just a cv

Chu, Seo-Young 주 서 영 ACADEMIC POSITIONS • Associate Professor, Department of English, Queens College, CUNY, 2015- . • Assistant Professor, Department of English, Queens College, CUNY, 2009-2015. • Lecturer, History and Literature Program, Harvard University, 2007-2009. • Instructor, Department of English and American Literature and Language, Harvard University, 2004-2007. • Teaching Fellow, Department of English and American Literature and Language, Harvard University, 2003-2006. EDUCATION • Ph.D., English and American Literature and Language, Harvard University, 2007. • M.A., English and American Literature and Language, Harvard University, 2003. • M.A., English Language and Literature, Stanford University, 2001. • B.A., English, cum laude with distinction in the major, Yale University, 1999. SOCIAL MEDIA https://twitter.com/seoyoung_chu https://www.behance.net/seoyoungchu https://plus.google.com/+SeoYoungChu https://www.instagram.com/seoyoung.jennie.chu/ PUBLICATIONS (in reverse chronological order) Work in progress • Book: The Square Root of Negative Korea; or (i)Korea: Re-Imagining Korean Unity and Division. A manuscript (under revision) for a mysterious and painful new book. #DMZ #sciencefiction #speculation #dystopia #utopia #koreas… • Book chapter: “We Need a New Superhero of North Korean Descent.” Draft under review for Eds. Betsy Huang and Victor Mendoza. Asian American Literature in Transition. Cambridge UP. Published work • “The DMZ Responds,” Telos Special Issue on Korea. Ed. Haerin Shin (2018): Fall, Print. • “After ‘A Refuge for Jae-in Doe’: A Social Media Chronology*” ASAP /Journal (2018): March 15. *(not including private correspondence) • “A Refuge for Jae-in Doe: Fugues in the Key of English Major,” Entropy (2017): Nov 3. This work was selected by Entropy as one of the best essays published in 2017. It was also selected for inclusion in the  Best American Nonrequired Reading 2018 (BANR). Ed. Sheila Heti, published by Houghton Mifflin, in conjunction with 826 National. A list of selected publications that discuss “A Refuge for Jae-in Doe” and/or my #metoo activism and work against rape culture: + “Review: ‘A Refuge for Jae-In Doe: Fugues in the Key of English Major’ by Seo-Young Chu,” by Aimée Lê. NEON BOOKS (2018): September 3. + Newspaper and magazine articles  The Washington Post (2018): May 10.  The Stanford Daily (2017): December 2.  New Republic (2017): November 30.  Inside Higher Ed (2017): November 9.  The Chronicle of Higher Education (2017): November 11. + Video interviews  “’My Professional World Has Gotten Smaller’: How sexual harassment and assault distort scholars’ lives in the academy.” By Julia Schmalz. Published in The Chronicle of Higher Education. May 11, 2018.  “Mentored”: a video made by students at Lehigh University (2018): May.  A skype dialogue for an English literature class at Stockton University (2018): February 23. Invited by Professor Emily Van Duyne. • “Generation Hwabyung Telepathy” and “A Resume of Traumas,” published as part of a Testimonial Tapestry in Asian American Literary Review, Special Issue on Mental health, 2017. • Blurb for Latin@ Rising: An Anthology of Latin@ Science Fiction and Fantasy. Edited by Matthew David Goodwin and including work by Ana Castillo, Giannina Braschi and others. 2017. • “Acts of Postmemory Han in the Key of the Children I Will Never Have,” Hawai’i Review, Book 5, Waterways (2017): No. 87. • “M’어머니,” Kartika Review 17 (2017): March 15. • “CTRL+ALT, Culture Lab on Imagined Futures,” Nov. 12-13, 2016, 477 Broadway, New York, Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 40+ artists and scholars. An essay I wrote in response to the event is forthcoming on CTRL+ALT website. • “Life 38,” Poem, Mithila Review, The Journal of International Science Fiction and Fantasy (2016): Issue 5+6, July/August. • Two Poems: “What is the maiden name of Frankenstein’s creature?” and “I Am Korean American” (reprint). Mithila Review: A Speculative Arts & Culture Magazine. Ajapa Sharma. Apr. 2016. • Blurb for Solar Maximum, a book of poems by Sueyeun Juliette Lee (Future Poem Books). Dec. 2015. • “Chogakpo Fantasia.” A visual essay. And/or (Sophia Omni). Vol. 5. Fall 2015. http://www.and-or.org/contributors-volume-5.html. • “Breaking: Telepathic Passionflowers Are felt to Undergo Suffering.” Californica: Portrait of Artist as an Organism, californica.net. Web. Ed. Jason Tougaw. 