'Communicating across Differences: Insights from Buddhists in Thailand'

The Global Studies Seminar presents “Communicating across Differences: Insights from Buddhists in Thailand” by Denison University’s Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication Craig Pinkerton.

How do we communicate across our differences and engage in difficult conversations on issues that matter to our shared social and political world? Drawing from my book Buddhist Public Advocacy and Activism in Thailand: A Rhetoric of Dignity and Duty (2024, Palgrave Macmillan), Pinkerton will discuss how Buddhists communicate and navigate conflicts in public culture. Pinkerton will share key insights from my interviews with monastic and lay Buddhists in Thailand and discuss the implications of various rhetorical strategies he observed. Through these case studies of Buddhist-inspired communication practices, he will explore how the insights of this research can inform broader efforts to bridge divides and cultivate dialogue in diverse global contexts. 

Pinkerton is an educator and researcher of communication with an emphasis in rhetoric, public culture, and qualitative methods combined with interdisciplinary inquiry in Southeast Asian Studies and Buddhist Studies. He has won over fifteen academic awards and honors, including the prestigious Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) for the study of Thai language. Since 2007, he has taught over 20 courses on a wide variety of subjects on communication, including public speaking and presentation communication, argumentation, rhetoric, public advocacy and activism, marketing and public relations, organizational development, interpersonal conflict management, and the dark side of media. From 2011 to 2015, he lived in Thailand teaching communication and researching Buddhist public advocacy and activism. Pinkerton received his Doctor of Philosophy from Ohio University.