Dr. Julie Kalil Schutten  

 

Assistant Professor of Communication Studies
Critical Rhetoric, Environmental Communication, Gender/Feminist/Queer Studies
School of Communication, Room 309
928-523-4531
Julie.Schutten@nau.edu 

Research and teaching interests

My research focuses on the intersections between environmental communication, new social movements and gender/feminist studies. In recent research projects I have been exploring the tensions experienced by social movements comprised of hidden populations. The Neo-Pagan movement (specifically contemporary witches) is an illustrative case that I use to explore these tensions.

Beyond theorizing new social movements with hidden populations, the study of Neo-Paganism has implications for the environmental movement. Neo-Paganism intersects within the discourses of spiritual ecofeminism (a blending of the ecology/environmental movement and feminist movement) and environmental communication as it works to illustrate the cyclical connections between humans and other-than-humans, thereby encouraging environmental stewardship ethics. 

As a teacher I strongly believe that dialogue leads to awareness and awareness leads to pro-active change by members of society. I am interested in promoting critical reflection, not regurgitation. By allowing a multitude of voices to be heard in the classroom, diversity and learning are strengthened.

Courses offered

• CST 424/524 Gender and Communication
• WGS 410/510 Gendering Nature
• CST 600 Communication Theory
• COM 200 Communication Theory
• CST 111 Fundamentals of Public Speaking
• CST 312 Interviewing
• CST 321 Nonverbal Communication
• CST 351 Interpersonal Communication
• CST 365 Communication in Contemporary Affairs
• CST 370 Rhetorics of Nature and Environmentalism
• CST 424 Gender and Communication
• CST 498C Senior Seminar

Representative research and creative activity

Endres, D., Callister, D.C., Garrison, A., Senda-Cook, S., & Schutten, J.K. (2009). Step what up? Rhetorical framing and dialectical tensions in Salt Lake City's Step It Up events. In D. Endres, L. Sprain, and T.R. Peterson (Eds.) Social movement to address climate change: Local steps for global action (pp. 117-146). Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.

Sprain, L., Peterson, N., Vickery, M., & Schutten, J.K. (2009). Environmentalism 2.0: New Forms of social activism. In D. Endres, L. Sprain, and T.R. Peterson (Eds.) Social movement to address climate change: Local steps for global action (pp. 117-146). Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.

Schutten, J. K. (2008). Chewing on the Grizzly Man: Getting to the meat of the matter. Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture, 2, 193-211.

Schutten, J. K. (2008). Coming out of the coven: Contemporary witches, hidden populations, and new social movements. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.

Schutten, J. K. (2007). Environment /human dialogics: Toward a queering of nature. In L.S. Volkening, D. Wolfe, E. Plec, W. Griswold & K. DeLuca (Eds.).  Proceedings of the 8th biennial conference on communication and the environment: Wilderness, advocacy, & the media (pp. 116-127). Athens, GA: Department of Speech Communication, University of Georgia.

Schutten, J. K. (2006). Invoking Practical Magic: New social movements, hidden populations and the public screen. Western Journal of Communication, 4, 331-354.

Rogers, R. A. & Schutten, J. K. (2004). The gender of water and the pleasure of alienation: A critical analysis of visiting Hoover Dam. The Communication Review, 7, 259-283.

Links of interest

Ecofeminist activist, Starhawk’s “Tangled Web” 
Environmental Communication Network 
“Our Actions Will Define Us” 
Step it Up! Reduce Carbon Emissions 80% by 2050 
Code Pink 

Education

PhD, University of Utah, 2007
MA, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 1999
BA, Northern Arizona University, 1997