[Book] Asian Perspectives on Digital Culture

Asian Perspectives on Digital Culture: Emerging Phenomena, Enduring Concepts
Edited by Sun Sun Lim, Cheryll Soriano
Routledge, 2016
214 pages

Abstract

In Asia, amidst its varied levels of economic development and diverse cultural traditions and political regimes, the Internet and mobile communications are increasingly used in every aspect of life. Yet the analytical frames used to understand the impact of digital media on Asia predominantly originate from the Global North, neither rooted in Asia’s rich philosophical traditions, nor reflective of the sociocultural practices of this dynamic region. This volume examines digital phenomena and its impact on Asia by drawing on specifically Asian perspectives. Contributors apply a variety of Asian theoretical frameworks including guanxi, face, qing, dharma and karma. With chapters focusing on emerging digital trends in China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan, the book presents compelling and diverse research on identity and selfhood, spirituality, social networking, corporate image, and national identity as shaped by and articulated through digital communication platforms.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Overview
1. A (Digital) Giant Awakens – Invigorating Media Studies with Asian Perspectives Sun Sun Lim and Cheryll Ruth R. Soriano

Part 2: Self and Identity
2. Face and Online Social Networking Sun Sun Lim and Iccha Basnyat
3. My Letter to Heaven via Email – Translocal Piety and Mediated Selves in Urban Marian Piety in the Philippines Manuel Victor J. Sapitula and Cheryll Ruth R. Soriano
4. Exploring Confucianism in Understanding Face-ism in Online Dating Sites of Eastern and Western Cultures Michael Prieler

Part 3: Groups Processes and Collective Imaginaries
5. Credibility, Reliability, and Reciprocity: Mobile Communication, Guanxi, and Protest Mobilization in Contemporary China Jun Liu
6. The Local Sociality and Emotion of Jeong in Koreans’ Media Practices Kyong Yoon
7. Ritual and Communal Connection in Mobile Phone Communication: Representations of Kapwa, Bayanihan and “People Power” in the Philippines Cheryll Soriano and Sun Sun Lim

Part 4: Discourses and Discursive Constructions of Meaning
8. What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India? Discursive Constructions of CSR as Sarva Loka Hitam in Online Narratives of Companies in India Ganga S Dhanesh
9. Shadow and Soul: Stereoscopic Phantasmagoria and Holographic Immortalization in Transnational Chinese Pop Liew Kai Khiun
10. Tweets in the Limelight: The Contested Relationship between (Dis)harmony and Newsworthiness Yenn Lee

Part 5: Conclusions and Ruminations
11. Asian modernity and the post human future: Some reflections T T Sreekumar
12. Re-Orienting Global Digital Cultures Gerard Goggin