Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh - Resume and Abstract

Name	Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh
Title	Professor at the Department of Cinema-TV Director of the Centre for Media and Communication Research Hong Kong Baptist University
Brief Introduction	Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh is Professor at the Department of Cinema-TV and Director of the Centre for Media and Communication Research at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her publications include: TAIWAN FILM DIRECTORS: A TREASURE ISLAND (Columbia University Press, 2005, Co-author), CHINESE-LANGUAGE FILM: HISTORIOGRAPHY, POETICS, POLITICS (University of Hawaii Press, 2005, Co-editor) and EAST ASIAN SCREEN INDUSTRIES (British Film Institute, 2008, Co-author).

On Wenyi (文藝): Establishing a generic and critical category in Chinese film studies

Emilie Yueh-yu Yeh
School of Communication
Hong Kong Baptist University

Abstract

Scholars have adapted Western theories of melodrama to Chinese melodrama (Berry; Berry and Farquhar; Browne; Ma). Their work offered fresh, provocative insights compared to conventional thematic approaches. But these Western practices may not explain wenyi pictures from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and might also bring theoretical baggage from distant quarters: “The point should be to develop conceptual formulations that are generated from within the Asian context rather than to mimic work designed for the West . . ..” (Louie & Edwards, 138). To lend an endogenous framework for large swathes of Chinese family films, romances and art cinema, it is advisable to locate an intrinsic and perhaps more illuminating concept than melodrama to explain Chinese-language cinemas.

This paper is a preliminary discussion on the historical construct wenyi as a term to clarify, map and discuss key issues in Chinese film history and criticism. These are: the ethical role of cinema in modern forms of spectatorship; transmission of progressive ideals to dispersed populations; the role of literary adaptation; stylistic innovations responding to Western melodrama; and the role of filmmakers as socially responsible artists. By pursuing an extensive, in-depth review of the term wenyi and its shifting meanings, contexts, and applications, the new corpus of wenyi cinema will emerge as a distinct historiography in film scholarship.

References:

Berry, Chris, and Farquhar, Mary. “Realist Modes: Melodrama, Modernity, and Home.” China on Screen: Cinema and Nation. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. 75-107.
Berry, Chris. “The Sublimitive Text: Sex and Revolution in Big Road.” East-West Film Journal 2.2 (1988): 66-86.
Browne, Nick. “Society and Objectivity: On the Political Economy of Chinese
Melodrama.” New Chinese Cinemas: Forms, Identities, Politics. Eds. Nick Browne et al. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 40-56.
Ma, Ning. “Spatiality and Subjectivity in Xie Jin’s Film Melodrama of the New
Period.” New Chinese Cinemas: Forms, Identities, Politics. Ed. Nick Browne et al. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. 15-39.
Ma, Ning. “Symbolic Representation and Symbolic Violence: Chinese Family
Melodrama of the Early 1980s.” East-West Film Journal (December 1989): 32-49.
Louie, Kam, and Edwards, Louise. “Chinese Masculinity: Theorizing Wen and Wu.”
East Asian History 8, December (1994): 135-148.

