Abstract

Many of the debates about media studies have been about de-westernizing the field or seeking some form of redress to balance the Western-centric media theories with those from the East. This paper contends that postcolonial theories are often under explored in media theorisations and normative assumptions, and may provide a means to address the voids in media theory. Postcolonial theories and literature can advance much needed ontological and epistemological platforms to review our assumptions about media and subjectivity in postcolonial contexts and to thwart the hegemonic tendencies to judge media in different and disparate cultural contexts through the Western liberal paradigms or perspectives. This ‘inserting’ of the ‘postcolonial’ in media studies must become part of our united quest in creating a field that enables a more nuanced and historically relevant analysis of media history and theory.