Caroline Hodges

“PRP culture”: A framework for exploring public relations practitioners as cultural intermediaries

Purpose – To advance the cultural approach to public relations research and practice through linking societal culture and occupational culture of public relations to the communication practices of practitioners, in the aim of understanding the contribution made by public relations to the development of contemporary cultures. Design/methodology/approach – The discussion identifies some of the limitations of recent thinking regarding the nature public relations within a global context, particularly as regards professionalisation. An alternative framework for international research is then proposed – one which advocates understanding public relations as an occupational group and emphasises the need to recognise the role of public relations practitioners as agents, or “intermediaries” in the development of culture. Findings – Rather than focus on developing codes of practice, it is recommended that the public relations industry should establish its current functions and potential for meeting human needs within differing cultural contexts. Originality/value – The paper advocates a fresh approach to the debate surrounding international professionalisation of public relations.

Challenging perceptions of disability through performance poetry methods: the ‘Seen but Seldom Heard’ project

This paper considers performance poetry as a method to explore lived experiences of disability. We discuss how poetic inquiry used within a participatory arts-based research framework can enable young people to collectively question society’s attitudes and actions towards disability. Poetry will be considered as a means to develop a more accessible and effective arena in which young people with direct experience of disability can be empowered to develop new skills that enable them to tell their own stories. Discussion of how this can challenge audiences to critically reflect upon their own perceptions of disability will also be developed.

Cultural imagination in public relations education

Public relations (PR) academics can sometimes experience difficulty in applying interdisciplinary and critical cultural pedagogy within the classroom; while critical cultural approaches are regarded as appealing in theory, the transition to praxis can be challenging. One reason for this is that few published case studies of best practice exist. In this article, I draw on my own experiences within a UK university to explore the value of teaching culture within PR degree programmes before critically evaluating curricular developments in multicultural/intercultural communication and their value for PR theory and practice. I then discuss a framework for (1) teaching a final year undergraduate optional module in ‘multi(inter)cultural communication’ grounded in ethnography and critical pedagogy and (2) designing formative and summative assessment activity that encourages students to develop ‘cultural imagination’ – self-reflection drawn from the study of others’ stories/experiences, and the ethnographic knowledge, skills and competences necessary to embrace their professional practice as culturally sensitive, reflective practitioners.