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Professor Debashish Munshi

Professor Debashish Munshi

Visiting Senior Fellow

Department of Media and Communications

Email
D.Munshi@lse.ac.uk
Connect with me

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Website

Languages
Bengali, English, Hindi
Key Expertise
Public engagement, Postcolonial theory

About me

Professor Debashish Munshi (PhD; MRSNZ) is a communication scholar whose work straddles the intersections of communication, public engagement, sustainability, social change, and citizenship. He is the author/editor of eight books and over 150 articles, chapters and research papers, and his research with international colleagues draws on critical, postcolonial, and feminist theoretical perspectives. His most recent book -- Munshi, D. & Kurian, P. (2021) 'Public Relations and Sustainable Citizenship: Representing the Unrepresented' (Routledge, London) won the International Communication Association (ICA) PR Division's 'Outstanding Scholarly Book Award' in 2022. An earlier co-authored book of his -- McKie, D. & Munshi, D. (2007) 'Reconfiguring Public Relations: Ecology, Equity, and Enterprise' (Routledge, London) won the 2007 PRIDE Award for the Outstanding Book of the Year awarded by the PR Division of the U.S-based National Communication Association (NCA). His co-edited volumes include 'Organizing at the Margins: Theorizing Organizations of Struggle in the Global South' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023); Climate Futures: Reimagining Global Climate Justice' (2019); 'Feminist Futures: Re-imagining Women, Culture, and Development' (2016); 'The Handbook of Communication Ethics' (Routledge, 2011); and 'On the Edges of Development: Cultural Interventions' (2009).

Professor Munshi has co-led major public engagement projects. Most recently, he (with Professors Priya Kurian and Sandy Morrison) was awarded a prestigious Marsden grant of the Royal Society of New Zealand for a project entitled 'He Rau Ringa: Engaging ethnic communities in a Tiriti o Waitangi-centred framework of sustainable citizenship”. His other major research grants include one for projects on 'Sustainable Citizenship: Transforming Public Engagement on New and Emerging Technologies' (Marsden Grant) and 'Centring Culture in Public Engagement on Climate Change Adaptation' (Deep South National Science Challenge). He has also received a Rockefeller Foundation grant for a project on 'Climate Futures' (with Professor Kurian and Professors Kum-Kum Bhavnani and John Foran of the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Debashish, who is Professor of Management Communication at the University of Waikato in Aotearoa New Zealand, has won the University of Waikato Vice-Chancellor's Medal for Excellence in Teaching and the University of Waikato Excellence in Research Award.

Expertise Details

Public engagement; Postcolonial theory; Sustainability; Citizenship

Publications

(i) Books

  • Munshi, D. & Kurian, P. (2021). Public Relations and Sustainable Citizenship: Representing the Unrepresented. London: Routledge.
  • Pal, M., Cruz, J., & Munshi, D. (Eds.). (2023). Organizing at the Margins: Theorizing Organizations of Struggle in the Global South. Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Bhavnani, K-K., Foran, J., Kurian, P., & Munshi, D. (Eds.).(2019). Climate Futures: Reimagining Global Climate Justice, London: Zed Books.
  • Bhavnani, K-K, Foran, J., Kurian, P., & Munshi, D. (Eds.) (2016). Feminist Futures: Reimagining Women, Culture, and Development, 2nd edition. London: Zed.
  • Cheney, G., May, S., & Munshi, D. (Eds.). (2011). The Handbook of Communication Ethics. New York: Routledge.
  • Bhavnani, K-K., Foran, J., Kurian, P.A., & Munshi, D. (Eds.). (2009). On the edges of development: Cultural interventions. New York: Routledge.
  • McKie, D. & Munshi, D. (2011). Reconfigurar las relaciones publicas: Ecologie, equidad y empresa (trans.Jordi Xifra). Barcelona: UOC Press.
  • McKie, D., & Munshi, D. (2007). Reconfiguring public relations: Ecology, equity, and enterprise. London: Routledge.