Yoshitaka Miike - Resume and Abstract

Name	Yoshitaka Miike
Title	Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Graduate Faculty Member, M.A. Program in China-U.S. Relations University of Hawai‘i at Hilo
Brief Introduction	Dr. Miike obtained one of the first M.A.s in Communication Studies from Dokkyo University (獨協大学) (Japan) and earned his Ph.D. in Intercultural Communication from the University of New Mexico (USA). Inspired by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante’s Afrocentric idea, he has proposed and developed the metatheory of Asiacentricity as an alternative paradigm for the study of Asian cultures and communication. He received a 2004 Distinguished Scholarship Award from the International and Intercultural Communication Division of the National Communication Association for the “Outstanding Article” published in 2003. Dr. Miike co-edited The Global Intercultural Communication Reader (Routledge, 2008) and journal special issues on “Asian Contributions to Communication Theory” (China Media Research, 2007) and “Asian Approaches to Human Communication” (Intercultural Communication Studies, 2003). He is currently a consulting editor of Intercultural Communication Studies and serves as an editorial board member of China Media Research. He was elected as the 3rd Vice President of the Pacific and Asian Communication Association for 2006-2008.
Recent Publications	Miike, Y. (2009). “Harmony without uniformity”: An Asiacentric worldview and its communicative implications. In L. A. Samovar, R. E. Porter, & E. R. McDaniel (Eds.), Intercultural communication: A reader (12th ed., pp. 36-48). Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Miike, Y. (2008). Toward an alternative metatheory of human communication: An Asiacentric vision. In M. K. Asante, Y. Miike, & J. Yin (Eds.), The global intercultural communication reader (pp. 57-72). New York: Routledge. Yin, J., & Miike, Y. (2008). A textual analysis of fortune cookie sayings: How Chinese are they? Howard Journal of Communications, 19(1), 18-43. Miike, Y. (2007). An Asiacentric reflection on Eurocentric bias in communication theory. Communication Monographs, 74(2), 272-278. Miike, Y. (2007). Asian contributions to communication theory: An introduction. China Media Research, 3(4), 1-6. Miike, Y. (2007). Theorizing culture and communication in the Asian context: An assumptive foundation (in Chinese, J. Z. Edmondson, Trans.). In J. Z. Edmondson (Ed.) Selected international papers in intercultural communication (Vol. 1, pp. 137-157). Zhejiang, China: Zhejiang University Press. Miike, Y. (2006). Non-Western theory in Western research? An Asiacentric agenda for Asian communication studies. Review of Communication, 6(1/2), 4-31. Chen, G.-M., & Miike, Y. (2006). The ferment and future of communication studies in Asia: Chinese and Japanese perspectives. China Media Research, 2(1), 1-12. Miike, Y., & Chen, G.-M. (2006). Perspectives on Asian cultures and communication: An updated bibliography. China Media Research, 2(1), 98-106. Miike, Y. (2004). Rethinking humanity, culture, and communication: Asiacentric critiques and contributions. Human Communication: A Journal of Pacific and Asian Communication Association, 7(1), 67-82. Miike, Y. (2003). Beyond Eurocentrism in the intercultural field: Searching for an Asiacentric paradigm. In W. J. Starosta & G.-M. Chen (Eds.), Ferment in the intercultural field: Axiology/value/praxis (pp. 243-276). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Miike, Y. (2003). Japanese enryo-sasshi communication and the psychology of amae: Reconsideration and reconceptualization. Keio Communication Review, 25, 93-115. .

Paper:

An Anatomy of Eurocentrism in Communication Scholarship:

The Role of Asiacentricity in De-Westernizing Theory and Research

Yoshitaka Miike, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Communication
University of Hawaii at Hilo

200 West Kawili Street
Hilo , HI 96720-4091 , USA

Phone: (+01) 808-974-7780

Fax: (+01) 808-974-7736

E-mail: ymiike@hawaii.edu

Abstract

The purpose of this essay is to address the problem of Eurocentrism in non-Western communication scholarship and advocate the legitimacy of Asiacentricity in de-Westernizing theory and research. The essay first identifies two dimensions of Eurocentrism: (1) the ideology of universalizing and totalizing Western worldviews and phenomena; and (2) the ideology of devaluing and downplaying non-Western values and experiences. The essay then dispels three misconceptions about centric approaches to non-Western communication philosophies and practices: (1) non-Eurocentric inquiries do not contribute to pancultural theory development; (2) non-Eurocentricity is as ethnocentric as Eurocentrism; and (3) non-Eurocentric views and visions always go against Eurocentric ideas and ideals. The essay finally clarifies the metatheoretical notion of Asiacentricity and discusses the role of Asian cultures as vital resources of theory building in de-Westernizing communication research. It is the argument of the present essay that Asiacentric intellectual pursuits, along with Afrocentric and other non-Eurocentric approaches, will help communication studies in the non-Western region overcome the structure of “academic dependency” and make truly local and global contributions in theorizing about humanity, diversity, and communication.

Abstract prepared for the International Conference on “De-Westernizing Communication Research: What Is the Next Step?,” hosted by the College of Communication at National Chengchi University in Taipei , Taiwan , on December 13-14, 2008.

