"Moving beyond the U.S.-Eurocentric paradigm of communication theory, this handbook broadens the intellectual horizons of the discipline by highlighting underrepresented, especially non-Western, theorists and theories, and identifies key issues and challenges for future scholarship. Showcasing diver
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se perspectives, the handbook facilitates active engagement in different cultural traditions and theoretical orientations that are global in scope but local in effect. It begins by exploring past efforts to diversify the field, continuing on to examine theoretical concepts, models, and principles rooted in local cumulative wisdom. It does not limit itself to the mass-interpersonal communication divide, but rather seeks to frame theory as global and inclusive in scope. The book is intended for communication researchers and advanced students, with relevance to scholars with an interest in theory within information science, library science, social and cross-cultural psychology, multicultural education, social justice and social ethics, international relations, development studies, and political science." (Publisher description)
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"This chapter presents an overview of non-Western communication theories for cross-cultural and intercultural research. The chapter specifically focuses on selected Afrocentric and Asiacentric theories of communication because they represent communication theories whose ideas and insights spring fro
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m indigenous cumulative wisdom of non-Western cultural traditions. The chapter first explicates the significance and scope of non-Western communication theories and then reviews a total of seventeen theories within Afrocentric and Asiacentric communication scholarship. The indigenous theories under review are classified into three philosophical categories: 1. six theories predicated on Asian ontological worldviews; 2. four theories derived from African and Asian epistemological foundations; and 3. seven theories guided by African and Asian axiological parameters. The present chapter concludes by discussing future challenges of non-Western communication theorizing." (Abstract)
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"The collection covers a wide range of topics: the emergence and evolution of the field; issues and challenges in cross-cultural and intercultural inquiry; cultural wisdom and communication practices in context; identity and intercultural competence in a multicultural society; the effects of globali
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zation; and ethical considerations. Many readings first appeared outside the mainstream Western academy, and offer diverse theoretical lenses on culture and communication practices in the world community." (Publisher description)
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"In this chapter, Maulana Karenga explores ancient and ongoing African traditions of communicative practice in understanding African American rhetoric. For Karenga, African rhetoric is essentially the communicative practice that is oriented to building community and bringing good into the world, whi
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ch is in stark contrast to the utilitarian inclination of contemporary Western rhetoric that accentuates persuasiveness without sufficient consideration of the ethical dimension. From a Kawaida vantage point, he argues that African rhetoric is a rhetoric of community, resistance, reaffirmation, and possibility." (Page 211)
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"In this chaper, Hamid Mowlana elucidates four cardinal concepts of the Islamic worldview that may serve as the fundamental principles of ethical communication in Muslim societies: (1) tawhid (unity, coherence, and harmony of all in the universe), (2) amr bi al-ma'ruf wa nahy'an al munkar (commandin
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g to the right and prohibiting from the wrong), (3) ummah (community), and (4) taqwa (piety). It is his thesis that, in contrast to the ethical foundation of the modern West with its emphasis on the secular, ethics in the Islamic world are predicated on the inseparability of the religious and the social. Throughout Islamic history, he asseverates, information has been not a commodity but a moral imperative." (Page 237)
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"According to Dissanayake, the Sarvodaya movement encompasses the ideal of the harmonious social order and the principle of self-reliance and self-transformation as envisioned and encouraged by Buddhist teaching. The Sarvodaya movement also duly asserts that the idea of development should include no
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t merely materialistic and economic advancement but also moral growth and social fulfilment. Dissanayake outlines four main approaches to communication and development and succintly states that it is the notion of self-reliance that distinguishes the Sarvodaya movement from the dominant paradigm of development communication." (Page 467)
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"In this chapter, Guo-Ming Chen portrays two faces of communication in Chinese culture. He thematizes harmony, one of the core Chinese cultural values, to paint a picture of the first face. According to him, in order to achieve harmony, Chinese people would (1) follow the principles of jen (benevole
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nce), yi (righteousness), and li (rite/courtesy), (2) properly adjust to shi (temporal contingencies), wei (spatial contingencies), and ji (the first imperceptible beginning of movement), and (3) strategically exercise guanxi (interrealtion), mientze (face), and power. This harmony-oriented communication can also be understood in light of other Chinese cultural concepts such as mientze (face), guanxi (interrelation), yuan (destined relations), keqi (politeness), bao (reciprocity), feng shui, and zhan bu (divination). Chen then moves on to paint a picture of the second face, which is the dark side of Chinese communication, that appears when harmony cannot be upheld." (Page 273)
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"Although it is often viewed negatively in the West, silence is interpreted as a sign of interpersonal sensitivity, mutual respect, a sens of personal dignity, affirmation, and wisdom in the cultural context of India. At the individual level, silence serves as the means for the individual soul to ac
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hieve union with the universal spirit in the Hindu practice of yoga. At the interpersonal level, silence is used in Indian social interactions to maintain harmony, avoid conflict, and exert punishment. At the public level, as manifested in the Gandhian movement of satyagraha, self-restraint, patience, and protest against social and political injustice are communicated in silence and particularly significant in the civic sphere of Indian life. Jain and Matukumalli urge communication scholars and students to recognize and realize the value of silence and its full potential in intracultural and intercultural interactions." (Abstract)
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