Colonialism/Postcolonialism

Abstract

Strategic communication involves the study of communication practices between and among different internal and external organizational stakeholders. Strategic communication practices are not power‐neutral. Only a critical analysis of the intent of a particular practice can determine whether it is benevolent or manipulative. Strategic communication practice is overwhelmingly about meeting organizational goals. It is largely embedded in the bottom‐line‐driven, capitalist system that privileges stakeholders with considerable power in line with the neocolonial logic of neoliberalism. Conceived and developed in literary and cultural studies, postcolonial theory has challenged Eurocentric assumptions of the world and has opened up ways of looking at politics, economy, and society through the eyes of people historically marginalized by dominant discourses. A postcolonial approach critiques mainstream meanings of strategic communication to unearth the sometimes latent colonialist ideas of domination in a globalized world. This approach allows communication scholars and practitioners to acknowledge the dynamics of power at every step.