Looking Through Northern Exposure at Jewish American Identity and the Communication Theory of Identity |
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| Authors: | Michael L. Hecht Sandra L. Faulkner C. R. Meyer TA Niles Doug Golden Melanie Cutler |
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| Affiliation: | Michael Hecht is professor and head of the Department of Communication Arts and Sciences at Pennsylvania State University, where Sandra Faulkner is a postdoctoral fellow. Christine Meyer is a graduate student in the Department of Communication Arts &Sciences at Pennsylvania State University. TA Niles and Doug Golden both work and live in Tempe, Arizona. Melanie Cutler works and lives in New York. |
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| Abstract: | This study explores Jewish American identity from a communication theory of identity perspective. We analyzed six episodes of the television show, Northern Exposure , for their representation of Jewish American identity. Next, the shows were edited into video segments reflecting the themes and shown to 26 Jewish Americans in order to elicit their perceptions of the communal expressions of Jewish identity. The study initially focuses on a communal representation of this group-based identity in order to understand how it is portrayed in collective consciousness. We then examine how this representation has interpenetrated the individual, interactional, and relational levels of identity. |
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