Community Engagement and Intercultural Praxis ─ Dancing With Difference in Diverse Contexts

Collier’s framework for community engagement integrates critical and interpretive perspectives to position cultures as central and complex organizing itineraries with ever-changing structures and relationships. Seven case studies apply the critical/interpretive praxis framework to better understand how development is approached and communities are engaged by international organizations working in Nepal, Northern Ireland, Zimbabwe, Kenya, and the southwestern U.S. Firsthand accounts of those who are doing community engagement work demonstrate how they navigate their contexts and relationships and reveal what they find relevant for designing social interventions. Annotation c2014 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)

Mary Jane Collier (PhD, the University of Southern California) is Professor of Communication at the University of New Mexico. She was editor of volumes 23-25 of The International and Intercultural Communication Annual. She has received, among other awards, the Distinguished Scholarship Award in the International and Intercultural Communication Division of the National Communication Association.