Mohan Dutta, Dean’s Chair Professor of Communication at Massey University and Director of the Center for Culture-Centred Approach to Research and Evaluation (CARE) in the School of Humanities, Media, and Creative Communication, has been named the recipient of the inaugural Lawrence R. Frey Award for Distinguished Communication and Social Justice Activism Research. This new international award from the National Communication Association recognizes scholars who have made significant contributions to the study of communication activism and its role in social justice.
Dr. Dutta was selected for his extensive research and collaborative work with activist and minoritized communities worldwide. His discipline-defining culture-centered approach (CCA) is a framework that has been applied across the field of communication to challenge unjust narratives and deliver tangible benefits to vulnerable communities in various contexts.
The award committee highlighted Dr. Dutta’s dedication to addressing the harms of colonialism and his efforts to decolonize academic research. His work is noted for its impressive ability to bridge the gap between academic research and on-the-ground activism, directly leading to structural transformations for marginalized populations.
Notes the award citation, “Dr. Mohan Dutta’s expansive body of research and work with activist and minoritized populations across the globe has contributed significantly to the study of communication and social justice activism. His discipline-defining theoretical work on the culture-centered approach embodies the spirit of scholar-activist research and has been taken up across the field of applied communication to intervene in unjust discourses and deliver material benefits to vulnerable communities in numerous contexts. Dr. Dutta’s commitment to addressing the harms of colonialism, as well as his work decolonizing our own field, reveal his impressive ability to navigate the world of the researcher and the activist.”
His research has been instrumental in creating activist and advocacy interventions that have had a direct policy impact on marginalized communities. The CCA has been applied to empower worker and migrant rights by co-designing campaigns that challenge precarious labor conditions and advocate for policy protections. He has also worked with questions exploring the rights of the poor by focusing on struggles for food sovereignty and health justice, leading to community-owned systems for clean water and food.
Furthermore, his collaborations with Indigenous communities across global contexts have centered their voices to secure rights to land, forests, and ecosystems. By linking community voices directly to national policy-making processes, Dr. Dutta’s work has been crucial in building “voice infrastructures” that address both communicative and material inequality, ultimately leading to impactful structural changes.
The Lawrence R. Frey Award honors the legacy of Dr. Lawrence R. Frey, a prominent scholar-activist known for his commitment to using communication research to promote social justice.
