Maatian Ethics in a Communication Context

A native of Puerto Rico, Melba Vélez Ortiz earned her PhD in Communication Ethics from the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2009. Her areas of research are communication ethics and global environmental communication. Her work examines the ways in which the long-term success of conservation efforts depends upon fundamental shifts in cultural values, in aesthetic and moral communication, and in shared understandings of how the individual fits into social and ecological communities. She has a passion for intellectual history and ancient approaches to ethics. Her current research examines the ecological and communicative dimensions of ancient Pan-African ethics and values. She is Past-Chair of the Ethics Division of the National Communication Association and her research has been recognized and awarded at the national level. In addition, Dr. Vélez Ortiz has researched and published in the area of Latin-American/Caribbean/Latina-o philosophy and intellectual history.

"Maatian Ethics in a Communication Context is a brilliant book. It is the eloquent result of an award-winning educator’s gift for communicating ideas with clarity and imagination. Documenting Maatian Egyptian ethics as the first systematic theory is history-making scholarship. This monumental book is destined to become a classic."- Clifford G. Christians, Research Professor of Communications, University of Illinois"Maatian Ethics in a Communication Context expertly excavates the ancient Egyptian tradition of moral philosophy and uses it to analyze the ethical dimensions of communication practice. It represents the most comprehensive account of Maat and its relevance for communication ethics available, and it surely will be of interest to those committed to engaging understudied world traditions in order to understand and improve human communication."- Scott R. Stroud, Associate Professor of Comunication Studies, Moody College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin

• PrefaceChapter 1: The Evolution of Maat as the Collective Guiding Principle in Pre-Colonial African CivilizationsChapter 2: Ancient African Spirituality: Heaven on EarthChapter 3: Scientific Communication and the DivineChapter 4: The Universal Moral Ideal of MaatChapter 5: Communicative Dimensions of Maat: Speech and SilenceChapter 6: Medu Netcher: A Picture Says a Thousand Words?Chapter 7: A Lust for Life: Allegory and PoetryAfterword: Speaking to Posterity