Shi-xu - Resume and Abstract

(via video conference)

Name	Shi-xu
Title	Professor, Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Multicultural Discourses Series Editor, Studying Multicultural Discourses Director, Institute of Discourse & Cultural Studies Zhejiang University
Brief Introduction	Shi-xu ( 施旭, b. 1960, PhD University of Amsterdam) has been a Research Fellow at the University of Amsterdam, Lecturer at the National University of Singapore and Reader at the University of Ulster, UK. His books in English include Cultural Representations, A Cultural Approach to Discourse, Read the Cultural Other (lead-editor) and Discourse as Cultural Struggle (editor). He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Multicultural Discourses (Routledge) and Series Lead-Editor of Studying Multicultural Discourses (Hong Kong University Press) and serves on the editorial boards of several premiere international journals (Jo of Socioling, Jo of Lang & Soc Psy, Cult & Psy, Disc & Soc, Jo of Asia-Pacific Comm, Jo of Black Studies). He is a recipient of the New-Century Outstanding Researcher Fund from the Ministry of Education, China. Currently he is Qiushi Distinguished Professor, Director of the Institute of Discourse and Cultural Studies, and Director of Centre for Contemporary Chinese Discourse Studies (CCCDS), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou. His central academic position is that contemporary language/communication/discourse must be studied as a site of cultural contest, cooperation and transformation.
Recent Publications	施旭（2008）话语分析的文化转向：试论建立当代中国话语研究范式的动因、目标和策略。《浙江大学学报》(“当代中国话语研究”专栏文章之一）38（1）：131－140。 Shi-xu. (2007b). Linguistics as metaphor: analysing the discursive ontology of the object of linguistic enquiry. In T. A. van Dijk, Discourse Studies, London: Sage Publications. Vol 5. Pp. 39-62. (Also published in Language Sciences, 2000, Vol 22, Pp 423-46) Shi-xu ( 2007a ). Contemporary Chinese communication with its cultural Others. In L. M. Simao & J. Valsiner, Otherness in Question: Labyrinths of the Self. Charlotte , NC : Information Age Publishing. Pp. 257-76. Shi-xu et John Wilson (2007). Volonte e purvoir: vers une recherche et une pedagogie radicales en matiere de communication transculturelle. Ferrer: Langues et Cultures. (Traduction de P. Hunt). 18: 15-35. (Translation from Shi-xu & John Wilson (2001). Will and power: towards radical intercultural communication research and pedagogy. Journal of Language and Intercultural Communication. 1 (1): 76-93. ) Shi-xu (2006). Editorial: Researching Multicultural Discourses. Journal of Multicultural Discourses. 1(1): 1-5 Shi-xu (2005), Review of CHINESE ENGLISHES: A sociolinguistic history (Kingsley Bolton, Cambridge University Press). Multilingua. Pp. 314-6

Paper:

Reconstructing Eastern Paradigms of Discourse Studies

Shi-xu
Centre for Contemporary Chinese Discourse Studies, Zhejiang University

xshi@zju.edu.cn www.shixu.com http://www.discourses.org.cn/

Abstract

Current scholarship on language and communication has largely been culturally monological rather than dialogical and diversified. In this keynote, I respond to this sorry state by arguing for the reconstruction of Eastern paradigms in favour of multiculturalism in discourse research. To that end, I first critique the ethnocentrism of the case of Critical Discourse Analysis, then point to the cultural realities of the Eastern discourses, i.e. the discourses of Asia, Africa, Latin America and other developing, subaltern societies in the North and South, and finally demonstrate the unique intellectual accomplishments of the Eastern world useful for the study of their discourses. In conclusion, I outline the basic requirements for the new paradigms and the corresponding action strategies for the reconstructive work.

Keywords disciplinary discourse, ethnocentrism, multiculturalism, Third World, Eastern wisdoms

Graham Murdock - Resume and Abstract

Name	Graham Murdock
Title	Reader in the Sociology of Culture at Department of Social Sciences Loughborough University
Brief Introduction	Graham Murdock is Reader in the Sociology of Culture. His main interests are in the Sociology and Political Economy of Culture. He has written extensively on the organisation of the mass media industries; and on the press and television coverage of terrorism, riots and other political events. His current work is on advertising and on the social impact of new communications technologies Before moving to Loughborough he taught at the University of Leicester. He is currently an external professor at the Institute for Mass Communication at the University of Bergen, Norway.
Recent Publications	McGuigan, J., Graham Murdock, Michael J. Pickering, and Natalie Fenton (Eds.). (2008). Media and Culture. Sage Publications. Deacon, D., Michael Pickering, Peter Golding, and Graham Murdock. (Eds.). (2007). Researching Communications: A Practical Guide to Methods in Media and Cultural Analysis. Oxford University Press, USA ; 2 edition. Murdock, G. and Janer Wasko. (Eds.). (2007). Media in the Age of Marketization. Hampton Press. Murdock, G. (2005). Communication and Critical Inquiry. Sage Publications. Murdock, G. (2004). Communication and Modernity. Hodder Arnold, Murdock, G. and Peter Golding. (2004). “Dismantling the Digital Divide: Rethinking the Dynamics of Participation and Exclusion” in - Andrew Calabrese and Colin Sparks (eds) Toward a Political Economy of Culture: Capitalism and Communication in the Twenty-First Century. Lanham. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Paper:

