Breaking from tradition: Developing localised discourses in an emerging global discipline

Public relations is a relatively new discipline in the Australian academy, with itsearliest certificate and diploma courses beginning in the 1960s (Gleeson forthcoming).Even newer is the Australian literature that services the field – the journals andtextbooks that encourage localised discourses amongst students, academics andprofessionals. With the exceptions of some early dabblings in the 1950s and 1960s, asingle text in the 1970s and a 1990s case study book, textbook and journal developmentbegan real momentum in Australia in 1999 to 2000. This article traces the developmentof this literature in Australia, outlining how it broke free from the strangle-hold ofNorth American literature and developed practice and theoretical discourses framedaround localised contexts and, increasingly, international perspectives. The articleincorporates a case study of the first 21st century textbook in public relations inAustralia, co-edited by Clara Zawawi and the author, soon to be published in its fourthedition, and traces its journey through an examination of this changing research,publishing and writing environment.