Call for Manuscripts for a Special Issue of
Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature
and Culture Volume 5, Issue 1 (2012)
Communication and Sustainability: Exploring
Intersections of Science, Policy, Action, and Culture
Editors: Harald Heinrichs (Leuphana Universität
Lüneburg) and Laura Lindenfeld (University of Maine)
This special issue emerges from the perspective
that communication research and practice should
play a more prominent role in sustainability
science. The collection of essays will consider
the ways in which communication scholarship and
practice can and should contribute to
sustainability science as part of larger global
sustainable development efforts.
RATIONALE
Coxs articulation of environmental
communication as a crisis discipline recognizes
the constitutive and normative role of
communication in the definition of environmental
problems, and it provides an ethical basis for
recognizing, predicting, and addressing
environmental problems (2007). As such, this
articulation calls for different ways of thinking
about and doing communication. Coxs call to
action suggests a model for environmental
communication that features innovative linkages
between research and practice as well as
increased collaboration with other
fields. Whether defined as the process of
linking the production of knowledge with action,
collaborative learning, or the co-construction of
knowledge, this approach to environmental
communication scholarship aims to render the
research process more salient, legitimate, and
credible to stakeholders and communities who
require research for decision making.
Sustainability science is an emerging
trans-disciplinary area that draws upon similar
assumptions about the criticality of
action-oriented scholarship in addressing global
environmental concerns and their linkages to
social and economic activities, as well as the
need to bring scholars, communities, and
stakeholders from diverse backgrounds
together. Part of a larger sustainability
studies project, sustainability science aims to
develop, shape, and maintain resilient
ecological, economic, and social systems through
an inter- and trans-disciplinary, action-oriented
approach to research and praxis (see, for
example, issues of the new journal Sustainability
Science, published by Springer).
The goals of sustainability science converge with
the type of practice-oriented research that many
environmental communication scholars do. Yet,
communication as a field has often been
underrepresented in sustainability science
research teams and programs around the
world. This special issue provides an
opportunity to make a case for the centrality of
environmental communication in advancing and,
when needed, in critiquing sustainability
science and the global sustainability studies initiative.
CALL FOR PAPERS
This call for papers seeks empirically and
critically focused essays as well as conceptual
papers that build on the concept of environmental
communication as a crisis discipline and a
solutions-oriented, reflexive discipline crisis
framework by exploring a variety of topics, including:
*The various roles communication plays and should
play within sustainability studies and sustainability science, e.g.:
a. Communication in complex interdisciplinary collaboration
b. Communication in the production of
knowledge about sustainability as a process of
co-construction by communities and universities
c. Communication in the analysis of
sustainability science solutions to local and
global environmental/sustainability issues and concerns
*The various roles communication plays and might
play within sustainability practice, e.g.:
d. (new) media communication on sustainability,
e. sustainability marketing,
f. political communication on sustainability
g. communication in formal and informal education for sustainability
h. (Interpersonal) Communication in
participation and cooperation for sustainability
*Critiques of communication research and practice
in sustainability science and sustainability practice
Manuscripts should be prepared in English, and
should not exceed 8,000 words including
references. We are prepared to offer additional
editorial assistance for manuscripts that examine
the intersection of sustainability and
communication in non-English speaking regions.
The journal adheres to APA Style. Manuscripts
must not be under review elsewhere or have
appeared in any other published form. For further
details on manuscript submission, please refer to
the Instructions for authors on the journals
website
(<http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title%7Edb=all%7Econtent=t770239508%7Etab=submit%7Emode=paper_submission_instructions>http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~db=all~content=t770239508~tab=sub...).
Upon notification of acceptance, authors must
assign copyright to Taylor and Francis and
provide copyright clearance for any copyrighted material.
Manuscripts should be emailed to
<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]
by March 31, 2011.
Please disseminate this CFP to any colleagues who might be interested.
Stephen Depoe, Ph.D.
Editor, ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION: A JOURNAL OF NATURE AND CULTURE
www.informaworld.com/renc
Professor and Director of Graduate Program
Department of Communication
University of Cincinnati, USA
(513)-556-4459
Stephen Depoe, Ph.D.
Editor, ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION: A JOURNAL OF NATURE AND CULTURE
http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17524032.asp
Professor and Director of Graduate Program
Department of Communication
University of Cincinnati, USA
(513)-556-4459
