Reconfiguring public relations with China

Abstract

This essay explores the intersection of public relations education and cultural identity in order to better understand how educators can assist themselves and their students to think more critically and reflexively about ecology, equity, and enterprise at local and global levels. Specifically, the authors argue for the need for educators to ‘reconfigure’ public relations with China in ways that recognize and cultivate multiple perspectives, especially non-US and non-dominant perspectives. The authors describe specific teaching experiences in China to illustrate how the principles of reconfiguration might support productive engagement of social and environmental issues in the public relations classroom.