Communication and Transformation: The Cultural Contradictions of Globalised Modernity

Graham Murdock
Loughborough University

Abstract: It is indisputable that much Western communications scholarship has been based, either openly or by default, on the assumption that accounts developed to address western experiences and ambitions had universal applicability. Against this, we are now witnessing increasing demands for perspectives that acknowledge the cultural specificity and irreducibility of non western formations and practices and the consequent need to decentralise and pluralise approaches to communications. But is approaching the transformations of the current world system through the prism of de-westernisation the most productive way forward ? This paper argues that it may not be and outlines a critical perspective that starts from unfolding processes rather than spatial or cultural maps.

As a preface to this task it is first necessary to interrogate the history of modernity as a globalised but variable and multiple project and to identify its contradictory legacies

These processes are still unfolding but over the last three decades they have been increasingly entangled with three other movements -the globalisation of capitalism , the globalisation of risk, and the digitalisation of communications. The second half of this paper examines these intersections and the ways they are restructuring communications and culture, paying particular attention to the emerging economies of Asia. It argues that the key conflicts are not between the ‘West’ and the ‘Rest’ but between the world wide romance with markets and consumerism, the revivification of national and religious fundamentalisms, and the emergence of new forms of cosmopolitan citizenship.

David Morley - Resume and Abstract

Name	David Morley
Title	Professor at Goldsmiths University of London
Brief Introduction	David Morley’s research spans both micro-practices of media consumption and macro questions such as the role of media technologies in constituting the ‘electronic landscapes’ within which we live. His research has addressed questions of media consumption, especially in relation to broadcast television and, more recently, the uses of a variety of ‘new’ communications technologies such as the mobile phone. His interests are focused on the role of these technologies in articulating the public and private spheres, and he has done extensive ethnographic work in this field addressing both the functional and symbolic dimensions of communications technologies. He has also works on questions of cultural theory and globalisation - and has focussed on how to develop a non-Eurocentric media studies, within a cultural studies framework. Given his interdisciplinary approach, his work spans the fields of cultural geography and media anthropology and has been concerned with the role of media technologies in the construction of communities at different scales, in the context of processes of de/re-territorialisation, and in the re-constitution of boundaries and techno-regions. Having explored questions of ‘newness’ in relation to a variety of media in his last book, his most recent research attempts to re-articulate the study of virtual communications with that of material forms of transportation, so as to better theorise the varieties of mobility (and stasis) which characterise the contemporary world.
Recent Publications	Books Morley. D. (forthcoming 2006). The Geography of the New: Media, Modernity and Technology, Routledge. Morley. D. (2005). (edited with James Curran) Media and Cultural Thery, Routledge. Morley. D. (2003). “Die Sogantannen Cultural Studies” in A Hepp and C Winter (eds.) Die Kultural Studies Kontroverse, zuKlampen, Hamburg . Morley. D. (2003). “Kuulumisin – aika, tila ja indeeti, mediotnessa maailmassa” in M Lehtonen and O Lohtty (eds.) Erailmmus, Vastapaino, Tampere ( Finland ) Morley. D. (2004). “Broadcasting and the construction of the national family” in R Allen and A Hill (eds.) New Media Theory, Routledge. Morley. D. (2004). “At home with television” in L Spigel and J Olsson (eds.) Television after TV, Duke University Press. Morley. D. (2006 forthcoming). “The domestication of the media and the dis-location of domesticity” in T Berker et al (eds.) The Domestication of Media and Technology,Open University Press. Morley. D. (2006 forthcoming) “Communication technologies and the re-configuration of Europe ” (with K Robins) in V Vitali and P Willemen (eds.) Theorising the National in Cinema, British Film Institute. Recent Journal Articles Morley. D. (2003). ‘What`s Home got to do with it? The domestication of the media and the dislocation of domesticity’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 6 (4). Morley. D. (2003). ‘Rodni orkir obitelskog televije’ in Hravatski Filmski LJETOPIS ( Zagreb , Croatia ) Vol 36.‘byc w Domu ur Mobilnym Swiece’, Kultura Popularna,3 (5), 2003 ( Warsaw ). Morley. D. (2006).‘Unaswered Questions in Audience Research’, The Communication Review ; to also appear, in French translation, in I Charpentier (ed) Actualites des Recherches en Sociologie de la Reception et des Publics Creaphis, Paris (forthcoming)

