ABSTRACT
This chapter explores communication as the crux of a suite of practices that enables citizens to transform their communities toward greater sustainability. It describes community transformation as a discursively constituted political process for navigating the ubiquitous antagonism of human society and then explores how communication both constitutes transformative possibilities and brings those possibilities to fruition. The chapter begins with a brief review of theory and grammars that contribute directly to this interpretation of community transformation, including agonism, struggles with alienation, and the meaning of citizenship. Second, it highlights contributions from environmental communication scholars of community transformation, especially those engaged in transdisciplinary research. It then offers a more fully developed illustrative case focused on conflicts between environmental preservation and human livelihoods in Mozambique, which demonstrates the need for an agonistic approach to environmental policy. Finally, it addresses opportunities and challenges for future communicative efforts to democratically transform communities in sustainable ways
