Abstract
North American and European conceptualizations and trends have dominated public relations theory and practice (L’Etang 2008; Culbertson & Chen, 2013). On the one hand, major academic conferences take place in the Global North, while most of the leading journals of the discipline are edited in the United States or Europe, with scarce presence of Latin American authors or themes. Indeed, few studies focus on theoretical advances in the region (Ferrari & Franca 2011), which contributes even more to widen the gap. On the other hand, PR multinationals operate in Latin American countries mostly based on these ethnocentric frameworks, which may limit the understanding of local cultures, and therefore their effectiveness (Botan, 1992).
Thus, in professional and academic contexts, foreign models are applied to Latin America not necessarily taking into account economic, political, and sociological contexts that may result in native theoretical propositions. Moreover, it has been said that there is a colonialist influence in the Latin American public relations body of knowledge (Molleda et al., 2017).
Despite some advances such as the personal influence model and cultural translation model (Grunig et al., 1995) that may be applied to local Latin American contexts, there is still scarce Latin American research with global academic and professional impact. However, Vásquez et al. (2018) have shed some light over the current state of Latin American scholarship. According to them, it is dominated by two concerns that could be shaping its identity: a practical orientation of research and a predominance of documenting local realities.
With this in mind, this special issue seeks papers that provide an in-depth reflection on the current state of the art of thepublic relations discipline in Latin America. The aim is to discuss novel and native theoretical frameworks, case studies as well as emerging works that can contribute to the discipline globally.
Examples of topics and questions that are of relevance to the special issue are:
Is there a Latin American perspective for the public relations discipline?
What are the emergent theories/themes in Latin American public relations discipline?
What is the state of the art of Latin American academic work on PR?
What is the actual impact of local vs. global public relations theories in the region?
How is the particular context of Latin American countries shaping the local academic and practitioner perspectives?
What types of challenges do Latin American countries face in the PR field?
Do US and European PR models apply to local Latin American realities?
Which case studies may shed light to understanding local realities on PR state of the art in the region?
How globalization has impacted academic work in the region?
We welcome both conceptual and empirical papers that contribute to building a broader picture of the current state of the art of the public relations discipline in the region. In line with the interdisciplinary nature of the journal, we welcome a wide range of theoretical perspectives representing the whole spectrum of opinions in the field. All submissions must be sent in English. They will be blind-reviewed in line with the standard practice of the journal. If you have any questions regarding the special issue, please contact the editors Claudia Labarca (
Deadlines
Papers should be submitted by September 2020 via the journal’s manuscript central submissions system. Please visit the journal website for full submission instructions, including information about word length, format and referencing style. Papers should adhere to the guidelines and risk being rejected if they do not. The target publication date for the special issue is May 2021.