Kenn Gaither co-authors book chapter on public relations and public interest in emerging democracies

Kenn Gaither, an associate dean and professor in the School of Communications, collaborated with a fellow communications scholar to write a chapter in “Public Interest Communication Critical Debates and Global Contexts,” published in July by Routledge.

Gaither was lead author of a chapter, titled “Articulating national identity in postcolonial democracies: Defining relations and interests through competing publics,” with Patricia A. Curtin, endowed chair of public relations at the University of Oregon.

Gaither and Curtin are frequent collaborators and published a 2012 book together titled “Globalization and Public Relations in Postcolonial Nations: Challenges and Opportunities.” In 2015, they also co-authored a book chapter in “The Routledge Handbook of Critical Public Relations.”

The recently released book, “Public Interest Communication Critical Debates and Global Contexts,” explores a new concept of public interest communication, combining the conflict, negotiation and adaptation inherent in public interest with a critical approach to communication management and public relations. According to the book’s description, the book uses case studies to explore the negotiation of conflicting interests and the construction of the public interest within systems of governance at local, national and international levels. 

Gaither’s book chapter focuses on the sub-Saharan nations of Mozambique and Ghana and the complex legacy of postcolonialism in shaping notions of the public interest and public relations in these emerging democracies.

The book’s editors are Jane Johnston, associate professor of communications at the University of Queensland, Australia, and Magda Pieczka, reader in public relations at Queen Margaret University, United Kingdom.