International Media Studies

International Media Studies is a bold approach to the field that situates media studies within the international context of the networked, globalized twenty–first century. Moving beyond the idea of the West and the Rest, this volume introduces audience/reception research from areas that have been previously underrepresented in media studies, such as the Middle East,South Asia, and Greater China. Using postcolonial theory, it addresses the issues of the overlapping narratives of global, national, and local identities; and showcases global media patterns from a range of countries around the world. The text surveys the reception of a wide variety of media content and formats including television, cinema, magazines, and popular music. It addresses theoretical concepts such as hybridity and methods such as ethnography. International Media Studies is a comprehensive assessment of the state of media studies as it is being practiced throughout the world.

Preface. Acknowledgments. 1. Introduction. From International Communication to Media Globalization. Mapping the Book. 2. The Fixity of Nation in International Media Studies. The Modern Nation in All its Glory. The Legacy of the Modern Nation in International Media Studies. Early Research in International Communication. The Critical Turn in International Media Studies. 3. Connecting Structure and Culture in International Media Studies. The Culturalist and Structuralist Paradigms of Cultural Studies. Feminist Theory and Cultural Studies. The Postcolonial Approach to International Media Studies. 4. Reviving the Pure Nation: Media as Postcolonial Savior. Defining the Third World. Mass Media as Extensions of Colonial Administrative Power. Mass Media as Nation Builders and Postcolonial Saviors. The Telenovela for National Development. Restoring the Female Nation. Rescuing the Brown Woman. Disciplining the Peasant and the Prostitute. 5. Competing Networks, Hybrid Identities. Star TV and Transnational Media Networks. Policing the Skies. Hybridity and the Globalization of Television Formats. 6. Grounding Theory: Audiences and Subjective Agency. International Audience Studies. Contributions of Anthropology to International Media Studies. Postcolonial Interventions in Audience Research. Differences between Western and Non–Western Viewing Experiences. Agency, Subjectivity, and Subjective Agency. Audience Agency and Resistance. Limited Agency and Subjectivity. Theorizing Audience Agency and Limited Subjectivity. 7. Reconfiguring the Global in International Media Studies. Expanding International Media Studies to Non– "Hot Spots". Interrogating Notions of Fluidity of Audiences and Media. Moving Away from the Nation as a Unit of Analysis. Moving Away from the Centrality of Media Within Society. Extending Analyses beyond a Critique of Cultural Imperialism. Historicizing International Media Studies. Engaging in Comparative Research. Relating Research to Activism. 8. The Politics of International Media Research. Negotiating the Complexities of Fieldwork Within the Academia. Negotiating Power in the Field. The Politics of Representing Ethnographic Research. The Challenges to Activist Research. Criticisms to Critical Research. International Media and the Viability of the Nation–State. Notes. References. Index

Divya C. McMillin is Associate Professor of International Communication and Cultural Studies at the University of Washington, Tacoma. She has written book chapters and published numerous articles in such journals as the Journal of Communication , International Journal of Cultural Studies, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies , International Communication Bulletin , and Economic and Political Weekly , on issues of media globalization and identity.

“In this important book, Divya McMillin extends media industry analysis beyond Anglo–American paradigms. The result is a reconfiguration of the field that is at once bold, brave, and scholarly.” –– John Hartley, Queensland University of Technology, Australia "Arguing for a postcolonial turn in media studies, McMillin brilliantly demonstrates that new modes of analysis and new objects of study can provide fresh and provocative approaches to the study of globalization." –– Michael Curtain, University of Wisconsin