An Analytical Lens Resting on a Tripod: De-Westernising, Internationalising, and Decolonising International Communication

Abstract

This article reviews three critical analytical discourses that are wrestling with the Euro-American historic bias in international communication. The de-Westernisation discourse is perhaps one that has been most prevalent. To also deconcentrate Western biases, the “internationalisation” perspective argues that the field of international communication still needs to be truly “internationalised.” The article advances that there is another Western-centricity critiquing perspective—the decoloniality school of thought—that warrants a fully-fledged adoption and application as a third perspective. Together, the three disquisitions not only hold the potential to dismantle the Euro-American historical leanings evident in the field, but they also offer an opportunity to refresh international communication theory and research practice with new, alternative non-Western offerings, especially from the Global South.

Keywords:

• international communication
• de-Westernisation
• internationalisation
• decoloniality
• critical perspectives in international communication