Macquarie University

ICOM818: Communication Flows in the Asia Pacific Region

This unit introduces students to the communication patterns in the Asia Pacific, a region where media has registered phenomenal growth. The potential audience numbers in some of the developing countries in the region has catapulted the communication industry, including media, into one of the most vibrant sectors in the world. This is particularly significant in the context of the debates of how technological advances seem to cut across national and natural borders perhaps leading to homogenisation. The unit, through case studies drawn from growing powers like India and China and smaller countries as Sri Lanka and Fiji, looks at how communication flows lead to complex political and cultural environments, defying simple mapping and calling into question some of the discourses on globalisation.