The generalisation of “media” as a term for all forms of communication technologies occurred in part as a result of Cold War history. The implication was that every medium was in some abstract sense equivalent, whether it was print, radio or television for example. Media acquired emancipatory connotations, as if their growth would bring progress in its wake. Alongside, however, paradigms for research on media proliferated, and became increasingly hard to bridge; one outcome was the increasing marginalisation of media and communication studies from the social sciences and humanities in general, even as media scholars grew in number. This marginalization reflected a historical problem, but, interestingly, the remedies sought for it are often theoretical, drawing for example on science studies or on critical race theory. It is as if the Global South and North that have been set adrift from each other, with scholarly sanction from the academy. But for understanding the forms of contemporary globalisation, an account of Cold War media theory’s historical formation is indispensable.

中文翻译：

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从全球南方看媒体理论的历史

“媒体”作为所有形式的通信技术的术语的普遍化部分是由于冷战历史而产生的。这意味着每种媒介在某种抽象意义上都是等效的，例如印刷，广播或电视。媒体获得了解放的内涵，好像它们的增长会带来进步一样。然而，与此同时，媒体研究的范式激增，并且变得越来越难以桥接。一个结果是，尽管媒体学者的人数不断增加，但总体上，社会科学和人文学科对媒体和传播学的研究却越来越边缘化。这种边缘化反映了一个历史问题，但有趣的是，寻求它的补救措施通常是理论上的，例如借鉴科学研究或批判种族理论。好像全球南方和北方已经在学术界的学术制裁下相互偏离了。但是，为了理解当代全球化的形式，对冷战媒体理论的历史形成的说明是必不可少的。