Marcella LaFever

Communication for Public Decision-Making in a Negative Historical Context: Building Intercultural Relationships in the British Columbia Treaty Process

Abstract Encouraging involvement in local, regional and national communities in order to develop a healthy democracy is a laudable goal for society. However, culturally marginalized groups that have been historically excluded from such participation, and who utilize communication patterns that differ from the dominant culture, cannot take all the responsibility for becoming engaged. The aboriginal peoples of North America are one such marginalized cultural group. Utilizing data from the current British Columbia treaty process, this study posits communication structures, attitudes, and behaviors that dominant culture groups must adopt in order to build positive long-term relationships for public engagement with historically marginalized cultural groups.

Empowering Native Americans: Communication, Planning, and Dialogue for Eco-Tourism in Gallup, New Mexico

Abstract A challenge for communication practitioners is facilitating increased representation of marginalized cultural groups in public dialogue. Utilizing a project between Gallup, New Mexico, and a Navajo community as a case study, this paper demonstrates how public planning across cultures can be conceptualized as a dialogic process. The author conducted a communication assessment of this eco-tourism project. Analysis revealed the importance of finding ways to meet the participatory needs of the marginalized community, instituting specialized communication practices, and purposefully preparing the contextual environment to support involvement in dialogue. These findings highlight the need for continued development of dialogic practices, and for closer ties among communication and planning scholars.

Switching from Bloom to the Medicine Wheel: creating learning outcomes that support Indigenous ways of knowing in post-secondary education

Abstract Based on a review of works by Indigenous educators, this paper suggests a four-domain framework for developing course outcome statements that will serve all students, with a focus on better supporting the educational empowerment of Indigenous students. The framework expands the three domains of learning, pioneered by Bloom to a four-domain construction based on the four quadrants of the Medicine Wheel , a teaching/learning framework that has widespread use in the Indigenous communities of North America (Native American, First Nation, Metis, Inuit, etc.). This paper expands on the cognitive (mental), psychomotor (physical) and affective (emotional) domains to add the fourth quadrant, spiritual, as being essential for balance in curricular design that supports students in their learning goals. The description of the spiritual quadrant includes a progression of learning outcomes and suggested verbs for developing learning outcome statements. Evaluation and practical implications are also discussed.

9P planning: overcoming roadblocks to collaboration in intercultural community contexts

Encouraging involvement in local, regional and national communities in order to develop a healthy democracy is a laudable goal for society. The present paper investigates positions of power and dominant ideologies as they relate to communication roadblocks that inhibit the representation of marginalized cultural groups in collaboration and decision-making processes in multi-cultural communities. In this research, interviews with professional planners working in intercultural community contexts were analyzed utilizing a framework of five actions identified by Paolo Freire that must be taken by the oppressor in order to enter into solidarity with the oppressed. From this analysis I describe a holistic planning model for overcoming communication barriers in order to increase social inclusion of marginalized cultural groups in collaborative efforts.

Correction [to "Importance of gender homophily in the computer science classroom" (Summer 07 43-47]

In the above titled paper (ibid., vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 43-47, Summer 07), typographical errors appeared in several places. The corrected text is presented here.