(ii) Articles in refereed journals

  • Clark, A., Wilcox, P., Morrison, S., Munshi, D., Kurian, P., Mika, J., Chagne, D., Allan, A., & Hudson, M. (2024). Identifying Māori perspectives on gene editing in Aotearoa New Zealand. Communications Biology 7, 221. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-024-05896-1
  • Bourne, C., Mumby, D., Munshi, D., Das, A., Roy Chaudhuri, H., & Edwards, L. (2023). Narrating the anxious market: in search of alternatives during global crises, Consumption Markets & Culture 26(3), 233-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/10253866.2022.2066656
  • Munshi, D., Cretney, R., Kurian, P., Morrison, S. L., & Edwards, A. (2022). Culture and politics in overlapping frames for the future: Multi-dimensional activist organizing and communicating on climate change in Aotearoa New Zealand.  Organization. https://doi.org/10.1177/13505084221131641
  • Kathlene, L., Munshi, D., Kurian, P., & Morrison, S. (2022). Cultures in the laboratory: Mapping similarities and differences between Māori and non-Māori in engaging with gene-editing technologies in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 9, 100. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01104-9
  • Kurian, P., Munshi, D., Cretney, R., Morrison, S., & Kathlene, L. (2022): The cultural politics of climate change adaptation: an analysis of the tourism sector in Aotearoa New Zealand, Political Science 73 (2), 143-160. https://doi.org/10.1080/00323187.2021.2021803 
  • Munshi, D., Kurian, P., Cretney, R., Morrison, S., & Kathlene, L. (2020). Centering Culture in Public Engagement on Climate Change. Environmental Communication 14 (5), 573-581,Doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/17524032.2020.1746680
  • Munshi-Kurian, A., Munshi, D., & Kurian, P. (2019). Strategic interventions in sociology’s resource mobilization theory: Reimagining the #MeToo movement as critical public relations. Public Relations Review 45 (5), 101788. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.05.009
  • Heath, R.L., McKie, D., Munshi, D., & Xifra, J. (2019). Public relations critical intersections special section introduction. Public Relations Review 45 (5), 101859. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2019.101859
  • Romero-Lankao, P, Bulkeley, H., Pelling, M., Burch, S., Gordon, D., Gupta, J., Johnson, C., Kurian, P., Lecavalier, E., Simon, D., Tozer, L., Ziervogel, G., & Munshi, D. (2018). Urban transformative potential in a changing climate. Nature Climate Change 8, 754–756.
  • Munshi, D., Kurian, P., & Xifra, J. (2017). An (other) ‘story’ in history: Challenging colonialist public relations in novels of resistance. Public Relations Review 43(2), 366-374. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2017.02.016
  • Munshi, D., Kurian, P., Morrison, T., & Morrison, S. L. (2016). Redesigning the architecture of policy-making: Engaging with Māori on Nanotechnology in New Zealand. Public Understanding of Science 25 (3), 287–302 DOI: 10.1177/0963662514548629
  • Kurian, P; Munshi, D; Kathlene, L; Wright, J (2016), Sustainable citizenship as a methodology for engagement: Navigating environmental, economic and technological rationalities, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, DOI: 10.1007/s13412-015-0350-9
  • Kurian, P. & Munshi, D. (2016). Public Engagement for Environmental Sustainability in a Technological Age:  Introduction to a Symposium, Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences. DOI 10.1007/s13412-015-0359-0
  • Lockwood, S., Weaver, C.K., Munshi, D., & Simpson, M. (2016). The self-organising of youth volunteers during the Rena oil spill in New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 50 (1), 28–41.
  • Munshi, D., & Kurian, P. (2015). Imagining organizational communication as sustainable citizenship. Management Communication Quarterly 29 (1), 153-159.
  • Broadfoot, K.J., & Munshi, D. (2015). Agency as a process of translation. Management Communication Quarterly 29 (3), 469-474.
  • Guo, S., Munshi, D., Cockburn-Wootten, C., & Simpson, M. (2014). Cultural Dilemmas of Choice: Deconstructing Consumer Choice in Health Communication between Maternity-care Providers and Ethnic Chinese Mothers in New Zealand, Health Communication 29 (10),1020-1028.
