M.S. Kim - Resume and Abstract

Name	M.S. Kim
Title	Professor University of Hawaii, Manoa
Brief Introduction	M.S. Kim has a great influence on the de-Westernizing communcation research. She is the first one who achieved a detailed and systematic analysis between Asian and Western culture in communication in her book "Non-Western Perspectives on Human Communication".
Recent Publications	Kim, M. S., Kam, K. Y., Sharkey, W. F., & Singelis, T. M. (2008/in press). “Deception: Moral transgression or social necessity?”: Cultural-relativity of deception motivations and perceptions of deceptive communication. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 1, 23-50. Kim, M. S., Kam, K. Y., Sharkey, W. F., & Singelis, T. M. (2008). Culture and deception. Comunication Currents, 3, (1). Kim, M. S. (in press). Conversational Constraints Theory. In S. M. Littlejohn & K. A. Foss (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Communication Theory. Thousand Oaks , CA : Sage. Kim, M. S. (in press). Intercultural norms. In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Communication. New York : Blackwell. Kim, M. S., Chen, G-M, & Miyahara, A. (in press). Communication as a Field and Discipline: East Asia . In W. Donsbach (Ed.), The International Encyclopedia of Communication. New York : Blackwell. Kim, M. S. (in press). Conversational Constraints Theory. S. W. Littlejohn, & K. Foss (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Communication Theory. Sage. Kim, M. S., Lee, H. R, & Kazuya, H. (in press). Cultural Metaphors and Inherent Biases on Wordless Communication: Implication for Communication about Health. Intercultural Communication Journal. Kim, M. S., & Hubbard, Amy E (2007). Intercultural communication in the global village: How to Intercultural Communication in the Global Village: How to Understand “The Other”. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research, 36(03), 223 – 235. Kim, M. S., Tasaki, K., Kim, I. D. , & Lee, H. R. (2007). The influence of social status on communication predispositions: Focusing on independent and interdependent self-construals. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 17, 303 - 329. Leung, T., & Kim, M. S. (2007). Eight conflict handling styles: Validation of model and instrument. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 17, 173 – 198. Kim, M. S. (2007b). The four cultures of cultural research. Communication Monographs, 74, 279-285. Kim, M. S. (2007b).Our culture, their culture, and beyond: Further Thoughts on Ethnocentrism in Hofstede’s iscourse. Journal of Multicultural Discourse, 2 (1), 1-6. Lee, H.-R., Hubbard, A.E., O'Riordan, C.K, and Kim, M.-S. (2006). Incorporating culture into the theory of planned behavior: Predicting smoking cessation intentions among college students. Asian Journal of Communication, 16(3), 315-332. Tarr, N. D., Kim, M. S., & Sharkey, W. F. (2005). The effects of self-construals and embarrassability on predicament response strategies. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 497-520. Kim, M. S. (2004). Culture-Based Conversational Constraints Theory: An individual- and culture-level analyses. In W. B. Gudykunst (Ed.), Theorizing about culture (pp. 93-117). Thousand Oaks , CA : Sage. Kim, M. S., Lee, H. R., Kim, I. D. , & Hunter, J. E. (2004). A test of a cultural model of conflict styles. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 14, 197-223. Hara, K., & Kim, M. S. (2004). The Effect of Self-Construals on Conversational Indirectness. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 28, 1-18. Kim, J. S., Kim, M. S., Kam, K., & Shin, H. C. (2003). Influence of self-construals on the perception of different self-presentation styles in Korea . Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 6, 89-102. Kim, M. S., & Raja, N. S.(2003). When validity testing lacks validity. Human Communication Research, 29, 275-290. Hara, K., & Kim, M. S. (2003). Gender and conversational indirectness. Intercultural Communication Studies, 6, 1-10.

Paper:

The Cross-Cultural Challenge to Communication Science:
The Issue of Cultural Bias

Min-Sun Kim
Department of Speech

Abstract:

As more scholars from Asia have entered the field of communication, there has been increasing dissatisfaction with the use of North American models of communication to explain communication processes in Asia, and even some aspects of communication processes in North America . Certain new ideas and hypotheses have a much better chance of being taken seriously and making it through the process of verification than others. One of the key determinants of this is whether or not a new idea is congruent with prevailing cultural biases. Indeed, there is now a whole series of studies documenting how cultural bias has shaped the logic of verification in connection with specific theories in both the natural and the social sciences. In light of these critiques, the Americentric biases evident in communication theories cannot be ignored. There is a long line of communication theories that has projected prevailing Eurocentric biases onto the phenomena being studied and which subsequently became immensely popular mainly because it derives from and so reinforces those biases (Kim, 2002).

Many communication theories are hampered by cultural bias, which can ultimately negate their validity. Discussion of how some ideological factors have become incorporated into communication theories has occurred in some of our major journals. This conceptual revolution, I will argue, has profound implications for the content of a future communication science. What is clear from the recent literature is the strong awareness of a lack of fit between Western theory and non-Western realities. However, instead of attempting to construct theories that are distinctly Asian, today there is a call for effort in broadening the existing Western theoretical framework. Some Asian scholars have argued against the development of Asiacentric or Afrocentric communication theories. At a time when one's counterparts in the Western world are making an effort to broaden their perspectives, limiting oneself to just Asia is not only counterproductive, but also draws away further from the goal of formulating a universal theory. If the building of communication theory is to be successful, the relevant aspects of all human histories, experiences, philosophies, cultural traditions, and values should be given due consideration. The first step in breaking the self-reinforcing circuit of knowledge seems to require being deliberately self-conscious about what is being taken for granted in the initial formulation of the problem and the labels that are used. For instance, we need to recognize one major stumbling block in knowledge production in Western contexts: a cultural view that the individual is, a priori, separate and self-contained and must resist the collective. There is no question that, if communication science is to make any progress in the twenty-first century, it must overcome the Eurocentric heritage which has distorted its analyses and its capacity to deal with the problems of the contemporary world. It is time to tackle the issues of cultural bias in our communication theories rather than simply talk about it.