Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

2009

Department

Communication Studies

Abstract

As we suggested in 2005, “centrisms” exist in historical space, rhetorical space, physical space, national space, postcolonial space, and in mental space. They are inscribed authentically, by those groups who have lived a cultural experience, or inauthentically, by those outside of the community. They reflect a more or less actual history, or they may represent idealized conceptions of how a community should or might be. Centrisms are always at some site of contestation. The avowal of an identity is met with charges of essentialism, and is regarded by some as a binary oversimplification. When viewed as a willing reinscription of identity that replaces what colonial and slave history may have undercut, though, Cote D’Ivoire President Félix Houphouët-Boigny’s words seem apt: “Better to be dominated by a friend than by an enemy.” Our present dialogue questions the utility of centrisms in " a globalizing world.” [China Media Research. 2009; 5(1): 87-94]

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