‘It was their
independence of mind
and autonomy that
I admired.’
PROFESSOR
JACQUIE L’ETANG
PROFESSOR, MEDIA, COMMUNICATION AND PERFORMING ARTS
Along with my colleague Dr Magda Pieczka my work since
the early 1990s has been concerned with stimulating and
extending critical perspectives in public relations and
opposing the dominant functional agenda in the field.
Starting my academic career
in a positivist discipline in a
positivist marketing department
forced me to question the
status quo and to articulate
alternative perspectives,
however uncomfortable. A
major part of my work has been
concerned with the histories,
herstories and historiographies
of the public relations field, and
the role of communications in
societal change.
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WOMEN
RESEARCHERS
INSPIRING
RESEARCH CAREER
JOURNEYS
I have written and co-edited several books, the most
recent are: a collected volume of historical essays
(2014), a text on sports public relations (2013) and a
collection of more than 30 monographical essays on
critical public relations (2015, in press).
Although I was not taught by any women during
my first degree in English & American History at
the University of East Anglia in the mid 1970s,
subsequently I interviewed feminist academics,
Cora Kaplan and Jacqueline Rose (while working
at The British Council); social psychologist Hilda
Himmelweit and sociologist Eileen Barker (while
working at the London School of Economics)
– they were my main role models and inspirations
for moving into an academic career. It was their
independence of mind and autonomy that I admired.