SU Communication Arts Department
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Browsing SU Communication Arts Department by Subject "Disaster-relief"
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Item Communicative re-construction of resilience labor: Identity/Identification in disaster-relief workers(2015-10-02) Agarwal, Vinita; Buzzanell, Patrice M.Drawing from the structurational theory of identification (Scott, Corman, & Cheney, 1998) and resilience theory (Buzzanell, 2010), our inquiry provides insight into the sustainability of disaster-relief worker involvement and the discursive processes whereby workers overcome emotional and physical challenges to create resilience labor. Analyzing 23 semi-structured interviews with disaster-relief workers of a non-profit organization, we define resilience labor as the dual-layered process of reintegrating transformative identities and identifications to sustain and construct ongoing organizational involvement and resilience. The identification frames align with familial, ideological, and destruction-renewal network ties that empower individuals to construct their identities in transformative ways. The frames can guide non-profit managers and volunteers working in extreme contexts characterized by societal conflicts or disruption to sustain themselves as they construct resilience labor.Item Mainstreaming disaster-relief service-learning in communication departments: Integrating communication pedagogy, praxis, and engagement(2016) Agarwal, VinitaCommunication is the primary mode through which students inculcate critical thinking skills for (re)construction of social reality and engagement with communities in need (Craig, 1989). Thus it is well-suited to disaster-relief service-learning approaches that provide a pathway for democratic engagement with the material consequences of inequality evidenced in disasterstruck communities. Communication administrators can advocate for disaster-relief servicelearning programs by aligning theoretically-informed student input in faculty–administration partnerships to construct transformative learning experiences sustaining trusting relationships. This study is the first to employ the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1986) to identify themes comprising student composite disaster-relief volunteering belief-structure and disaster-relief volunteering intentions elicited by surveys (N=352) and theme analyses of qualitative data. The findings center the role of communication administrators in integrating disaster-relief pedagogies and advocating for institutional initiatives that bridge “thought to action, theory to practice” (Boyer, 1994, p. A48) around the vital social issues evoked by disaster-relief contexts.