  • Kurian, P., Munshi, D., & Bartlett, R.V. (2014). Sustainable Citizenship for a Technological World: Negotiating Deliberative Dialectics, Citizenship Studies 18 (3-4), 393-409.
  • Guo, S., Cockburn-Wootten, C., & Munshi, D. (2014). Negotiating Diversity: Fostering collaborative interpretations of case studies, Business and Professional Communication Quarterly.
  • Munshi, D., Kurian, P.A., Fraser, R., & Rupar, V. (2014). Shadow publics in the news coverage of socio-political issues. Journalism: Theory, Practice, and Criticism 15(1), 89-108.
  • Kurian, P. A. & Munshi, D. (2012). Denial and Distancing in Discourses of Development: Shadow of the ‘Third World’ in New Zealand, Third World Quarterly 33 (6), 981-999.
  • Munshi, D., & Edwards, L. (2011). Understanding ‘race’ in/and public relations: Where do we start and where should we go? Journal of Public Relations Research 23 (4), 349-367.
  • Broadfoot, K., Munshi, D., & Nelson-Marsh, N. (2010). COMMUNEcation: A Rhizomatic Tale of Participatory Technology, Postcoloniality and Professional Community, New Media and Society 12(5), 797-812.
  • Nelson-Marsh, N., Broadfoot, K., & Munshi, D. (2008). COMMUNEcating in the spaces in-between: Creating new understandings of organizing and communicative practice around the globe. Management Communication Quarterly 22 (2), 313-321.
  • Broadfoot, K., Cockburn, T., Cockburn-Wootten, C., do Carmo Reis, M., Gautam, D., Malshe, A., Munshi, D., Nelson-Marsh, N., Okwori, J., Simpson, M., & Srinivas, N. (2008). A Mosaic of visions, daydreams and memories: Diverse inlays of organizing and communicating from around the globe. Management Communication Quarterly 22 (2), 322-350.
  • Broadfoot, K., & Munshi, D. (2007). Diverse voices and alternative rationalities: Imagining forms of postcolonial organizational communication, Management Communication Quarterly 21 (2), 249-267.
  • Broadfoot, K, & Munshi, D. (2007). Afterword: In search of a polyphony of voices, Management Communication Quarterly 21 (2), 281-283.
  • Munshi, D., Kurian, P., Bartlett, R.V., & Lakhtakia, A. (2007). A Map of the Nanoworld: Sizing up the Science, Politics, and Business of the Infinitesimal. Futures 39 (4), 432-452.
  • Kurian, P., & Munshi, D. (2006). Tense borders: Culture, Identity, and Anxiety in New Zealand’s Interweaving Discourses of Immigration and Genetic Modification. Cultural Politics 2(3), 359-380.
  • Munshi, D., & Kurian, P. (2005). Imperializing spin cycles: A postcolonial look at public relations, greenwashing, and the separation of publics. Public Relations Review 31 (4), 513-520.
  • McKie, D., & Munshi, D. (2005). Tracking trends: Peripheral visions and public relations, Public Relations Review 31 (4), 453-457.
  • McKie, D., & Munshi, D. (2005). Connecting hemispheres: A comparative review of 21st century organizational communication in Australia/New Zealand and the United States. Review of Communication 5(1), 49-55.
  • McKie, D., Motion, J., & Munshi, D. (2004). Envisioning communication from the edge. Australian Journal of Communication 31 (3), 1-12.
  • McKie, D., & Munshi, D. (2004). “Pumpkins, kiwi fruits, and global hybrids: A comparative review of 21st century public relations scholarship in Australia, New Zealand and the United States”, Review of Communication 4 (3-4), pp. 278-287. 
  • Kurian, P., & Munshi, D. (2003). “Terms of Empowerment: Gender, Ecology, and ICTs for Development”, Feminist Media Studies 3 (3), pp. 352-355.
  • Munshi, D., & McKie, D. (2001). “Towards a new cartography of intercultural communication: Mapping bias, business, and diversity”, Business Communication Quarterly, 64 (3), pp. 9-22.
  • Munshi, D., & McKie, D. (2001). “Different bodies of knowledge: Diversity and diversification in public relations”, The Australian Journal of Communication, 28 (3), pp. 11-22.
  • Munshi, D. (1999). “Requisitioning variety: Photographic metaphors, ethnocentric lenses, and the divided colours of public relations”, Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, 1 (1), pp. 39-51.
  • Munshi, D. (1998). “Media, politics, and the ‘Asianisation’ of a polarised immigration debate in New Zealand”, The Australian Journal of Communication, 25 (1), pp. 97-110.

