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Unorthodox? Sustainability as Discursive Guidepost for Creating Transformative Agency in Professional Communication Education

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  • Franzisca Weder

    (Institute for Strategic Communication, Department of Business Communication, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 1020 Vienna, Austria)

  • Penelope M. Kierans

    (Institute for Strategic Communication, Department of Business Communication, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business, 1020 Vienna, Austria)

Abstract

Based on recent work outlining the transformation of professional communicator roles and the desperate search for “curators” or “agents of change” in neighboring disciplines such as management, business and economics, sustainability studies and education, we present a systematic reflection of concepts in higher education for sustainability and their (missing) fit to professional communication education in a world in crisis. The blind spots and challenges identified, especially from a communication perspective, will be filled with concepts from environmental communication pedagogy, pointing to the need for more participatory strategies and radicality in professional communication education. Concrete modalities of instruction will be discussed and supported by eight reconstruction interviews with pedagogues, educators and students from diverse cultural contexts involved in sustainability communication education. The findings show the need for more radical pedagogy and unorthodoxy. The paper finishes with suggestions for practices that materialize sustainability in co-created sites of change.

Suggested Citation

  • Franzisca Weder & Penelope M. Kierans, 2025. "Unorthodox? Sustainability as Discursive Guidepost for Creating Transformative Agency in Professional Communication Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:15:p:6878-:d:1712751
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Heidi Hendersson & Christine Wamsler, 2020. "New stories for a more conscious, sustainable society: claiming authorship of the climate story," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 345-359, February.
    2. Max Falkenberg & Alessandro Galeazzi & Maddalena Torricelli & Niccolò Di Marco & Francesca Larosa & Madalina Sas & Amin Mekacher & Warren Pearce & Fabiana Zollo & Walter Quattrociocchi & Andrea Baronc, 2022. "Growing polarization around climate change on social media," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 12(12), pages 1114-1121, December.
    3. Kjersti Fløttum & Øyvind Gjerstad, 2017. "Narratives in climate change discourse," Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(1), January.
    4. Franzisca Weder & Stella Lemke & Amornpan Tungarat, 2019. "(Re)storying Sustainability: The Use of Story Cubes in Narrative Inquiries to Understand Individual Perceptions of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-15, September.
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