10 May 2015. http://californica.net/2015/03/18/breaking-telepathic-passionflowers-are-felt-to-undergo-suffering/. • “ -1, Other: A Review of Science Fiction, Alien Encounters, and the Ethics of Posthumanism: Beyond the Golden Rule (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014) by Elena Gome.” Science Fiction Studies 42.2 (2015): 376-278. • “I, Stereotype: Detained in the Uncanny Valley.” Techno-Orientalism: Imagining Asia in Speculative Fiction, History, and Media. Eds. David Roh, Greta Niu, and Betsy Huang. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 2015. 76-88. Print. • “Science-Fictional North Korea: A Defective History.” Episode 4. Ed. Marleen S. Barr, Deletion: The Open Access Online Forum in Science Fiction Studies (2014): N. Pag. • “Welcome to The Vegas Pyongyang.” Science Fiction Studies. 39.3. Special issue focusing on globalization. Eds. David Higgins and Rob Latham (2012): 376-377. Print. • Review of “Speculative Fictions: A Special Issue of American Literature.” Eds. Gerry Canavan and Priscilla Wald, Science Fiction Studies 39.1 (2012): 168-169. Print. • Radio Interview of Jim Fleming. “Seo-Young Chu on Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep?” Program title: The Language of Science Fiction. To the Best of Our Knowledge (TTBOOK). Distributed by PRI Public Radio International. Web. 25 Sept. 2011. • Cover Interview by ROROTOKO. “The Double Lives of Metaphors, Robots, and Other Science-Fictional/Lyric Figures.” Cutting-Edge Intellectual Interview. Ed. Erind Pajo. Web. 20 Jun. 2011. • “Science Fiction and Lyric Poetry.” Sense of Wonder. Ed. Leigh Grossman. Wildside Press, 2011. 947-948. Print. • Do Metaphors Dream of Literal Sleep? A Science-Fictional Theory of Representation. Cambridge: Harvard UP. 2010. Print and Kindle. Discussed, reviewed, cited, analyzed, and studied in a range of sites and venues, including (listed here in no particular order):  Science Fiction Studies  Contemporary Literature  Comparative Literature Studies  Stanford Humanities Center  American Indian Law Review  Amazon.com  The Moonspeaker  Science Fiction Studies, again  The Berlin Film Journal  MERE PSEUD BLOG ED.  The Postmodern Novel and Beyond (syllabus, UT Austin)  Twitter Strange Horizons  Thinking in Public: A Blog by the Honors Humanities Program at the University of Maryland  The Pinocchio Theory by Steven Shaviro • “CHIMERICAL MOSAIC: SELF TEST KIT IN D# MINOR.” DIAGRAM 10.2 (2010). Web. • “Dystopian Surface, Utopian Dream: Wittman Ah Sing Foresees Postethnic Humanity.” A New Literary History of America. Eds. Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 2009. 1020-1025. Print. • “Science Fiction and Postmemory Han in Contemporary Korean American Literature.” MELUS (Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States) 33.4 “Alien/Asian: Imagining the Racialized Future.” Ed. Stephen Hong Sohn (2008): 97-121. Print. • “Hwabyung Fragments.” Segue. Online literary journal 5.2 (2007): 40-43. Print. #korea #tigers #cloning • “Dickinson and Mathematics.” The Emily Dickinson Journal 15.1 (2006): 35-55. Print. • “Hypnotic Ratiocination.” The Edgar Allan Poe Review 6.1 (2005): 5-19. Print. • “Old Typewriter in a Field.” Yale Literary Magazine 10.2 (1998): 12-12. Print. Chronologically unstable: • Essay: Entry-in-progress. SPECULASIANS / Orientalized Imaginations of the Future (2011). https://speculasians.wordpress.com/2011/10/24/32/. Web. 26 Apr. 2015. CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND OTHER TALKS 2009/2010-Today • “Slow and Other Forms of Violence in The Three-Body Problem,” Brandeis Novel Symposium (2018): April 20-21. • “Vocation and Catastrophe,” Keynote Speech at 2018 Conference on “Catastrophe! Living and Thinking through the End Time” (2018), March 30-31, Indiana University. Bloomington, Indiana. • “The Square Root of Negative Korea,” a Special Guest Lecture Organized by Graduate Student English Association, University of California, Riverside (2018): February 8. • Asian American Writers’ Workshop, AAWW TV Robot Coda, Intersection of Love, Race, and Technology (2018): May 10. • “North Korean Vibes, Korean American Pronouns,” Language, Translation, and Global Scale, October 26, 2017, ASAP/9, The Arts of the Present, October 26-28, 2017, hosted by the University of California, Berkeley. • “Ex-DPRK Hallyu.” A draft chapter for Against Unification of the Koreas? Presented in person at the Science-Fiction and Chinese Literature Workshop, Fudan University, at the invitation of Professor Mingwei Song and the International Center for the Studies of Chinese Civilization. Jun. 2016. • “BIOATIO: Beauty, Its Opposite, and Their Others.” Queens College, CUNY, English Honors Program Annual Conference. Co-organizer, performer, interlocutor, designer. May (the 4th!), 2016. • “Notes on How to Teach Videogames.” Faculty Seminar. Queens College English Department. CUNY. New York, NY. 21 Apr. 2016 • “Utopias Misplaced: The Cost of Outsourcing Dystopian Poetics to North Korea.” Lecture invited by Professor John Rogers. Franke Lectures in the Humanities, Whitey Humanities Center. Yale University. New Haven, CT. 20 Nov. 2014. The video can be found here. • “Against Unification of the Koreas.” Conference titled “Against...Genre, History, Nation.” Queens College, CUNY. New York, NY. 27 Oct. 2014. • “From Desertitis to Jamais Vu: Symptoms of the Future of the Korean DMZ in Dance Dance Revolution.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Chicago, IL. 11 Jan. 2014. • “The Spacetime of the DMZ: Quantum North Korea and Geomantic Black Holes.” Talk invited by Professor Brian McHale, Director of Project Narrative. The Ohio State University. Columbus, OH. 14 Oct. 2013. From a distance, viewed through telescopic lenses: the other Korea • “Global and Science-Fictional Dimensions of the Korean Demilitarized Zone.” Talk invited by Professor Carol Dougherty and Professor Mingwei Song. Symposium on Global Science Fiction. The Newhouse Center for the Humanities at Wellesley College. Wellesley, MA. 8-9 Mar. 2013. • “The Poetics of Defection in the Artwork of Song Byeok and Sun Mu.” Session title: “Past and Future in North Korean Literature and Culture.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Boston, MA, 4 Jan. 2013. • Renaissance Weekend. Invited participant. Monterey Bay, CA. 30 Jun.-4 Jul. 2012. • “Re-Humanizing the North Korean Chimera in I’m a Cyborg, But That’s OK (싸이보그지만 괜찮아).” New Jersey College English Association (NJCEA) 35th Annual Spring Conference. Seton Hall University. South Orange, NJ. 14 Apr. 2012. • “Literal and Figurative Aspects of the DMZ.” Lecture invited by the Hunter College Graduate English Club. Hunter College, CUNY. New York, NY. 22 Mar. 2012. • “The Detention of Ethnic Stereotypes in the Uncanny Valley.” Session arranged by the Society for Critical Exchange. Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Annual Conference. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ. 8 Apr. 2011. • “North Korea and Science Fiction.” Lecture invited by Professor Sukhdev Sandhu. Program in Asian/Pacific/American Studies. New York University. New York, NY. 28 Feb. 2011. • “A Poetics of Documentary Fantasy: Yong Soon Min’s Defining Moments.” Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Los Angeles, CA. 8 Jan. 2011. 2001/2002-2008/2009 • “Science-Fictional North Korea.” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Conference. Cambridge, MA. 29 Mar. 2009. • “The DMZ and Other Ghostly ‘Heartlands’ of Korean America.” Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Annual Conference. Chicago, IL. 19 Apr. 2008. • “Robot Rights and the Uncanny Valley.” Panel arranged by the Literature and Science Area of the American Culture Association. Popular Culture Association / American Culture Association National Conference. Boston, MA. 7 Apr. 2007. • “Science Fiction and Music.” Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA) 37th Annual Conference. White Plains, NY. 24 Jun. 2006. • “Maxine Hong Kingston’s Tripmaster Monkey.” Guest lecture for “Literature of Migration and Ethnicity: The Case of the United States.” Harvard University. Cambridge, MA. 10 Apr. 2006. • “Unnarratable Desire: Nightwood, A.D.’s Afterlife, and The Well of Loneliness.” Panel arranged by the Society for the Study of Narrative Literature. Modern Language Association (MLA) Annual Convention. Washington, DC. 30 Dec. 2005. • “Hypnotic Ratiocination.” Panel arranged by the Poe Studies Association. MLA Annual Convention. Philadelphia, PA, 30 Dec. 2004. • “Robot Onomatopoeia: D.H. Lawrence, Futurism, and Edison’s Talking Doll.” Modernist Studies Association (MSA), Sixth Annual Conference. Vancouver, BC. 24 Oct. 2004. • “Dickinson and Mathematics.” Panel arranged by the Dickinson International Society. American Literature Association (ALA) Annual Conference. San Francisco, CA. 27 May 2004. • “Dislocation and Echolocation: Theresa Hak Kyung Cha’s Dictee.” American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA) Annual Conference. Ann Arbor, MI. 16 Apr. 2004. • “Instant Messenger Dialogue: An Experimental Performance.” Addressing Dialogue: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference. Harvard University. Cambridge, MA. 9 Apr. 2004. • “Voice, Identity, and Onomatopoeia: Dictee.” Association for Asian American Studies (AAAS) Annual Conference. Boston, MA. 27 Mar. 2004. • “Early American Knowledge.” American Literature Association (ALA) Annual Conference. Cambridge, MA. 22 May 2003. • “Still Life of Humanoid Robot: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? And We Can Build You.” Still Life: A Graduate Student Conference. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. 21 Mar. 2003. • “Narrating the Afterlife of World War I: Last and First Men.” Panel arranged by the MLA Discussion Group on Science Fiction and Utopian and Fantastic Literature. MLA Annual Convention. New York, NY. 27 Dec. 2002. • “The League of Nations and ‘An Americanized Planet.’” American Studies Association (ASA) Annual Convention. Houston, TX. 16 Nov. 2002. • “The Displacement of Cyberspace.” ACLA Annual Conference. San Juan, PR. 12 Apr. 2002. • “The Oracle and the Artifact: William Gibson’s Science Fiction.” 20th-Century Literature and Cultural Theory Colloquium. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. 15 Mar. 2002. • “Cyberspace Materialized: From the Sprawl Series to the Bridge Trilogy.” ALA. Conference on Contemporary American Literature. Santa Fe, NM. 27 Oct. 2001. HONORS 2009/2010- • Dean’s Research Enhancement Grant for “Science-Fictional North Korea,” Queens College, CUNY, 2014. • PSC-CUNY Research Foundation Award (Tradition B), “The Geomantic Significance of the Korean DMZ,” Funding for travel and research in Korea, 2011. • PSC-CUNY Research Foundation Award, “Science-Fictional North Korea,” 2010. A "leaf" of a "tree" at the DMZ 1999/2000-2008/2009 • Graduate Society Fellowship for Dissertation Completion, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), Harvard University, 2006-2007. • Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching, Harvard University, 2006. • Merit Fellowship for Dissertation Research. GSAS, Harvard University, 2005-2006. • Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. Harvard University, 2004. • Fall Research Grant. Graduate Student Council, Harvard University, 2004. • Derek Bok Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. Harvard University, 2003. • Smith Memorial Prize for essay, “The Fourth Dimension of Marcel Duchamp’s Large Glass,” Stanford University, 2000. 