(iii) Edited journals

  • Munshi, D.. & Edwards, L. (2011). Special Issue of Journal of Public Relations Research 23 (4), on “Race In/And Public Relations”.
  • McKie, D., & Munshi, D. (2005). Special issue of Public Relations Review, 31 (4), on “Global Public Relations: A Different Perspective”.
  • McKie, D., Motion, J., & Munshi, D. (2004). Special Issue of Australian Journal of Communication, 31 (3), on “Communication from the Edge”.

(iv) Chapters in refereed research books

  • Pal, M., Cruz, J., & Munshi, D. (2023). Organizing away from the gaze: Local knowledges, new futures. In Pal, M., Cruz, J., & Munshi, D. (Eds.). (2023). Organizing at the Margins: Theorizing Organizations of Struggle in the Global South (pp. 1-11). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Tuhiwai Smith, L. & Munshi, D. (2023). Decolonizing knowledge: Cultural aspirations, political self-determination, and social rights in knowledge making. In Pal, M., Cruz, J., & Munshi, D. (Eds.). (2023). Organizing at the Margins: Theorizing Organizations of Struggle in the Global South (pp. 15-31). Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Place, K. & Munshi, D. (2023). Conclusion: Directions for future research of organizational listening and strategic communication. In Place, K. (Ed.), Organizational Listening for Strategic Communication (pp. 288-292). New York: Routledge.
  • Kurian, P., Cretney, R., Munshi, D., & Morrison, S. (2022).  Social Movements and the Environment. In Bargh, M., & MacArthur, J. (Eds.), Environmental Politics and Policy in Aotearoa New Zealand (pp. 192-210). Auckland, NZ: Auckland University Press.
  • Munshi, D., Kurian, P.A., & Morrison, S.L. (2019). A Culture-Centered Approach to Climate Change Adaptation: Insights from New Zealand. In K-K Bhavnani, J. Foran, P. Kurian, & D. Munshi (Eds.), Climate Futures: Re-imagining Global Climate Justice (pp. 64-72). London: Zed Books. 
  • Munshi, D., Kurian, P.A., Foran, J., & Bhavnani, K-K (2019). The Future is Ours to See: Changing the Inevitability of Climate Chaos to Prospects of Hope and Justice. In K-K Bhavnani, J. Foran, P. Kurian, & D. Munshi (Eds.), Climate Futures: Re-imagining Global Climate Justice (pp. 1-8). London: Zed Books. 
  • Broadfoot, K., Munshi, D., & Cruz, J. (2018). Releasing/Translating Agency: A Postcolonial Disruption/Engagement of the Master’s Voice among Liberian Market Women. In Brummans, B. (Ed.), The Agency of Organizing: Perspectives and Case Studies (pp. 123-141). New York: Routledge.
  • Munshi, D. & Pal, M. (2018). Colonialism/Post-colonialism. In R. L. Heath & Johansen, W. (Eds.) The International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication. Wiley.
  • Cheney, G; Munshi, D. (2017), Alternative forms of organization and organizing. In Scott, C.R. & Lewis, L. (Eds), The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication (pp.59-68). Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Cheney, G., & Munshi, D. (2017). Globalization and Global Village. In Y.Y. Kim (Ed.) The International Encyclopedia of Intercultural Communication. John Wiley & Sons. DOI: 10.1002/9781118783665.ieicc0033
  • Bhavnani, K-K., Foran, J., Kurian, P., & Munshi, D. (2016). Preface to the Second Edition. In In K-K Bhavnani, J. Foran, P. Kurian, & D. Munshi (Eds.), Feminist Futures: Reimagining Women, Culture, and Development, 2nd edition (pp.xx-xxvi). London: Zed.
  • Munshi, D., Broadfoot, K., & Hall, M. (2017), Postcolonial approaches. In Scott, C.R. & Lewis, L. (Eds), The International Encyclopedia of Organizational Communication (pp. 1886-1896).Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Munshi, D., & Kurian, P. (2016). ‘Public relations and sustainable citizenship: Towards a goal of representing the unrepresented,’ in L’Etang, J., McKie, D., Snow, N., & Xifra, J. (Eds.), Handbook of Critical Public Relations (pp. 405-414). New York: Routledge.
  • Cheney, G., Kendall, B., & Munshi, D. (2016). Ethical universalism. In J. Bennett, (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Intercultural Competence (pp. 301-305). Los Angeles: Sage.
  • Munshi, D. (2016). Postcolonial theory. In C.E. Carroll (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Corporate Reputation (pp. 576-578). Los Angeles: Sage.
  • Broadfoot, K.J., & Munshi, D. (2014). Postcolonial approaches. In Putnam, L.L., & Mumby, D.K. (Eds.), The Sage Handbook of Organizational Communication (3rd ed.), Los Angeles, CA: Sage (pp. 151-171).
