"The purpose of this book, explained further in Chapter One, is to place before the media scholar, the historicity and continuity in structures of colonialism, postcolonialism, and media globalization around the world. Obviously these are not clearly demarcated processes and colonized countries have been implicated centrally in such processes as much as their colonial masters who have been the focus of a majority of theory and research in international communication. In its linkage of case studies to interdisciplinary theory, the book draws the reader into various strains of critical dialogue in the field – a dialogue that has predominantly, and unfortunately, been the prerogative of graduate studies. The scope of case studies included then, is necessarily broad. Theoretical interpretations that connect case studies could merit individual books themselves, and are provided in this book inasmuch as they advance the narrative and contextualize the examples. Through this strategy, the book presents to the reader crucial theoretical issues in the fi eld and demonstrates how they are grounded (or not) in reality. The book also attempts to recharge international media research with the political energy that informed its origins, particularly in Latin America and South Asia. It identifies the signifi cant moments in political and academic history that have fashioned international media studies, and through extensive examples, lays bare areas that require further research. Such a task is undertaken recognizing the theoretically and empirically rich writing that has gone before, and piecing together such writing to offer a comparative and ethical analysis of the fi eld. The postcolonial framework informs this project for its direct and stunningly clear focus on the historicity of international interactions and its activist component that awards the student some direction for social justice." (Preface, page x-xi)