Aarhus 2011: Sustainable Communication - communicative Sustainability

The 11th international conference, organised by the Department of Language and Business Communication, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University, Denmark, took place on 10–12 November, 2011. The theme of this conference was  »Sustainable Communication – Communicative Sustainability.«

Sustainability is a buzzword penetrating corporate, social, environmental, economic, political, and other discourses. Unlike other buzzwords, however, the very nature of the concept would make us expect sustainability to exceed the usually limited lifetime of buzzwords. Definitions of sustainability vary, depending on discipline, approach and research tradition, and sustainability is usually dealt with in connection with the economy, the environment, climate change, social welfare and/or globalization. In this conference, we want to shed light on the communicative aspects of these and other »sustainabilities«:

How do business and corporate communication connect with sustainability? Could the connection be viewed as strategic communication about corporate sustainability initiatives? Or should it be construed as communication that – rhetorically and content-wise – is responsible, ethical and thus long-lasting? How does communication contribute to the creation and maintenance of sustainability? And how should corporate and business communication be designed in order to not perpetuate existing inequalities within societies and organizations?

The purpose of this conference is to question, explore, and investigate both the communicative dimensions of sustainability and the sustainability dimensions of business and corporate communication.