Abstract
This thought-provoking book by Shi-xu seeks to provide a systematic introduction to cultural discourse studies (CDS) and especially its Chinese expression, Chinese discourse studies (CNDS). The book’s overarching argument is that critical discourse analysis (CDA), as a fast-growing discipline and research community, has constituted a global hegemonic discourse that promotes the universalization and globalization of the Western cultural system, including its philosophical assumptions, concepts, theories, methodological paradigms and so on; as such, it is imperative for concerned researchers to develop a locally grounded and globally minded approach that can de-Westernize discourse research practice. In this vein, Shi-xu’s proposal aims at elaborating a critical reflection on CDA itself and suggesting a more culturally specific approach to discourse and communication research.
The book is organized in two parts. Part I, comprising Chapters 1–3, discusses the theoretical and methodological components of CDS, Eastern discourse studies and CNDS, respectively, which sets out the theoretical framework for the empirical investigations in Part II. Shi-xu argues that CDA itself requires a critical reflection since CDA practitioners rarely question their own cultural identities and ideologies or the cultural origins and biases of their knowledge. In this vein, culture tends to be treated as an epiphenomenon, simply a part of the ‘given context’ external to discourse. As flagged in the master texts of CDA, however, the discipline presents a ‘culturally particular and even biased approach’ (p. 6). Especially when compared with a Chinese approach to discourse, mainstream CDA is preoccupied by Western idiosyncrasies, such as binary thinking, individual reasoning and emphasis on meaning within language. In this regard, CDA presents a culturally expansionist discourse legitimizing the Western-dominated hegemony, which poses a serious challenge for the developing world. Accordingly, the goal of CDS is to promote the balance and equality between various cultural forms and challenge the colonialist and imperialist ideologies presented in the current global order. Studies within the CDS paradigm can be distinguished from traditional CDA by their commitment to a set of shared principles, including ‘a holistic and historical understanding of culture, an acknowledgement of both local and global knowledge, and an opposition to cultural dominance and exclusion’ (pp. 24–33).
Shi-xu argues that the various cultural forms across Asia, Africa and Latin America form an alternative paradigm of ‘Eastern discourses’. The paradigm is determined by the developing countries’ holistic and harmony-oriented worldviews and their shared experience of colonialism and global injustice. The features of Eastern discourses and their unique intellectual achievements indicate that research on this alternative paradigm should be ‘locally grounded and globally minded, historically conscious and contemporarily helpful, and above all culturally inclusive and pluralistic, at all levels of discourse research’ (p. 51). Finally, CNDS applies CDS to the Chinese context. Briefly speaking, CNDS reflects the connections between the contemporary Chinese discursive system and the country’s historical conditions, cultural traditions and intellectual resources. Compared with Western discourses, the Chinese discursive system is characterized by holistic philosophical thoughts, harmony-oriented and collective worldviews and a pragmatic and development-minded research agenda. To a large extent, these unique cultural peculiarities would make Western epistemologies inapplicable; thus, locally grounded interpretations are crucial for making better sense of the complicated communications in contemporary China.
Part II comprises Chapters 4–6, presenting three case studies on Chinese discourses of human rights, trade friction and urban development that illustrate the use of CDS and its advantages compared to traditional CDA. The primary goal of these case studies is to elaborate a cultural-discursive approach to interpreting contemporary Chinese discourses. Shi-xu argues that China’s political communications on human rights should be understood historically and holistically, and the empirical analysis in Chapter 4 delineates how China has moved from a passive recipient to a responsible speaker on human rights issues, offering counter-hegemonic discourses on this Western-dominated topic (e.g. articulating a development-oriented approach towards human rights and countering the false accusations issued from the United States). Similarly, Chapter 5 illustrates the cultural peculiarities of Chinese discourses (e.g. discouragement of public engagement in international disputes and a preference for conflict neutralization) and how these features direct the discursive representations of China in its trade frictions with the European Union. Chapter 6 reviews discourses on urban development in the city of Hangzhou, showing how urban affairs can be viewed as communicative events deeply influenced by sociocultural issues such as the pursuit of human–nature harmony and citizen participation. The book ends with a brief Epilogue that recaps the key principles of CDS and CNDS and sets out the future research directions of this emerging paradigm.
Clearly, Chinese Discourse Studies is deeply influenced by post-colonial studies and critical sociology, and it strives to improve the visibility of issues such as neo-colonialism, globalization and multiculturalism in the research agenda of CDA. Yet the book’s diagnosis of current CDA scholarship and a culture-focused approach to global injustice feels somewhat over-generalized. Although binary thinking and logocentrism are manifest in Western intellectual traditions, since the 1960s there have been noticeable efforts in Western critical thinking to overcome these limitations (e.g. deconstructionism and multimodal discourse analysis). There again, the culture-focused interpretation of global injustice may cause scholars from other critical disciplines to wonder whether improving intercultural awareness would be sufficient for counter-hegemony efforts. Also, given the concept of ‘hegemony’ was originally articulated by Antonio Gramsci, it is a little disappointing to find that neo-Gramscian approaches to international political economy have not been addressed in the theoretical framework of CNDS. Moreover, despite the cultural similarities among Asia, Africa and Latin America and their shared colonial experiences, grouping them under the umbrella term ‘Eastern discourses’ seems to construct an East/West dichotomy that goes against the holistic principle of CNDS. Finally, the framework of CNDS tends to focus on the power relations presented in the global North–South divide, and it is somewhat difficult to apply this paradigm in analysing depressed cultural groups in affluent nations, such as First Nations and new immigrants in settler countries such as Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Nevertheless, the book’s systematic discussion of CDS is truly thought-provoking and its critical reflections on CDA are likely to provoke further debates among the CDA community.