Paper:

The Geography of Theory and the Place of Knowledge : Pivots, Peripheries and Waiting-Rooms

David Morley

The paper will address a number of issues concerning the constitution of knowledges in particular locations. Its starting point will be with the inevitability of the mutual inscription of our conceptions of both geography and history, and it will address the difficulties involved in critiques of ethnocentrism in the production of knowledge. Consideration will also be given to the ways in which a variety of ‘centres’, or subjects of knowledge have been constructed, in relation to the differently defined ‘peripheries’ which they have constituted as their objects. The paper will also survey the strengths and weaknesses of different levels of abstraction (and generalisability) in social and cultural theory, as applied on different geographical scales, in relation to questions concerning the viability of area-based or ‘regional’ theories of the contemporary forms of globalisation.

Paul S.N. Lee - Resume and Abstract

Name	Paul S.N. Lee
Title	Professor School of communication and journalism The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Brief Introduction	Paul S. N. Lee is a senior lecturer in the Department of Journalism and Communication atthe Chinese University of Hong Kong. His major research interests are international commu­nication, telecommunications policy, development communication and media criticism. He has written numerous journal articles and is the author of International Communication, editor of Telecommunication and Development in China and co-editor of TV Without Borders: Asia Speaks Out .
Recent Publications	Lo, V., Leung, L., Xiong, C., & Lee, P. (2007) Displacement effects of the Internet on traditional media: Beijing , Taipei , Hong Kong . In Y. Fung, T. Wu, Y. So & P. Lee (Eds.). The development and challenges of Chinese Media (pp. 104-116). Shanghai: Fudan University Press. (In Chinese). Leung, K, Chu , L. & Lee, P. (2006). The communication research and education in Hong Kong . In K. Leung, J. Kenny & P. Lee (Eds.). Global trends in communication research and education (pp. 189-209). Cresskill , NJ : Hampton . Lee, P. (2005). Democracy, the press and civil society in Hong Kong . In A. Romano & M. Bromley (Eds.). Journalism and democracy in Asia (pp. 81-95). London : Routledge. Lee, P., Leung, L. & So, C. (2004). Towards intelligent societies: The impacts of globalization, customization, flexibility, and multiple identities. In P. Lee, L. Leung & C. So (Eds.). Impact and issues in new media: Toward intelligent societies (pp. 1- 20). Cresskill , NJ : Hampton . Lee, P. (2004). The impact of information and communication technologies on society. In P. Lee, L. Leung & C. So (Eds.). Impact and issues in new media: Toward intelligent societies (pp. 245- 264). Cresskill , NJ : Hampton . Lee, P. (2004). The stereotypes of Japan and South Korea among Hong Kong people. In J. Leigh & E. Loo (Eds.). Outer limit: A reader in behaviour and communication across cultures (pp. 237-249). Sydney : Language Australia . Lee, P. (2003). Reflections on mergers and TNC influence on the cultural autonomy of developing countries. In A. Goonasekera, C. Hamelink, & V. Iyer (Eds.), Cultural rights in a global world (pp. 47-56). Singapore : Eastern Universities Press. Lee, P. (2003). Television, identity and civil society - The role of a non-controversial public space in Hong Kong . In Philip Kitley (Ed.). Television, regulation and civil society in Asia (pp. 188-204). London : RoutledgeCurzon. Lee, P. (2003). Media development and social changes. In P. Lee (Ed.).Hong Kong media in the new millennium (pp. 3-16). Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press. (In Chinese)

Paper:

“De-westernization” of communication studies in Chinese societies
Paul S.N. Lee

Abstract: The paper first examines differences in communication phenomena between Chinese and Western societies and discuss if there are some fundamental differences. It then analyzes if it is appropriate to “de-westernize” communication studies in Chinese contexts, or to combine the Chinese and Western approaches in seeking better understanding of communication phenomena in Chinese societies. If the latter is better, what are the “Chinese” approaches? The “Chinese” or non-Western approaches are explored and weighed against the Western ones. The author examines issues involved in “de-westernization” and construction of Chinese approaches at three levels, namely, ontological, epistemological and topical level. Suggestions for communication studies in Chinese societies are given in the end.

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