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The “Cultural Baggage” of English and Its Significance in the World at Large

Anna Wierzbicka

in English: Meaning and Culture

This chapter discusses the significance of the “cultural baggage” of English in a world in which English is increasingly functioning as a global lingua franca. It discusses the use of English by ... More

This chapter discusses the significance of the “cultural baggage” of English in a world in which English is increasingly functioning as a global lingua franca. It discusses the use of English by international organizations and bodies such as ASEAN, and its use in international law and international aviation. It explores the links between Anglo/English cultural scripts, conversational routines, and culture-specific values, and it shows the dangers inherent in regarding English as a “culture-neutral” medium of international communication. It also discusses the implications of the historically shaped cultural content of English for the practical — and immensely important — issues of intercultural communication and cross-cultural education.Less

Information Freedom and U.S. Foreign Policy: A History

Shawn M. Powers and Michael Jablonski

in The Real Cyber War: The Political Economy of Internet Freedom

This chapter traces the history of U.S. information policy, focusing on four illustrative case studies that reveal a consistent pattern of utilizing a narrative of the freedom of information to ... More

This chapter traces the history of U.S. information policy, focusing on four illustrative case studies that reveal a consistent pattern of utilizing a narrative of the freedom of information to bypass state boundaries and sovereignty. After discussing the connection between information and commerce, the chapter considers each case in more detail. The first case examines the U.S. challenge to British communications hegemony in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; the second explores the view that U.S.-backed ventures to build up underdeveloped countries constituted a policy of creating new markets for U.S. products; the third focuses on the use of international structures such as the International Telecommunications Union and UNESCO by developing countries to assert grievances arising from a misbalance of power in world communication structures; and the fourth case deals with the formation of ICANN as a U.S. policy. This chapter links the debates over international communication to geopolitics, highlighting the various ways international institutions and partnerships are leveraged, selectively, to support American foreign policy goals.Less

English in Philippine education: Solution or problem?

Allan B. I. Bernardo

in Philippine English: Linguistic and Literary

This chapter examines the role of English in Philippine education. It focuses on the arguments for maintaining English as the medium of instruction. From the earliest implementation of English as the ... More

This chapter examines the role of English in Philippine education. It focuses on the arguments for maintaining English as the medium of instruction. From the earliest implementation of English as the medium of instruction policy during the American colonial period, it was already argued that English would be the better medium to give Filipinos access to the knowledge of other civilizations. The most overt and persistent arguments for maintaining English as the medium of instruction involve the supposed advantage of English as a medium for intellectual pursuits, for international communication, and for economic advancement, especially in the current globalizing world environment.Less

Media Reform: An Overview

Des Freedman and Jonathan A. Obar

in Strategies for Media Reform: International Perspectives

Media reform is a great and formidable challenge. Across international contexts, reformers are inspired by what the late C. Edwin Baker referred to as the democratic distribution principle for ... More

Media reform is a great and formidable challenge. Across international contexts, reformers are inspired by what the late C. Edwin Baker referred to as the democratic distribution principle for communicative power: “a claim that democracy implies as wide as practical a dispersal of power within public discourse” (Baker, 2007, p. 7). The challenge is made manifest in battles over the future of investigative journalism, media ownership, spectrum management, speech rights, broadband access, network neutrality, the surveillance apparatus, digital literacy and many others waged in pursuit of the normative ideals at the heart of Baker’s vision. At the same time, those committed to media reform confront formidable challenges: entrenched commercial interests and media conglomerates; sometimes powerful, sometimes disorganized and sometimes neoliberal governments; a general public often disenfranchised, digitally illiterate and not focused on issues of media reform; and always, the uphill battle of organization, mobilization and influence that is the work of any activist. In light of these significant challenges, the central question addressed by this volume is: What strategies might be utilized to overcome these obstacles in the pursuit of media reform?Less

Engaging the Academy: Confronting Eurocentrism in Journalism Studies

Brian Ekdale

in Journalism Research That Matters

We are witnessing a global turn toward ethno-nationalism and xenophobia that raises important questions about what those who are engaged in scholarly knowledge production are doing to implicitly or ... More

We are witnessing a global turn toward ethno-nationalism and xenophobia that raises important questions about what those who are engaged in scholarly knowledge production are doing to implicitly or explicitly perpetuate ethnocentrism. This chapter focuses on the problem of Eurocentrism, and Americentrism more specifically, in journalism and mass communication studies. Although public engagement typically focuses on sharing scholarly knowledge with audiences outside of academia, scholars need to be open and responsive to critiques of our own professional practices. This chapter first documents inequities in scholarly knowledge production between the Global North and Global South, and then offers a brief contextualization of the structural nature of these inequities. Finally, the chapter recommends specific practices journalism scholars based in the Global North can do to become better allies of their colleagues in the Global South, and highlights recent efforts to engage the academy around the issue of inequities in scholarly knowledge production.Less

Conclusion: The Globalization of an American Tradition

Alan Schroeder

in Presidential Debates: Risky Business on the Campaign Trail

How American presidential debates have been exported to countries around the world, and the role of debates in a modern democracy.