In this important book, Surma combines threads from ethical, political, communications, sociological, feminist and discourse theories to explore the impact of writing in a range of contexts and illustrate the ways in which it can strengthen social connections.

In this important book, Surma combines threads from ethical, political, communications, sociological, feminist and discourse theories to explore the impact of writing in a range of contexts and illustrate the ways in which it can strengthen social connections.

Critical theory has a long history, but a relatively recent intersection with public relations. This ground-breaking collection engages with commonalities and differences in the traditions, whilst encouraging plural perspectives in the contemporary public relations field. Compiled by a high-profile and widely respected team of academics and bringing together other key scholars from this field and beyond, this unique international collection marks a major stage in the evolution of critical public relations. It will increasingly influence how critical theory informs public relations and communication. The collection takes stock of the emergence of critical public relations alongside diverse theoretical traditions, critiques and actions, methodologies and future implications. This makes it an essential reference for public relations researchers, educators and students around a world that is becoming more critical in the face of growing inequality and environmental challenges. The volume is also of interest to scholars in advertising, branding, communication, consumer studies, cultural studies, marketing, media studies, political communication and sociology.

Although there is a small body of feminist scholarship that problematizes gender in public relations, gender is a relatively undefined area of thinking in the field and there have been few serious studies of the socially constructed roles defining women and men in public relations. This book is positioned within the critical public relations stream. Through the prism of ‘gender and public relations’, it examines not only the manipulatory, but also the emancipatory, subversive and transformatory potential of public relations for the construction of meaning. Its focus is on the dynamic interrelationships arising from public relations activities in society and the gendered, lived experiences of people working in the occupation of public relations. There are many previously unexplored areas within and through public relations which the book examines. These include: the production of social meaning and power relations advocacy and activist campaigns for social and political change the negotiation of identity, diversity and cultural practice celebrity, bodies, fashion and harassment in the workplace notions of managing reputation and communicating policy. In extending the field of inquiry, this edited collection highlights how gender is accomplished and transformed, and, thus how power is exercised and inequality (re)produced or challenged in public relations. The book will expand thinking about power relations and privilege for both women and men and how these are affected by the interplay of social, cultural and institutional practices. Winner of the Outstanding Book PRide Award, awarded by the National Communication Association (NCA).

Arguing that writing teachers need to enable students to recognize, negotiate with, deconstruct, and transcend national, racial, ethnic, and linguistic boundaries, this volume proposes a "transnational" framework as an alternative approach to literacy education and as a vital component to cultivating students as global citizens. In a field of evolving literacy practices, this volume builds off the three pillars of transnational writing education—translingualism, transculturalism, and cosmopolitanism—and offers both conceptual and practice-based support for scholars, students, and educators in order to address current issues of inclusion, multilingual learning, and diversity.

From resurgent racisms to longstanding Islamophobia, from settler colonial refusals of First Nations voices to border politics and migration debates, ‘free speech’ has been weaponised to target racialized communities and bolster authoritarian rule. Unsettled Voices identifies the severe limitations and the violent consequences of ‘free speech debates’ typical of contemporary cultural politics, and explores the possibilities to combat racism when liberal values underpin emboldened white supremacy. What kind of everyday racially motivated speech is protected by such an interpretation of liberal ideology? How do everyday forms of social expression that vilify and intimidate find shelter through an inflation of the notion of freedom of speech? Furthermore, how do such forms refuse the idea that language can be a performative act from which harm can be derived? Racialized speech has conjured and shaped the subjectivities of multiple intersecting participants, reproducing new and problematic forms of precarity. These vulnerabilities have been experienced from the sound of rubber bullets in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to UK hate speech legislation, to the spontaneous performace of a First Nations war dance on the Australian Rules football pitch. This book identifies the deep limitations and the violent consequences of the longstanding and constantly developing ‘free speech debates’ typical of so many contexts in the West, and explores the possibilities to combat racism when liberal values are ‘weaponized’ to target racialized communities. This book was originally published as a special issue of Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies.

TESOL Teacher Education in a Transnational World critically examines theories and practices in contemporary TESOL teacher education to shed new light on the intersection of transnationalism and language teacher education. It emphasizes the scholarship of transnational mobility of language teachers, and showcases critical research from diverse contexts. The book fills a critical research gap by more fully examining the theory and practice of teacher education in a changing time when national identities and cross-border mobilities continue to figure prominently in scholarly discussions. Through a diverse set of epistemological, historical and theoretical perspectives along with methodological innovations, contributors of this volume not only index the dynamism of the scholarship of teacher education, but they also offer new forums for lively pedagogical debates. Featuring contributions from diverse educational and geographical contexts, including Europe, Asia, North America, and Latin America, the book moves the existing scholarship forward to more fully examine TESOL teacher education in relation to transnationalism. This book will be of great interest to academics, scholars, post-graduate students, teacher educators, policymakers, curriculum specialists, administrators, and other stakeholders interested in language teacher education, TESOL and applied linguistics