Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Scholarly literature examining the impact of the Internet on public relations suggests that dialogic communication is one of the more important theoretical constructs in public relations, especially in webbed communication (Ryan, 2003). A decade ago, using the dialogic theory of public relations as the theoretical framework, Kent and Taylor (1998, 2002) provided a strategic framework to facilitate relationship with publics though the World Wide Web. Based on a review of research exploring Web-based public relations practices drawing on Kent and Taylor’s theoretical framework, this essay offers a ten-year reflective survey on past, current, and future directions of Kent and Taylor’s Internet principles, as they relate to the dialogic theory of public relations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This essay argues for an expanded role for dialogue and relational communication in public relations practice. The rhetorical turn that public relations has taken over the last ten years as well as the expanded role that public relations practitioners need to play as organizational counselors is discussed. Several case studies are examined and used to support the arguments for an expanded role of public relations advocacy and management.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Despite the strides made in social science research on narrative, a comprehensive understanding of the political work performed by narratives remains underdeveloped. This paper argues that a dialogic approach to narrative derived from the work of M.M. Bakhtin, which focuses on the production of narratives within their context, can illuminate the different types of political work that narratives can accomplish. I apply a comparative, dialogic analysis to two slave narratives that both discuss an incident of violence against a slave. Although the narratives describe a similar event, their portrayals of slavery are quite different because of the different contexts in which they were produced. One narrative, produced in conjunction with the abolitionist movement, serves as a piece of political propaganda that frames slavery in a uncompromisingly harsh light. The other narrative, taken from a WPA interview in the 1930s, represents a site of political conflict between blacks and whites during the Jim Crow Era. Thus, similar narratives can accomplish different political goals, depending on the context in which they enter.

Publication Type: Works in Progress
Abstract: In contrast to the conventional arguments that globalization is a homogenization process that will eventually eliminate national boundaries and local cultural differences, or that localization is a fundamentalist process that “re-acts” to globalization, the rise of Taiwanese cultural identity since the late 1980s are constructed by both the globalization and localization efforts on the island.

The limitations and possibilities to develop a Taiwanese cultural identity based on heterogeneity are indicated through 1) the global and local brand’s interpretations of Taiwan’s local identity; and 2) the social implications of cultural hybridity in Taiwanese advertising of both the global and local brands. The analysis of the operation of cultural hybridity in the narrative structure of these commercials then see how the modern local identity are re-invented through re-organizing the signs of gender, ethnicity, class, the foreign, and the local, in which new meanings can be produced and specific social changes of gender relations are signified.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: French-Russian academic cooperation, which started before the demise of the Soviet Union, has been developing since the nineties. Cooperation between universities has been developing: Sciences po-MGIMO master program in ?International relations? is one of the most outstanding outcomes in this field. Results of these cooperations can be gauged. But when we go through the outcomes, we have to take into account the discrepancy between these cooperations and French perceptions of Russian foreign policy.