Handbook

Subject Area: Environmental Humanities

Public relations and the environment have a complicated relationship. Public relations, broadly conceived, is a profession, a set of discursive practices and a form of power relations, that has been mobilized to both support and prevent environmental policy initiatives and decision making. Addressing the grand challenges that those working in environmental-related vocations face requires a distinctive set of public relations theories, principles and practices. You will explore the ways in which environmental issues are advanced, controversies and crises managed and engagement processes are developed through public relations, science communication, social media, policy and political communication.

You will critically reflect upon the role of public relations in key environmental debates, problematize the power relations that constrain community interests and understand the value of public relations as a potential mechanism for advancing policy and socio-cultural change. Social media, as culturally constituted discursive spaces, offer alternative avenues for environmental public relations through a shift to participatory cultures and an opening up or reconfiguration of notions of the public interest. You will consider the implications of such shifts and the potential dynamics of public relations that play out during moments of controversy and crisis.  The course will also offer you an opportunity to  develop vocational communication practices.