From the NCA website…..
The convention theme, “Communication for Survival,” is designed to help inspire us to think about the ways communication improves lives, helps people build relationships, sustain communities, change society for the better, and provide peace of mind. As scholars, teachers, students, leaders, and community members, I hope I can count on you to consider the ways communication can help people and the planet to survive. I imagine that convention attendees will be discussing change: the Black Lives Matter movement; the #metoo movement; international relations; apocalyptic rhetoric; driving while black or brown; homo sacer; the prison industrial complex; terrorism; economic crisis; natural and man-made disasters; gun violence; health care; and/or utilitarian and pragmatic approaches to communication. Additionally, the theme might inspire engagement with and innovation of current theoretical scholarship (e.g., social movement theory, theories of social change, neoliberalism, racial microaggressions, biopolitics and necropolitics, racial battle fatigue, queer futurity, integrated communication, negotiation, etc.).The theme is meant to challenge our community to think about the many ways in which communication can help improve our lives and our communities.
~ Kent A. Ono
NCA Second Vice President