Community Engagement and Intercultural Praxis

Although community engagement to enhance justice, equity, and inclusion is at the heart of this book, dancing with difference is the overarching metaphor. It is used to explain diverse relations between contexts, institutions, structures, community organizations, and groups, and the diverse relationships between organizational representatives and community members. It is these dances with difference through which groups and individuals deal with contextual forces, negotiate cultural identities, subjectivities, and positioning, and orient themselves toward their work. Featuring case studies of several international, national, and local organizations, the book showcases both first-hand and public discourses related to community engagement work from Nepal and Northern Ireland to Kenya, Zimbabwe, and the U.S. A framework of critical/interpretive intercultural praxis is offered to guide research and practice across the case studies. It is designed to benefit scholars, students, and practitioners who work in community-based settings by presenting a relevant and applicable guide for entering into community engagement.

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.