[Air-L] CFP Reminder || Global Media and China_Special Issue_China and the Global South: Interrogating Imperialist Ambitions

[Xiao Han]

Dear All,

We are writing this email to gently remind you that the deadline for this
Special Issue is approaching, *December 10 2022*.

*Global Media and China CFP *
(Follow us at: https://twitter.com/GCHjournal;
https://www.facebook.com/Global-Media-and-China-110136464998539/)

**** NO PAYMENT FROM AUTHORS*


*Special Issue: China and the Global South: Interrogating Imperialist
Ambitions*

*Guest Editors: *

*Stuart Davis, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies,
City University of New York, Baruch College *

 (stuart.davis at baruch.cuny.edu)


*Time Schedule:*
*—December 10, 2022: *a 1,000-word abstract and a 100-word bio, mentioning
the title of the special issue in the subject line, to the guest editor:
stuart.davis at baruch.cuny.edu

*—10 January 2023: *accepted abstracts notified

*—01 May 2023:* full paper submission


*Overview: *

This proposed special issue raises a question linked to the single most
pivotal shift in the contemporary international relations: How do
transformations in the media and technological landscapes of the Global
South reflect China’s rise as the primary contemporary challenger to
American economic and political hegemony? In addressing this question,
contributions will help provide insight into a conflict that the US State
Department (2021) has recently labelled the “most significant case of
great-power competition in the 21st century”; a so-called "new Cold War"
that has manifested across sectors ranging from resource extraction to
telecommunications. Given their strategic role during and after the Cold
War along with their histories of political conflict and economic
disadvantage, nations within the Global South are key sites of economic and
political conflict for larger states attempting to exercise economic and
political influence. In the case of China, many pundits and academics
(particularly in the US) have labelled its recent expansion into the Global
South as "China's new age of imperialism" (French, 2014), arguing that it
is using its economic and political strength to impose its will on "weaker"
nations. In a similar vein, within communication and media studies critics
have designated China's purported domination a form of “technological
imperialism” (Greene and Triolo, 2021) wherein financial or technical
support provides a wedge for commercial market domination and opens the
door to increased cultural influence. Pushing against these dystopian views
of Chinese globalization, others have argued that Chinese-oriented
development portends a more egalitarian approach, particularly in the
Global South. This expansion, in the words of political economist Giovanni
Arrighi, offers "the promise of a global order based on economic
interdependence but respectful to political and cultural differences"
(Arrighi 2008, p. 379).

Building on the trailblazing work of Yan (2020), Davis and Xiao (2021), and
a scant few others, this proposed special issue will turn to media and
communication processes in the Global South in an attempt to move beyond
sweeping claims about the impact of Chinese globalization. In this vein, we
welcome empirical investigations of how the Chinese state and Chinese media
and technology corporations are expanding in Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin
America, and other parts of Southeast Asia. Contributors might address
topics related to Chinese development initiatives in media or
telecommunications infrastructure, cultural diplomacy and soft power, the
expansion of Chinese-owned platforms, and other topics related to China's
increasingly powerful role in telecommunications, ICT, news, and other
media industries. Relatedly, contributions that deal with media responses
to Chinese-led development are also welcome, including those that
interrogate local responses such as heightened Sinophobia.


References:

Albuquerque, A., Oliveira, T. dos Santos Jr., R., Quinan, R. and Mazur, D.
(Forthcoming). Coronavirus meets the clash of civilizations.
*Convergence. *(Forthcoming,
Fall 2022).

Arrighi, G. (2008). *Adam Smith In Beijing: Lineages of the 21st Century.* New
York: Verso.

Davis, S. (2020). More than “a little flu": Digital advocacy journalism and
the struggle for health justice in Brazil under COVID-19. In Peter Van
Aelst and Jay Blumler

            (eds.). *Political Communication in the Time of Coronavirus. *New
York: Routledge.

Davis, M., and Xiao, J. (2021). De-Westernizing platform studies: History
and logics of Chinese and  U.S. platforms. *International Journal of
Communication*

French, H. (2014). *China’s Second Continent: How a Million Migrants are
Building a New Empire **in Africa. *New York: Vintage Books.

Greene, R. and Triolo, M. (2021) Will China control the Global Internet via
its digital Silk Road? The Carnegie Fund, December 11, 2021.

Liu, H. (2022). China engages the Global South: From Bandung to the Belt
and Road Initiative. * Global Policy* 13 (1): 11-22.

Mirrlees, T. (2022). Sanctioning China’s technology industry to secure
Silicon Valley’s global dominance. In Stuart Davis and Immanuel Ness.
(eds.). *Sanctions as War: Anti-Imperialist Perspectives on US Geo-economic
Strategy*. Leiden/Chicago: Brill.

US Department of State (2020). Elements of the China Challenge. Available
at:
https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20-02832-Elements-of-China-Challenge-
508.pdf

Wasserman, H. (2016). China's “soft power” and its influence on editorial
agendas in South Africa. *Chinese Journal of Communication* 9:1, 8-20, DOI:
10.1080/17544750.2015.1049953

Yan, Xuetong. (2020). Bipolar rivalry in the early digital age. *The
Chinese Journal of International **Politics* 13 (3):313-341. DOI:
10.1093/cjip/poaa007