Alec McHoul
Encyclopedia
Alec McHoul is a British
/Australian Ethnomethodologist
. He has written numerous books and articles, many of which are informed by Ethnomethodology
.
He is currently Emeritus
Professor
at Murdoch University
.
McHoul was born in Wallasey
, a town on the Wirral Peninsula
, England
. In 1973 he graduated from the University of Lancaster, with a Bachelor of Arts
(Hons) in Literature
and Linguistics
and, in 1974, a Master of Arts
. In 1975 he moved to Australia
. In 1978 he was awarded a Doctorate
from the Australian National University
.
, cultural theory, continental philosophy
and literary theory
. Critics have noted McHoul's approach to diverse subjects wherein he is seen as adhering to no strict rule of academic enquiry. Whether McHoul should or, indeed, can perform with one set of analytical tools in order to cover such a diverse range of social phenomena is not entirely clear among critics of his work. Robert Eaglestone, for example, offers the following critique of McHoul's' Semiotic Investigations: Towards an Effective Semiotics: 'The book is no less [...] an attempt to work in at least three fields at once, and McHoul seems at home dealing with analytic philosophy
, continental philosophy
, semiotics
, and linguistics
'. Douglas Ezzy seems equally perplexed when he says, 'His [McHoul's] theoretical range is wide, drawing on Wittgenstein, Saussure
, ethnomethodology
[and] phenomenology.. McHoul appears to stray from an unwritten set of academic norms when he uses whatever is at-hand to get the job done: to be a social commentator and to understand, in an era of intellectual self-reflection, that the commentary itself is social. In short then, McHoul takes A posse ad esse (as far as this is attainable), confusing his peers, perhaps, but clearly winning some applause in terms of his willingness to utilize the ideas of others, no matter how dissimilar those ideas might appear.
While McHoul's post-structuralist (or Renaissance
-esque; see also polymath
) approach is hardly new, one would not expect that his (or anybody else's) work can logically adhere to a singular theory, rather, his usage of ideas allow him to question notions of 'Culture' from a variety of perspectives - notably, by paying attention to its interlocutors - the major players. In short, McHoul might ask where the idea of Language stops and the design of a lecture theatre, say, begins; indeed, he might ask the question: what part does either play in every day life and, importantly, specific cultures?
Having said this, it would come as no surprise that McHoul's 1998 Popular Culture and Everyday Life, looks at Food and Eating, Sport, Self-Help/Therapy, and Talking. Each chapter deals briefly with potentially cultural acts; it is not enough to merely talk about or for a culture, but to add a natural extension to that talk in the form of actions. In this way, every human endeavour becomes a potential avenue for opening up discussions on what is meant and what is at stake when the idea of Culture is discussed in the humanities.
It is here that McHoul points out that with ever-decreasing government funding the rubric of Communications Studies was not marketable to international students for whom many universities relied upon for revenue.
McHoul goes on to say, 'culture is only a problem of connecting production ('generating') and consumption ('recognising') when it is speculatively treated as a spectacular field in which cultural objects are always considered as representing something beyond them (such as gendered, economic, or racial 'patterns').'
|-
| bgcolor="white"|Publication Title|| border="1" width="300" bgcolor="white"|Publisher|| bgcolor="white"|Notes
|-
| bgcolor="white"|How to Analyse Talk in Institutional Settings: A Casebook of Methods || width="500" bgcolor="white "|London and New York: Continuum
, 2001|| bgcolor="white "|Co–edited with Mark Rapley.
|}
|-
| bgcolor="white"|Publication Title|| border="1" width="300" bgcolor="white"|Publisher|| bgcolor="white"|Notes
|-
| bgcolor="white"|Jean–Marie Floch, Visual Identities|| width="500" bgcolor="white "|London and New York: Continuum
, 2000|| bgcolor="white "|Translation of Identités visuelles. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995. Co–translation with Pierre Van Osselaer.
|-
|}
For a full list of publications, see also: http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/mchoul/
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
/Australian Ethnomethodologist
Ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodology is an ethnographic approach to sociological inquiry introduced by the American sociologist Harold Garfinkel . Ethnomethodology's research interest is the study of the everyday methods people use for the production of social order...
. He has written numerous books and articles, many of which are informed by Ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodology is an ethnographic approach to sociological inquiry introduced by the American sociologist Harold Garfinkel . Ethnomethodology's research interest is the study of the everyday methods people use for the production of social order...
.
He is currently Emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
Professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at Murdoch University
Murdoch University
Murdoch University is a public university based in Perth, Australia. It began operations as the state's second university in 1973, and accepted its first students in 1975...
.
McHoul was born in Wallasey
Wallasey
Wallasey is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England, on the mouth of the River Mersey, at the northeastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula...
, a town on the Wirral Peninsula
Wirral Peninsula
Wirral or the Wirral is a peninsula in North West England. It is bounded by three bodies of water: to the west by the River Dee, forming a boundary with Wales, to the east by the River Mersey and to the north by the Irish Sea. Both terms "Wirral" and "the Wirral" are used locally , although the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In 1973 he graduated from the University of Lancaster, with a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
(Hons) in Literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and Linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
and, in 1974, a Master of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
. In 1975 he moved to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. In 1978 he was awarded a Doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
from the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
.
