Another Look at Mapping the Territory: Seven Traditions in the Field of Communication Theory (Published)

Article Author: Oberiri Destiny Apuke

Each passing day, we come across different signs, images, and symbols as well as impression flashing before our eyes. Different messages collide to prompt our own sense of reasoning. How we process and digest the diversity of information and understand the symbols of what each message means is something to be looked upon. There have been a lot of theories that has tried to explicate the nature of human communication and how human comprehend symbols as well as how it is applied in a given society or community, this is so because there are different, individualistic perception of a particular form of communication symbols and sign due to the complex nature of assimilating the meaning and application of communication. These have made different traditions of understanding, communication to be formed to better explain different concepts and viewpoint of communication. This paper reviews Robert Craig propounded model that encapsulates the field of communication into seven traditions. These are known as the semiotic, the phenomenological, the cybernetic, the socio-psychological, the socio-cultural, the critical, and the rhetorical traditions”. Thus, each of this tradition, captures a different aspect or specialized area of communication and knowing each one gives new and sometimes conflicting viewpoints on why we relate and comprehend the information we absorb on a daily basis.