Abstract
The collection of essays edited by Marwan M Kraidy sets itself a tall order: to develop a new way of thinking about communication and power in the global context. However, rather than offering yet another grand theory that would replace the previously dominant paradigms of cultural imperialism and cultural globalization, the volume adopts a more modest approach, premised on a dialogue between meso-level theories of trans-border communication and empirical studies stemming from different local and national settings. The four sections of the book tackle three traditional issues of concern in global communication studies: the role of the nation-state, the notion of modernity and the forms of resistance. Each section opens with a brief introduction, followed by two or three substantial contributions.
As Le Han suggests in her introduction to the first section, the two contributions that follow each examine one strand of the production of ‘transnational subjectivity’ in the context of intensified migration flows. Hector Amaya’s chapter studies the role of regulatory mechanisms and corporate pressures that led to the marginalization of Spanish-language media in the United States, while Myria Georgiou’s contribution focuses on Arab-speaking media audiences in Europe and their active involvement in negotiating their senses of belonging ‘from below’. The second section retains the focus on the nation-state but turns to a different aspect of its involvement in global communication, namely nation branding campaigns. Andrew Crocco introduces the three case studies that follow by pointing to their shared focus on branding as a response to the global expansion of capitalism, aimed at transforming nations into zones of potential capital investment and accumulation. Paula Chakravartty’s chapter shows how the branding campaigns in India seek to promote the vision of ‘global India’ committed to free market principles while eliding issues of poverty and inequality. In a similar vein, Anikó Imre’s study examines how the Romanian government sought to brand the country as an attractive tourist destination while at the same time glossing over the obstacles to real participation in national politics. Finally, Koichi Iwabuchi demonstrates how Japanese leaders promoted the image of an ethnically pure Japanese nation and thereby contributed to the demise of multicultural initiatives in the country.
The contributions to the third section revisit the debates surrounding the grand narratives of modernity and history, and seek to redeem them. Drawing on a discussion of the centrality of (national) broadcasters, Paddy Scannell argues for the continued relevance of the grand narrative of history as a source of hope, even though the narrative itself is effectively beyond our grasp. Likewise, Tarik Sabry argues that the existence of multiple and hybrid forms of modernity does not mean that we are not modern, and that in order to understand what it means to be modern, we need to dispense with the view of modernity as threatening or inauthentic.
The fourth and final section of the book includes case studies of forms of resistance within the global communication order. Patrick Murphy focuses on the state-funded green media project in Ecuador, showing how the civil society, in alliance with the state, uses local media to resist global economic forces that fuel the exploitation of natural resources in the country. In the final chapter, Guobin Yang examines Chinese political activists and their attempts to challenge and circumvent the system of internet control by drawing on international media exposure. As Sara Mourad points out in her introduction to the section, the two case studies point to the continued relevance of old media in global resistance, and to the interplay of national, local and global forces and actors.
The essays gathered by Kraidy will certainly offer a lot of food for thought to anyone wishing to come to grips with the vagaries of power and communication in the global era. It is a shame, however, that the collection is not somewhat more ambitious in teasing out the arguments developed in each of the sections to draw some firmer conclusions and develop a set of suggestions for future research in this area.