1995/96-1998/99 • Herson Prize for outstanding work in the English major, Yale University, 1999. • McLaughlin Scholarship for excellence in composition and the study of English literature, Yale University, 1998. • Curtis Prize for literary or rhetorical work in the junior year, Yale University, 1998. • Riggs Prize for distinguished work in the Directed Studies Program, Yale University, 1996. TEACHING Courses Taught at Department of English, Queens College, CUNY • English 243 “Genre”: spring 2017. • English 170H “Introduction to Literary Study”: fall 2016. • English 170W “Introduction to Literary Study”: fall 2016. • English 399W 1 and 2: “Honors Seminar”: spring 2016. • English 399W 1 and 2: “Honors Seminar”: fall 2015. • English 243: “Genre”: spring 2015. • English 336/305/300: “Forms of Fiction”/”Studies in Literature”/”Senior Seminar”: spring 2015. • English 781: “Science Fiction.” (graduate course): spring 2012, spring 2015, spring 2016 • English 379: “The DMZ Unconscious and Its Others”: fall 2013, fall 2015, spring 2017 • English 165W and/or English 165H: “Introduction to Poetry”: fall 2009, fall 2010, spring 2012, spring 2013, fall 2014. • English 636: “History of Literary Criticism” (graduate course): spring 2013, fall 2016. • English 255: “Global Literatures in English”: spring 2010, fall 2010, spring 2011, fall 2013. • English 382: “Aspects of Literary Criticism”: spring 2013, fall 2014. • English 391W: “Senior Seminar on Science Fiction”: spring 2010, spring 2011, spring 2012, fall 2013, fall 2014. • English 369: “Asian American Literature”: spring 2011. • English 395W: “Science Fiction”: fall 2009, fall 2010. M.A. Theses/Essays Advised at English Department, Queens College, CUNY • “The Politics of Time: Neo-Slave Protest in Octavia E. Butler’s Kindred,” Megan Pindling, spring 2017. • Thesis on James Baldwin, Kurt Holness, spring 2017 (second reader). • Thesis on Literature and Technology, Lisa Petrosino, spring 2014. • Thesis on South Asian Americans in popular children media, spring 2014 (second reader). • “Octavia Butler’s Kindred: Dana’s Reconstruction of Herself, Her History, and Her Family,” Christina Stevens-Payne, fall 2013 (second reader). • “To Steal Fire: An Exploration of Consequence within Science Fiction,” Gabriel Fulcar, fall 2013 (second reader). • “Gender Norms, Love, and Marriage in Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre,” Amina Khan, spring 2013 (second reader). • “Divisive Identities and the Human Collective in Asian American Hip Hop Lyrics,” Andrei Lee, spring 2011. • Thesis on technology and the “American Dream,” Jennifer Trautwig, spring 2011. • “In the Canon’s Secret Service: Fleming, Fan Fiction, and Why Reader-Response Criticism Saves the Day,” Barbara Emanuele, fall 2009 (second reader). Independent Study • “Explorations in Translated Works in Korean Fiction,” Stephanie Fong, Department of Comparative Literature, Queens College, spring 2016. Courses Taught at Harvard University • “American Visions and Voices,” History and Literature, 2008-2009. • “American Characters,” History and Literature, 2007-2008. • “Transnational Modernism,” English and American Literature and Language, fall 2007. • “Science Fiction,” English and American Literature and Language, spring 2006. • “Lesbian Gothic,” English and American Literature and Language, spring 2005. • “The Asian American Literary Canon,” English and American Literature and Language, fall 2004. • “Asian American Literature,” English and American Literature and Language, spring 2004. Undergraduate Theses Supervised at Harvard University • “The Hero We Create: 9/11 and the Reinvention of Batman,” Joshua Feblowitz, History and Literature, 2008-2009. • “Classical Music and Film: An Analysis of How 2001: A Space Odyssey Popularized Also Sprach Zarathustra in American Society,” Kyle Wiggins, History and Literature, 2008-2009. • “Robert Johnson and His Journey through Modern Prose and Poetry,” Aubrie Pagano, History and Literature, 2007-2008. • “Giving Back the Name: Sanora Babb’s Insight into Feminism and Environmentalism,” Rikka Strong, History and Literature, 2007-2008. • Sections Taught at Harvard University • “Literature of Migration and Ethnicity: The Case of the United States,” Professor Werner Sollors, English and American Literature and Language, spring 2006. • “The Nineteenth-Century Novel,” Professor Elaine Scarry, English and American Literature and Language, spring 2005. • “Putting Modernism Together,” Professor Daniel Albright, Core Curriculum, fall 2004. • “Modern British Fiction,” Professor Peter Nohrnberg, English and American Literature and Language, spring 2004. • “The Elements of Rhetoric,” Professor James Engell, English and American Literature and Language, fall 2003. SERVICE Departmental Service at Queens College, CUNY • Coordinator. English Department Honors Conference. “BIATO: Beauty, Its Opposite, and Their Others.” 