Communication and technology theories from the South: the cases of China and India

ABSTRACT This paper takes an alternative approach to understanding theory as description. New theoretical propositions and knowledge practices need to grow out of the comparisons between descriptions, especially comparisons between the Southern cases. Using China and India as two cases, this paper reviews the descriptions of communication technology in the two countries and compares the descriptions. Through such comparisons, the paper concludes that the communication technology studies on China and India provide three theoretical insights: firstly, the state-society relationship shapes communication technology; secondly, the increasing pluralization or hybridity of the cyberspace shapes how communication technology is used; and lastly, it is the quest for finding one’s self (or selves) in a Chinese/Indian modernity that could provide references to other contexts.