with real meanings and implications. Recently, in Cowboys and Indians (2002), Denzin uses symbolic interaction and auto-ethnography to investigate and discuss the representation of Native Americans in popular culture. In auto-ethnography, he draws on personal experiences, such as growing up when Western, Cowboy and Indian movies were popular, attending Native American ceremonies, and teaching at a university where the mascot is, very controversially, a dancing tribal chief. He found himself continually employing techniques and thought processes of symbolic interaction, saying, "The process of writing was a process of self-construction and then reconstruction. This process was based on ongoing conversations with myself and with memories from my past. These memories were reconstructed through an interior dialogue [and] a meaningful reality was created out of this interpretive process" (Denzin 2002: 255). In 1988, his book, The Alcoholic Self, won the prestigious Charles H. Cooley Award and, in 1997, Denzin himself was awarded the George Herbert Mead Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction. Recent publications include: Screening Race: Hollywood and a Cinema of Racial Violence, The Recovering Alcoholic, Interpretive Ethnography, Images of Postmodernism: Social Theory and Contemporary Cinema, and Interpretive Interactionism. For more information on research discussed above see: Denzin, Norman K. 1991. "The Postmodern Sexual Order: Sex, Lies and Yuppie Love." Social Science Journal 28:407-425. Denzin, Norman K. 2002. "Cowboys and Indians." Symbolic Interaction 25:251-261.