Asian Approaches to Human Communication: Retrospect and Prospect*

Abstract

Communication, it is said, is the lifeblood of society. It is vital to the functioning of human social order. Communication is constitutive of culture. No culture can breathe without communication. If so, why have we, as communication scholars, so far focused our attention and energies solely on exploring Western theories of communication? A deep understanding of Asian approaches to communication will serve to widen the field of communication and extend its discursive boundaries. It will also help communication research to be contextualized more productively. Unearthing and redescribing Asian approaches to communication is as fascinating as it is complex. We have to proceed cautiously and operate on a number of fronts simultaneously. In this proposed paper, I wish to address five important questions related to Asian approaches of communication. First, why is it important to focus on Asian approaches to communication? Second, how will the uncovering of Asian theories change the intellectual cartography of communication studies? Third, what is the nature of the progress we have made so far? Fourth, what are some of the dominant problems we are likely to encounter in our endeavors? Fifth, how can we usefully overcome them? The objective of this paper is to look backward and forward to the growth of the study of Asian approaches to communication. Although during the last two or three decades significant progress has been made in winning recognition for the importance of this field of study and opening up interesting and productive lines of inquiry, much more work needs to be done. Hence, it should come as no surprise that I have chosen to focus more on the challenges ahead for scholars of Asian communication than the actual accomplishments. Communication is the lifeblood of society. It is vital to the maintenance of social order. Even the most primitive societies associated with their beginnings of humankind, communication played a significant role. It is always useful to remind ourselves that words like communication, community, communion are etymological cousins. With the evolution of human society and the growth of technology, the media of communication became more and more sophisticated. Today, in the more industrially advanced countries, thanks to the staggering 17