Kenneth S. Zagacki, Ph.D.
Kenneth Zagacki is a Professor and Department Head of the Communication Department at NC State University. His research interests include foreign policy communication, visual rhetoric, environmental communication, and philosophy and rhetoric. He has published numerous articles in major scholarly journals, including the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Philosophy & Rhetoric, and Rhetoric & Public Affairs. He joined the faculty at NCSU in August 2001.
His current research projects include co-authored works with his colleague Dr. Victoria Gallagher. They are exploring what they call a "commemorative experience" in the popular "Titanic: An Artifact Exhibit," which appeared in Raleigh, at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in 2005. They are also examining what they refer to as "performative enactments ” to demonstrate how the “material rhetoric” of the Museum Park at the North Carolina Museum of Art creates spaces of attention. They show how the Park’s spaces of attention create new ways for visitors to experience the human nature-interface.
Ken joined the faculty at NCSU in August 2001, before which he was an associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Louisiana State University for 16 years.
Download a copy of Dr. Zagacki's Curriculum Vitae
Recent News
"NC State Study Shows Grassroots Effort May Be Blueprint for Opposing Federal Land Use Projects"
A rural community in North Carolina appears to have developed an effective strategy for warding off federal land use projects they did not want in their region – simultaneously creating a blueprint that could be used in other areas facing similar projects and highlighting the limitations of the government’s reliance on the “war on terror” to justify such land use decisions, according to a new study from North Carolina State University.
The new study by Dr. Kenneth S. Zagacki, professor and chair of NC State’s Department of Communication, examines how citizens of Washington and Beaufort counties in North Carolina were able to force the U.S. Navy to avoid building an outlying landing filed (OLF) near the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. Zagacki explains that that opponents of the OLF "defined themselves as patriotic, common-sense citizens trying to preserve their way of life, their farms and the nature reserve – and appeared more credible than the Navy representatives who tried to define the OLF debate largely as part of the war on terror."
The strategy of the OLF opponents, which included stakeholders ranging from conservative rural farmers to environmentalists, "provides an effective blueprint for how to build an effective alliance out of disparate bedfellows," Zagacki says. The approach could be applied in other areas faced with similar land-use issues, Zagacki adds. For example, Zagacki says, "evidence suggests that the Navy may face similar problems at other sites it is considering for OLFs in eastern North Carolina."
Instead, the study states that ordinary people – including housewives, politicians, farmers and mechanics – can work together to oppose the government's definition of a particular "crisis" and "show how the government's actions undermine their American way of life." The study, "Preserving Heritage and Nature During the 'War on Terrorism': The North Carolina Outlying Landing Field ('OLF') Controversy," will be published online by Southern Communication Journal Oct. 21.
© 2009 Kenneth S. Zagacki. The material located at this site is not endorsed, sponsored or provided by or on behalf of North Carolina State University.