4 May 2016. • Member of Honors Committee, 2015- . • Member of Curriculum Committee, 2014- . • Member of Assessment Committee, 2013- . • English Department Representative, Freshman Reception, 27 Apr. 2014. • English Department Representative, Annual Undergraduate Open House, 3 Nov. 2013. • Member of Technology Committee, 2011-2012. • Member of Publicity/Publications Committee, 2010-2011. • Member of Honors Committee, 2010-2012. • Member of Committee on New Faculty, 2009-2011. • Member of Syllabus Committee, 2009-2010. • Faculty Co-Adviser with Professor John Weir, Utopia Parkway (Queens College undergraduate literary journal), 2009-2010. • Member of Committee on Special Occasions, 2009-2010. University and Departmental Service at Harvard • Adviser, Board of Freshman Advisers, 2007-2008, 2008-2009. • Examiner, Practice General Exams, Department of English and American Literature and Language, 9 Sept. 2005. • Coordinator, “Addressing Dialogue: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference,” 8-9 Apr. 2004. Other Professional Service • Worked to help rename the ASECS Award for Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring. 2016. • Editorial Assistant, A New Literary History of America. Eds. Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, Cambridge: Harvard UP. Sept. 2009. • Panel Organizer, “The Place of Music in Science Fiction and Fantasy.” MLA Annual Convention. Philadelphia, PA. 29 Dec. 2006. • Member of Executive Committee (2003-2007), Chair (2006), Secretary (2005), • MLA Discussion Group on Science Fiction and Utopian and Fantastic Literature. LANGUAGES • French (proficient). • Latin (basic). • Korean (basic/intermediate/ever-evolving). • Asemic1 (ever-evolving). 1 An asemic text is a visual artifact empty of precise semantic content yet infinitely evocative and open to subjective interpretation. While such texts are as old as the invention of writing itself, “asemic writing” did not exist as a definable aesthetic and intellectual phenomenon until the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century, when artists like Michael Jacobson, Satu Kaikkonen, and Jean-Christophe Giacottino began identifying themselves as members of a global “asemic” community. In particular, these artists have identified themselves as members of an international movement that Michael Jacobson and other major figures in the field have characterized as “The New Post-Literate.” The range of their post-literate “literature” (much of which can be found on display in a Facebook gallery) is strikingly diverse. It encompasses mutated ideographs, childish scribble, smudges resembling nouns almost thoroughly erased, fragmentary lettering, units of imagined alien vocabulary, layers upon palimpsestic layers of punctuation, illegible calligraphy, tiny maps, computer-generated nonsense, details of anatomical charts, actual words vandalized and disfigured by Photoshop, and pseudo-mathematical diagrams. Some questions that I often ask myself: How exactly has technology contributed to the blossoming of asemic “literature”? What are the pedagogical dimensions of asemic writing? How might one teach students to perform close readings of asemic texts? What would it mean to “evaluate” a work of asemic writing? Do emoji and emoticons count as asemic textuality? Is it possible to use asemic textuality as a viable alternative to literary translation? In a globalizing world, can asemic imagery offer a solution to miscommunication?