Criticism and Culture
McHoul's work spans a range of academic fields: linguisticsLinguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
, cultural theory, continental philosophy
Continental philosophy
Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage, refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe. This sense of the term originated among English-speaking philosophers in the second half of the 20th century, who used it to refer to a range of thinkers and...
and literary theory
Literary theory
Literary theory in a strict sense is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for analyzing literature. However, literary scholarship since the 19th century often includes—in addition to, or even instead of literary theory in the strict sense—considerations of...
. Critics have noted McHoul's approach to diverse subjects wherein he is seen as adhering to no strict rule of academic enquiry. Whether McHoul should or, indeed, can perform with one set of analytical tools in order to cover such a diverse range of social phenomena is not entirely clear among critics of his work. Robert Eaglestone, for example, offers the following critique of McHoul's' Semiotic Investigations: Towards an Effective Semiotics: 'The book is no less [...] an attempt to work in at least three fields at once, and McHoul seems at home dealing with analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy
Analytic philosophy is a generic term for a style of philosophy that came to dominate English-speaking countries in the 20th century...
, continental philosophy
Continental philosophy
Continental philosophy, in contemporary usage, refers to a set of traditions of 19th and 20th century philosophy from mainland Europe. This sense of the term originated among English-speaking philosophers in the second half of the 20th century, who used it to refer to a range of thinkers and...
, semiotics
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
, and linguistics
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
'. Douglas Ezzy seems equally perplexed when he says, 'His [McHoul's] theoretical range is wide, drawing on Wittgenstein, Saussure
Saussure
People of the surname Saussure or de Saussure include* Horace-Bénédict de Saussure , Swiss physicist and Alpine traveller** Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure , chemist, son of Horace-Bénédict, and brother of Albertine...
, ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodology
Ethnomethodology is an ethnographic approach to sociological inquiry introduced by the American sociologist Harold Garfinkel . Ethnomethodology's research interest is the study of the everyday methods people use for the production of social order...
[and] phenomenology.. McHoul appears to stray from an unwritten set of academic norms when he uses whatever is at-hand to get the job done: to be a social commentator and to understand, in an era of intellectual self-reflection, that the commentary itself is social. In short then, McHoul takes A posse ad esse (as far as this is attainable), confusing his peers, perhaps, but clearly winning some applause in terms of his willingness to utilize the ideas of others, no matter how dissimilar those ideas might appear.
While McHoul's post-structuralist (or Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
-esque; see also polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
) approach is hardly new, one would not expect that his (or anybody else's) work can logically adhere to a singular theory, rather, his usage of ideas allow him to question notions of 'Culture' from a variety of perspectives - notably, by paying attention to its interlocutors - the major players. In short, McHoul might ask where the idea of Language stops and the design of a lecture theatre, say, begins; indeed, he might ask the question: what part does either play in every day life and, importantly, specific cultures?
Having said this, it would come as no surprise that McHoul's 1998 Popular Culture and Everyday Life, looks at Food and Eating, Sport, Self-Help/Therapy, and Talking. Each chapter deals briefly with potentially cultural acts; it is not enough to merely talk about or for a culture, but to add a natural extension to that talk in the form of actions. In this way, every human endeavour becomes a potential avenue for opening up discussions on what is meant and what is at stake when the idea of Culture is discussed in the humanities.
Communication Studies, Film Theory and the Dawkins Era
In a 2007 interview published in Metro Magazine, McHoul dismisses Communication Studies as a 'rather massive and amorphous thing [that] bred all of these other things and basically became nothing in its own right.' In order to explain his ideas on, and interest in, Film Studies, McHoul highlights the gradual, forced disintegration of Communication Studies due to the growth of its 'ameoba-like entities' such as Mass Communication and Public Relations.It is here that McHoul points out that with ever-decreasing government funding the rubric of Communications Studies was not marketable to international students for whom many universities relied upon for revenue.
Discourse Analysis and Culture
With the idea that members of a community/culture dictate the rules of social interaction via specific languages, McHoul seeks to identify what he sees as the 'problem of culture'. He says, for example, 'A culture is, in fact, where we recognize what you are doing because, for all of us, culturally, that is how we would do it.' In his critique of Cultural StudiesCultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
McHoul goes on to say, 'culture is only a problem of connecting production ('generating') and consumption ('recognising') when it is speculatively treated as a spectacular field in which cultural objects are always considered as representing something beyond them (such as gendered, economic, or racial 'patterns').'
Edited Work
{| class="wikitable" style={| style="color:black"|-
| bgcolor="white"|Publication Title|| border="1" width="300" bgcolor="white"|Publisher|| bgcolor="white"|Notes
|-
| bgcolor="white"|How to Analyse Talk in Institutional Settings: A Casebook of Methods || width="500" bgcolor="white "|London and New York: Continuum
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Continuum International Publishing Group is a publisher of books, with its editorial offices in London and New York City. It had been owned by Nova Capital Management since 2005...
, 2001|| bgcolor="white "|Co–edited with Mark Rapley.
|}
Translation
{| class="wikitable" style={| style="color:black"|-
| bgcolor="white"|Publication Title|| border="1" width="300" bgcolor="white"|Publisher|| bgcolor="white"|Notes
|-
| bgcolor="white"|Jean–Marie Floch, Visual Identities|| width="500" bgcolor="white "|London and New York: Continuum
Continuum International Publishing Group
The Continuum International Publishing Group is a publisher of books, with its editorial offices in London and New York City. It had been owned by Nova Capital Management since 2005...
, 2000|| bgcolor="white "|Translation of Identités visuelles. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1995. Co–translation with Pierre Van Osselaer.
|-
|}
For a full list of publications, see also: http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/mchoul/