Eddie C. Y. Kuo - Resume and Abstract

Name	Eddie C. Y. Kuo
Title	Professor at School of Communication and Information Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Brief Introduction	Eddie C Y Kuo (PhD, Minnesota) is Professorial Fellow and Founding Dean (1992-2003) of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He is also the (founding) editor of Asian Journal of Communication (since 1990), which is now listed in Thomson Reuters Social Science Citation Index (SSCI).
Recent Publications	Kuo, E. (2008). The World Wide Web of Babel: Some Observations on Language Diversity and the Internet, presented at ASEF Workshop- Gatekeepers in a Digital Asian-European Media Landscape: The rising structural power of Internet search engines, Singapore, 28 Feb-1 March 2008. Kuo, E. (2007). “New Media and Nationalism: Globalization of the Imagined Community”, paper presented at Beijing Forum 2007, China, 2-4 November 2007. Eddie Kuo, “Cultural hegemony and image construction: The Chinese under the lenses of Hollywood”, paper presented at the 2006 IAMCR Annual Conference, Cairo, Egypt, 23-28 July 2006. Eddie Kuo, “From Pseudo-event to Counterfeit Reality: Changing Perception of Reality in the Digital Age”, paper presented at the 14th AMIC Annual Conference on “Media and Society in Asia: Transformations and Transitions”, 18-21 July 2005, Beijing. Kuo, E., Choi, A., Mahizhnan, A. A., Lee, W. P., & Soh, C., 2002, The Internet in Singapore: A Study of Usage and Impact, Time Academic Press Lee, W. & Kuo, E.C.Y., 2002, “Internet and displacement effect: Children’s media use and activities in Singapore”, Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Vol. 9 Kuo, E.C.Y. and Low, L., 2000, “Information economy and changing occupation structure in Singapore”, The Information Society, Vol. 17

Paper:

Beyond Ethnocentrism in Communication Theory:
Towards a Culture-centric Approach

Eddie C. Y. Kuo*
Professorial Fellow
Department of Communication Research
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information
Nanyang Technological UniversitySingapore 637718

Han Ei, Chew
Doctoral Student
College of Communication
Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
USA

Abstract:

Communications scholars have been challenging the universality of Eurocentric scholarship, which they argue to be a form of intellectual imperialism imposing its provincial ideals and masquerades these as universal. As an answer to Eurocentricity, it has been suggested researchers on Asian communication should place Asian values and ideals at the center of inquiry to see Asian phenomena from the perspective of Asians as subjects and agents. This paper critically reviews this Asia-centric paradigm and its implications and premises. It proposes instead that a culture-centric paradigm be adopted to avoid an Asian version of the Eurocentricity bias. It advocates the adoption of a more harmonious perspective in light of the convergence of global cultures and calls for approaching research deficiencies as a global community of communication scholars rather than one divided along ethnic fault lines. The culture-centric approach is proposed as a meta-theory that is non-polarizing by nature through its placement of culture at the center of inquiry. To avoid the creation of polarity, culture-centricity seeks to encompass the contradictions and ambivalences as well as other diverse cultural representations (such as ethnicity, religion and language). This paper argues for a non-polarizing approach so that communication scholars can theorize without ideological bias or artificial boundaries created by arbitrary definitions of what constitutes East or West.

* For correspondance, E-mail: cykuo@ntu.edu.sg