  • Kurian, P., Munshi, D., & Mundkur, A. (2014). The dialectics of power and powerlessness in transnational feminist networks: On-line struggles around gender-based violence. In Baksh, R., & Harcourt, W. (Eds.), The OUP Handbook of Transnational Feminist Movements: Knowledge, Power, and Social Movements, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199943494.013.027
  • Kurian, P. & Munshi, D. (2014), Denial and distancing in discourses of development: Shadow of the 'Third World' in New Zealand. In S. Schech (Ed.), Development Perspectives from the Antipodes, London: Routledge (pp.13-31).
  • Munshi, D. (2013). The subaltern and public relations.  In R. Heath (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Public Relations, Sage, (pp. 891-893).
  • Munshi, D. (2013) Post colonialism theory and public relations. In R. Heath (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Public Relations, Sage, (pp. 664-666). Sage.
  • Cheney, G., Munshi, D., May, S. with Ortiz, E. (2011). Encountering Ethics in the Contemporary World:  Principles, People and Contexts. In Cheney, G., May, S., & Munshi, D. (Eds.), The Handbook of Communication Ethics. New York: Routledge.
  • Munshi, D., Broadfoot, K., & Smith, L.T. (2011). Decolonizing Communication Ethics:  A Framework for Communicating Otherwise. In Cheney, G., May, S., & Munshi, D. (Eds.), The Handbook of Communication Ethics. New York: Routledge.
  • Murphy, P., Munshi, D., Kurian, P., Lakhtakia, A., & Bartlett, R. (2011). Nanotechnology, society and environment. In Andrews, D., Scholes, G., & Wiederrecht, G. (Eds.), Comprehensive Nanoscience and Technology. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
  • McKie, D., & Munshi, D. (2010). Personalisation possibilities: A plea for subjective transparency through science, action research, and strategic communication. In M. Eisenegger & S. Wehmeier (Eds.), Personalisierung der Organisations-kommunication: Theoretische Zugange, Empirie und Praxis. Wiesbaden, Germany: VS Verlag. (pp. 309-318).
  • McKie, D., & Munshi, D. (2009). Theoretical black holes: A partial A to Z of missing critical thought in public relations. In R. L. Heath, E. L. Toth, & D. Waymer (Eds.), Rhetorical and critical approaches to public relations II. New York: Routledge. (pp. 61-75).
  • Munshi, D., & Kurian, P. (2009). Migrants, genes, and socioscientific phobias: Charting the fear of the ‘Third World’ in discourses of development in New Zealand. In  K-K. Bhavnani, J. Foran, P. Kurian, & D. Munshi (Eds.), On the edges of development: Cultural interventions, New York: Routledge. (pp. 94-109).
  • Bhavnani, K-K, Foran, J., Kurian, P., & Munshi, D. (2009). Introduction: From the edges of development. In  K-K. Bhavnani, J. Foran, P. Kurian, & D. Munshi (Eds.), On the edges of development: Cultural interventions, New York: Routledge. (pp. 1-9).
  • McKie, D., & Munshi, D. (2008). Rhetorical Control Rooms: Postmodern, Poststructural, and Postcolonial Worlds. In D. O’Hair, R. L. Heath, G.R. Ledlow, & K. Ayottee (Eds.), Terrorism: Communication and rhetorical perspectives. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press. (pp. 131-146).
  • Munshi, D., & Kurian, P. (2007). The case of the subaltern public: A postcolonial investigation of CSR’s (o)missions. In S. May, G. Cheney, & J. Roper (Eds.), The Debate over Corporate Social Responsibility, New York: Oxford University Press. (pp. 438-447).
  • Munshi, D. (2005). “Through the subject’s eye: Situating the ‘Other’ in discourses of diversity”. In G. Cheney & G. Barnett (Eds.), International and multicultural organizational communication. Creskill, NJ: Hampton Press. (pp. 45-70).
  • Munshi, D. (2004). Postcolonial theory and public relations. In R. L. Heath (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Public Relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, pp. 631-632.
  • Munshi, D., & Kurian, P. (2003). “Knitting a net of knowledge: Engendering cybertechnology for disempowered communities”. In Bhavnani, K., Foran, J., & Kurian, P. (Eds). Feminist Futures: Re-imagining women, culture, and development. London: Zed Books, pp. 188-193.
  • Kurian, P., & Munshi, D. (2003). “Negotiating human-nature boundaries, cultural hierarchies and masculinist paradigms of development studies”. In Bhavnani, K., Foran, J., & Kurian, P. (Eds). Feminist Futures: Re-imagining women, culture, and development. London: Zed Books, pp. 146-159.

