University of New Mexico
Department of Communication & Journalism
UNM Lobo  
Tema O. Milstein, Ph.D.

 Ph.D., University of Washington, 2007
 Office: Room 226
 tema@unm.edu

Assistant Professor 
Communication 

Research: My work focuses on the culture of nature and the nature of culture, with research generally fitting in the categories of environmental, ecocultural, and cultural communication. My methodology is largely critical, cultural, and interpretive. Questions I am interested in include:

  • How are ecological and cultural perceptions and practices reproduced or transformed through communication?

  • How is the self altered through culture, environment, and communication?

  • How does nature mediate communication and culture?

I'm working on several smaller projects and two large research projects. The two larger projects are:

  • Nature Tourism Discourses: A long-term ethnographic study focused on the interplay of communication, tourism, and wildlife. My study is centrally concerned with the ways communication in international tourism settings constructs views of and actions toward endangered whales and non-endangered dolphins and their ecosystems. My locations of focus have been the Canada-U.S. Pacific border and New Zealand's South Island.

  • Connecting Community Voices: A collaborative participatory action research project with a team of C&J graduate students, Conservation Voters of New Mexico, The Wilderness Society, UNM Resource Center for Raza Planning, and Arts de Aztlan. This is a restorative endeavor, working with Hispanic New Mexicans to help identify cultural environmental meaning systems, rewrite their communities into the land, and influence environmental politics and policy.

Recent Sample Publications:

  • Milstein, T. (2012). Greening Communication. In S.D. Fassbinder, A. J. Nocella II & R. Kahn (Eds.) Greening the Academy: Ecopedagogy through the Liberal Arts (pp. 161-174). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
  • Milstein, T. (2009). "Environmental communication theories." In Stephen Littlejohn and Karen Foss (eds.). Encyclopedia of Communication Theory (pp. 344-349). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Authors: Donal Carbaugh, Donna Haraway, Val Plumwood, Arturo Escobar, Stuart Hall, Norman Fairclough, bell hooks, Michel Foucault, etc.

Teaching Style: I strive for a highly interactive and experiential pedagogy that engages students in transformative learning. I am interested in helping students discover ways to critically apply their learning to their work and their lives.

Awards: 2012 Fulbright Scholar, New Zealand; 2011 UNM Outstanding New Teacher of the Year Award; 2009 Christine L. Oravec Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Environmental Communication, National Communication Association; Top Papers in Environmental Communication: 2012 from International Communication Association, 2010 & 2006 from National Communication Association; 2011 from Western States Communication Association.

Affiliated Faculty: Sustainability Studies Program & Water Resources Program.

Spare Time: Being with my sweet family, gardening, being outdoors, yoga, snowboarding, travel.

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