Communication Matters: Materialist Approaches to Media, Mobility and Networks

Published by Routledge, this volume serves as a core text within the 'Communication Matters' series, a collection dedicated to re-evaluating media studies through the lens of materialist theory. Edited by Jeremy Packer and Stephen B. Crofts Wiley, the work emerged from a desire to shift academic focus away from purely symbolic or interpretive analyses of communication, advocating instead for an investigation into the physical infrastructures, technological mobilities, and networked realities that define contemporary existence.

The intellectual design of the book is rooted in a movement to align communication research with the 'material turn' in the humanities and social sciences. Contributors to the volume aim to dismantle the traditional distinction between the medium and the message, proposing that the logistics and physical pathways of information are central to power and social organization. Since its release, the volume has been received as a foundational resource for scholars seeking to integrate critical geography, infrastructure studies, and media theory.