(viii) Technical Reports

  • Munshi, D., Kurian, P., Morrison, S., Kathlene, L., & Cretney, R. (2020). Centring culture in public engagement on climate change adaptation: Re-shaping the future of the NZ tourism sector: A report to the Deep South National Science Challenge. Hamilton, New Zealand: The University of Waikato and Wellington, New Zealand: Deep South National Science Challenge.
  • Kathlene, L, Kurian, P., Munshi, D., & Morrison, S. (2020). Mapping values, beliefs, and attitudes on genetic technologies: Insights from a national survey of Māori and non-Māori citizens of Aotearoa New Zealand – An interim report. MBIE-funded project on gene editing technologies.
  • Munshi, D., Kurian, P., Morrison, S., Kathlene, L., Cretney, R., & Doo, M. (2018). Climate change adaptation in the Aotearoa New Zealand Tourism sector: Report of a cross-sector engagement session. Hamilton: University of Waikato.
  • Prieur-Richard, A-H., Walsh, B., Craig, M., Melamed, M.L., Colbert, M., Pathak, M., Connors, S.,  Bai, X., Barau, A., Bulkeley, H., Cleugh, H., Cohen, M., Colenbrander, S., Dodman, D., Dhakal, S., Dawson, R., Espey, J., Greenwalt, J.,  Kurian, P., Lee, B., Leonardsen, L., Masson-Delmotte, V., Munshi, D., Okem, A., Delgado Ramos, G.C., Sanchez Rodriguez,R., Roberts, D., Rosenzweig, C., Schultz, S., Seto, K., Solecki, W., van Staden, M., Ürge-Vorsatz, D.  (2018). Global research and action agenda on cities and climate change science. Scientific Steering Committee and Organising Committee of the Cities IPCC Conference, sponsored by the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved from https://citiesipcc.org/beyond/global-research-and-action-agenda-on-cities-and-climate-change-science/

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