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Mary
Jane Collier, Ph.D. |
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Ph.D., University of Southern California,
1982
Office: Room 214
mjc@unm.edu |
Professor
Communication
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Research:
My current (although always evolving) areas of
research specialization are the following: negotiation of intersecting
cultural identifications (including national, ethnic, racial, gender and class-based)
in communicative discourses; the role of culture and communication
in conflict and conflict
transformation with critical attention to community
building; and negotiation of intercultural relationships and
alliances in projects related to social change and social justice.
At present I approach these issues from integrating critical and
interpretive theoretical perspectives to inquiry.
I am interested in the following broad research problematics in
local, national, and international settings:
- How are multiple, intersecting cultural identifications negotiated
by group members with different status positioning in various
types of recognized conflicts?
- How are intercultural relationships and intercultural alliances
negotiated and how do they function to enable and/or constrain
projects of social change and social justice?
- How do public discourses around such topics as immigration reflect and challenge ideologies of privilege and status positions linked to race, sex and class?
- What are forms and consequences of discourses, practices and relationships through which academic researchers, governmental and non-governmental organizations, and communities, collaborate on international and local “development”?
Current projects:
I have begun a major research project examining how international collaborative teams negotiate their institutional and organizational positioning, cultural identities, and intercultural relationships. During the summer of 2008 I conducted interviews in Nepal among individuals working at such agencies as the UN Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UNICEF, Save the Children, and World International Education. In January 2009 I conducted participant observation and interviewed individuals working in the public sector and local communities in Northern Ireland.
I have completed a U.S. State Department Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs Grant project with a team of faculty from the University of Denver and University of West Indies. The project was a partnership with the University of West Indies in Trinidad/Tobago designed for capacity building, M.A. curriculum development, joint research, and training of mediation professionals. Two research studies have been completed assessing Trinidad community members’ views of organizational, family, and neighborhood conflicts, and preferences for third party intervention.
I have completed a critical/interpretive study of discourses of participants in an intergroup dialogue program with Middle Eastern young women. I have also completed an analysis of discourses from two Northern Ireland intercommunal dialogue programs to probe how cultural identifications and intercommunal relationships are negotiated in group meetings.
I am continuing to collaborate with colleagues from the University of Nairobi and International Peace Initiatives planning upcoming research in Kenya in which we will utilize participant action, community based research to understand the role of contextual features, cultural identities positioning, and relationship negotiation among women leaders and grassroots groups oriented toward social change.
Sample Publications:
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Collier, M.J. (in press). Contextual negotiation of cultural identifications and relationships: Interview discourse with Palestinian, Israeli, and Palestinian/Israeli young women in a U.S. peacebuilding program. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication.
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Collier, M.J. (in press.) "Cultural Identities Theory." In S. Littlejohn & K. Foss (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Communication Theory. Sage.
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Collier, M.J. (2009). Negotiating Intercommunity and community group identity positions: Summary discourses from two Northern Ireland intercommunity groups. Negotiation andConflict Management Research, 2, 285-306.
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Thompson, J. & Collier, M.J. (2006)
"Contingent intersecting identifications among selected U.S.
interracial couples: Integrating interpretive and critical
views." Communication
Quarterly.
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Collier, M.J. (2005). "Theorizing cultural identifications: Critical
updates and continuing evolution." In W.B. Gudykunst (Ed.) Theorizing
about Intercultural Communication, (pp. 235-256). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
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Collier, M.J. (2005). "Context, privilege, and contingent cultural
identifications in South African group interview discourses." Western Journal of Communication,
69, 295-318.
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Collier, M.J. (2003). "Negotiating Intercultural
Alliance Relationships: Toward Transformation." In M.J.
Collier (Ed.) Intercultural
Alliances: Critical Transformation (pp 1-16) Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage.
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Collier, M.J., Hegde, R. S., Lee, W.,
Nakayama, T.K., & Yep, G.A. (2002).
"Dialogue on the edges: Ferment in communication and culture." In
M.J. Collier (Ed.) Transforming
Communication About Culture: Critical New Directions.
(p. 219-280). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
- Collier, M. J. (2001). "Reconstructing
Cultural Diversity in Global Relationships: Negotiating the
Borderlands." In G. M. Chen & W.
Starosta (Eds.) Diversity,
identity and global society. (pp. 215-236). New York: P. Lang Publishers
Selected Awards:
Feminist Scholar Award. (2006). Organization
for Research on Women and Communication. Presented for: Myers, M. & Collier,
M.J. (2005) Cultural ascriptions displayed by restraining order court
representatives: Implicating patriarchy and cultural dominance. Women's Studies in Communication,
28, 258-289.
Teaching Areas:
At UNM I teach/have taught various courses and seminars in intercultural communication, courses in conflict and culture such as culture, conflict & dialogue; culture and conflict: communication strategies for transformation; mediation, and introduction to graduate studies. At other institutions I have taught intercultural communication, international communication, culture and gender, ethnicity and cultural identities, and group communication.
Service:
I served as director of the C&J Doctoral Program and have been a member of the UNM Consortium for Collaborative Public Policy. I am active in the Western States Communication Association and am a past-president of WSCA. I am a consulting editor for the Journal of International and Intercultural Communication and regularly serve on editorial boards of journals including: Western Journal of Communication, Communication Monographs, Communication Quarterly, Howard Journal of Communication, and NCA Non-serial Publications. I am a founding board member of International Peace Initiatives – Kenya.
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