The Invisibility of Latin American Scholarship in European Media and Communication Studies: Challenges and Opportunities of De-Westernization and Academic Cosmopolitanism

Abstract

In this article, we critically revisit previous attempts to de-Westernize media and communication studies in Europe. Based on a review of the most reputational Europe-based journals and European academic conferences on our subject from 2010 to 2016, we show how European media and communication studies nurture a scholarly practice of talking about Latin American contexts rather than including voices from within the continent. We establish a historical perspective on the current situation by showcasing emblematic cases of past links between European and Latin American scholarship and discuss the invisibility of Latin American scholarship in the context of the de-Westernizing media and communication studies approach. Our analysis shows that a critical implementation of de-Westernization requires more geographically diverse editorial boards, greater international cooperation, and comparative accounts to capture diversity in regional contexts.