Participatory media in environmental communication : engaging communities in the periphery / Usha Sundar Harris.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. Theory in practice -- Who is telling our stories? -- Participatory environmental communication : a conceptual framework -- Participatory media pedagogy and practice -- Part II. Bringing pacific island perspectives -- Dialogic encounters : listening to peoples stories -- Engaging communities in environmental communication -- Community informatics and the power of participation -- Who is listening?

Participatory Media in Environmental Communication brings together stories of communities in the Pacific islands - a region that is severely affected by the impacts of climate change. Despite living on the margins of the digital revolution, these island communities have used media and communication to create awareness of and find solutions to environmental challenges. By telling their stories in their own way, ordinary people are able to communicate compelling accounts of how different, but interrelated, environmental, political, and economic issues converge and impact at a local level. This book fills a significant gap in our understanding of how participatory media is used as a dialogic tool to raise awareness and facilitate discussion of environmental issues that are now critical. It includes a section on pedagogy and practice - the undergirding principles, the tools, the methods. The book offers a framework for Participatory Environmental Communication that weaves three widely used concepts, diversity, network and agency, into a cohesive underlying system to bring scholars, practitioners and diverse communities together in a dialogue about pressing environmental issues. This book is a valuable resource for researchers and students in communication and media studies, environmental communication, cultural studies, and environmental sciences, as well as practitioners, policy makers and environmental activists.