Exploring the mediascape from the Epistemologies of the South / Explorando el mediascape desde las Epistemologías del Sur

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https://doi.org/10.25267/COMMONS.2020.v9.i2.07

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Vol. 9 No. 2 (2020): The legacy of Paulo Freire in civil society development
Papers
211-237
Published: 21-12-2020
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Europe PMC

Authors

  • Alexandre de Sousa Carvalho (PT) University of Coimbra (Portugal)
    Google Schoolar Google Scholar
  • Sofía José Santos (PT) University of Coimbra (Portugal)
    Google Schoolar Google Scholar
  • Carlota Houart (PT) University of Coimbra (Portugal)
    Google Schoolar Google Scholar

Abstract

Dominant literature on media and communication studies has insistently equated mediascape and high technology media as interchangeable concepts and realities instead of high technological media as part of a broader and more dynamic media pallet. By subscribing to this “technology- driven Darwinism”, we argue that existing dominant literature explicitly and implicitly excludes forms of mass communication that go beyond the media in its Western liberal form and procedures and, consequently, other voices, knowledge and messages. This article analyses the modern conception of media by exploring the “abyssal exclusions” (Santos, 2007) it creates. To illustrate this further, we have selected the top five 2018 SCOPUS-indexed journals, from which we gathered a sample of 116 research articles that were published between 2016-2018, to shed light on some of the most recent research trends in media studies. The definition of media used by the articles contained in our sample shows that there is a technological and modernity-driven spectrum which is fundamental in defining what is and what progressively is no longer labelled, and hence considered, media. This understanding of the media fails to include forms of mass communication that go beyond the media in its western liberal form and, consequently, exclude subaltern voices, knowledges and messages.

Keywords

Media Google Schoolar
voice Google Schoolar
Epistemologies of the South Google Schoolar
communication grammars Google Schoolar
ecologies of communication Google Schoolar

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How to Cite

Carvalho, A. de S., Santos, S. J., & Houart, C. (2020). Exploring the mediascape from the Epistemologies of the South / Explorando el mediascape desde las Epistemologías del Sur. Commons. Revista De Comunicación Y Ciudadanía Digital, 9(2), 211–237. https://doi.org/10.25267/COMMONS.2020.v9.i2.07

Author Biographies

Alexandre de Sousa Carvalho, University of Coimbra (Portugal)

Guest Assistant Lecturer at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra since February 2017, where he has been lecturing at undergraduate and graduate programmes in International Relations, Development, Peace and Security Studies. He is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at ISCTE-IUL in Lisbon and holds a Master’s degree in African Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Bradford, UK. His areas of expertise lie in peace and security studies; power-sharing studies; foreign policy; political science and populism. Alexandre is a researcher at DeCode/M, where he facilitates the thematic area “Populism and Extreme Masculinities”, and actively participates in the core study, “Me Too” and “Fatherhood, Household Roles and Caregiving” and also contributes to the communications and outreach strategy.

Sofía José Santos, University of Coimbra (Portugal)

Assistant Professor in International Relations at the Faculty of Economics, University of Coimbra, and a Researcher at the Center for Social Studies, where she coordinates the DeCodeM project as a Principal Investigator. Since 2008 she has developed research on media and international relations; media and securitization processes; internet and technopolitics; and media and masculinities. Within CES, she is also coordinator for Promundo-Portugal’s Media and Masculinities programming area, and co-editor of Alice News. She holds a PhD in International Politics and Conflict Resolution by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra and a Diploma in Advanced Studies in Communication Sciences from ISCTE-IUL. Her current research interests focus on media representations and securitization; media and foreign policy; media, masculinities and violence prevention; digital rights and contentious politics; and critical Internet studies.

Carlota Houart, University of Coimbra (Portugal)

International Relations graduate by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra, and a Master’s student in International Relations- Peace, Security and Development Studies at the same University. She is a junior researcher of the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra (CES-UC) as member of NHUMEP and member of the team of the DeCodeM Project. Her research interests include IR, peace and conflict studies, gender studies focusing on masculinities, media studies, ecofeminism and climate change.

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