In each Newsletter leading up to the conference, we will highlight two of the fascinating master classes that have been planned for Phoenix. Master lecturers will feature Mark Knapp (U of Texas-Austin), Chin-Chuan Lee (City U of Hong Kong), Dafna Lemish (Southern Illinois U-Carbondale), Jack McLeod (U of Wisconsin), James Curran (U of London), and Stan Deetz (U of Colorado-Boulder).

This month, learn more about lecturers Chin-Chuan Lee and Dafna Lemish and what they have planned for Phoenix.

On Being an International Scholar  by Chin-Chuan Lee

I would like to share with colleagues my own experience and observation as a foreign-born student who tried to adjust to U.S. academic milieus and learn the "tricks" from major figures, then changed my role as a professor in a major U.S. university that lasted for more than 2 decades, and finally decided to return to Asia to take up new challenges. I would address some of the common issues facing us, such as identity, academic fad, cultural reflexivity, and state of mind.

I see "international scholars" as the students, coworkers, and conversational partners of Western scholars. But we draw dots between cultures. We must reject what Bourdieu calls "the imperialism of the universal" and what can be seen as "the parochialism of the particular."

As the scholarship is increasingly globalized, what can--and should--we do as "international scholars" to reflect on our cultural meanings, transcend theoretical parochialism, and maintain an open-minded and mutually enriching dialogue with the Western literature on an equal footing?

Chin-Chuan Lee is Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Media and Communication at City University of Hong Kong. He had taught at the University of Minnesota’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication for more than 2 decades. Straddling both scholarly traditions and languages, he has published seven books in English, seven books in Chinese, and more than 80 articles in English. He was the Founding President of the U.S.-based Chinese Communication Association and is a Fellow of the Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities. He has been regularly interviewed by the international media and has lectured in more than 50 universities around the world.

Creating a Shared Arena: When Feminist Scholarship Meets Children and Media by Dafna Lemish

 
For my entire career I have been engaged in bridging efforts: Between qualitative and quantitative methodologies, between social sciences and humanities, between scholarly and professional endeavors, between theory and praxis. Such bridging requires action, so for example, 6 years ago, my frustration with the existence of living in isolated silos in my areas of study led me to found and edit since then the Journal of Children and Media. The vision driving this effort was and continues to be, as found in our mission statement, that the journal seeks to be "a space for discussion by scholars and professionals from around the world and across theoretical and empirical traditions." Second, my interest in the role the media have in children’s lives and in the construction of gender identities motivated me to search for meeting grounds between feminist scholarship and developmental psychology. Was it smooth sailing? No, it was not. There are many challenges and rough spots involved in dwelling in the zone of the "ampersand." Is it worthwhile? Well – that’s what I would love to converse with you about. Let us meet, share experiences, ask hard questions, and reflect on our own work.

Dafna Lemish is Professor of Communication, Chair of the Department of Radio-TV at Southern Illinois University Carbondale and founding editor of the Journal of Children and Media (Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group). Previously she was Professor of Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication at Tel Aviv University in Israel. She is author of numerous books including most recently: Screening Gender on Children’s Television: The Views of Producers Around the World (Routledge, 2010); The Wonder Phone in the Land of Miracles: Mobile Telephony in Israel (with Cohen & Schejter, Hampton Press, 2008); Children and Television: A Global Perspective (Blackwell, 2007); Children and Media at Times of Conflict and War (coedited with Götz; Hampton Press, 2007); Media and the Make-Believe Worlds of Children: When Harry Potter Meets Pokémon in Disneyland (with Götz, Aidman, & Moon; Lawrence Erlbaum, 2005). She has also published over 120 academic articles and book chapters in several languages. She has been awarded Fellow of ICA in 2010 and was the first recipient of the Teresa Award for the Advancement of Feminist Scholarship in 2009. She has served as Chair of the Feminist Scholarship Division of ICA, twice as a board member, and held many roles in various ICA committees. She was a visiting scholar at the Center on Media and Child Health, affiliated with Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard’s Medical School (2008-2010); the Danish Research Center on Education and Advanced Media Materials, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark (Fall 2006); the International Institute for Youth and Educational TV (IZI), Munich Germany (Summer 2004); the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania (1993); and the Center for the Influences of Television on Children (CRITC) at the University of Kansas Lawrence (1982-3).