Professor Karin Wilkins publishes new book

Women are more central than ever before in visions of global development. So then why has the development industry failed to resolve gender gaps on a global scale? In her new book, Communicating Gender and Advocating Accountability in Global Development, Professor Karin Wilkins explores this question and enumerates limitations of development through research on micro-enterprise programs in South Asia, celebrity funding of girls' schools in Africa and Afghanistan, and population programs and conferences in Egypt. She raises concerns with the overly narrow articulation of women's empowerment at the expense of gender dynamics, privileging of communication as a technological tool rather than as discourse or global industry, and assertion of neoliberal development without attention to political-economic global contexts. Critical inquiry, the book asserts, can contribute to advocacy by subverting accountability to meet the demands of global social justice.

About Karin Wilkins

Wilkins (PhD, University of Pennsylvania) is Professor of Media Studies, Director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and Chair, Global Studies Bridging Disciplines Program at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds the John P. McGovern Regents Professorship in Health and Medical Science Communication, and is the incoming editor of Communication Theory. Wilkins has won numerous awards for her research, service and teaching. Her work addresses scholarship in the fields of development communication, global communication, and political engagement.