Author(s): Katie Bingham
Mentor(s): Jared Colton
Institution USU
Podcasts are a relatively user-friendly and widely-available communication format; producing a podcast and transmitting it to a vast audience requires little experience or funding. Podcasts also take on an informal, conversational tone that makes them more welcoming to the minority populations and underrepresented communities who are most impacted by environmental injustices. For this presentation, I will answer the question: how are podcasts becoming a key communication tool within the environmental justice movement (EJ)? To address this question, I will examine the rhetorical appeal of podcasts within EJ using symbolic convergence theory. I will draw on the work of rhetorical theorists Timothy Borchers, Heather Hundley, and Ernest Bormann. I will also build on Sapna Mulki and Alison A Ormsby’s research on environmental justice podcasts. Using these sources, I will analyze the work and impact of a few environmental justice podcasts: NPR’s Living Downstream (which is considered to be one of the first environmental justice podcasts), Stories From Home (which focuses on intersectional climate solutions), and A Cup of EJ (which is produced by college students). More specifically, my research will analyze how podcasts as media are influencing communication within EJ using Ernest Bormann’s symbolic convergence theory. Drawing from Bormann’s theory, I will explain how different groups communicate to create shared realities in order to overcome conflicts, build relationships, and express emotion. I will then show how podcasts are especially effective towards these goals within EJ. Podcasts enable underrepresented communities to share stories in a personal, narrative format. The stories then chain-out to larger and more distant audiences creating greater discussion and a larger shared reality or rhetorical vision. As repeated stories, terms, and experiences form rhetorical vision, podcast listeners gain a more informed and understanding perspective of environmental injustices. The audience takeaway of this presentation is to understand how this communication pattern ultimately motivates action towards more just realities within EJ. Borchers, T. A., & Hundley, H. L. (2018a). Rhetorical theory: An introduction. Waveland Press, Inc. Bormann, E. G. (1985). Symbolic convergence theory: A communication formulation. Journal of Communication, 35(4), 128–138. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1985.tb02977.x Mulki, S., & Ormsby, A. A. (2021). Breaking green ceilings: Podcasting for environmental and Social Change. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 12(1), 18–27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13412-021-00723-z