Global communication researchers gather to explore social change

The event was run by Massey’s Center for Culture-Centered Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE). It brought together participants from 12 countries for two days of discussion, workshops and collaboration, on the Manawatū campus and online.

The event’s theme was Communicative Equality Against Empire, which examined the relationship between communication, power, culture and social justice.

Dean's Chair in Communication Professor Mohan Dutta says the event created a space for researchers and community partners to question established approaches to communication and consider new possibilities.

“Empire is built in language as much as in markets and armies, and the work of dismantling it is communicative work. We wanted to ask a simple question: What would communication look like if it were organised for equality rather than for an empire?”

Scholars, students, journalists, community organisers and movement partners from Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Palestine, China, Spain, the United States, Nigeria and Thailand took part.

Across the two-day event, participants took part in six thematic panels, workshops focused on Te Tiriti-based constitutional transformation and media repair, a masterclass on the culture-centred approach and a roundtable connecting five ICA regional hubs across the Philippines, Nigeria, Indonesia, Thailand and Aotearoa.

A feature of the event was its single-track format, with no parallel sessions. This meant participants stayed together throughout the programme, allowing discussions to build across the event.

“We kept everyone in one room so that we could build the argument together. That shared dialogue was an important part of what made this hub distinctive,” Professor Dutta says.

The gathering also included a live hub-to-hub dialogue connecting participants in Palmerston North with the ICA Hub hosted by Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, strengthening links between communication researchers across the Asia-Pacific region.

The event was grounded in te ao Māori and the relationship between tangata whenua and tangata Tiriti, with organisers also offering hybrid access and reduced registration options to support wider participation.

Professor Dutta says the event reflected CARE’s ongoing work with communities across Aotearoa, Asia and the Pacific.

“The conversations we began here are part of a wider commitment to building communication systems that support voice, participation and social justice.”