Translation across academic cultures in communication studies

Abstract

This article discusses the translatability of communication scholarship in the context of globalized academia and research traditions. The notion of translation is useful to reflect upon the globalization of academic cultures in communication studies. The globalization of academic cultures confronts matters that translation studies have long recognized: the clash between dogmatism and difference, language slips and gaps, and the possibility of (mis)understandings. Although globalization invites scholars to broaden perspectives, it does not necessarily promote the rapprochement of epistemic communities in communication studies or the values of universal, de-Westernized, and cosmopolitan scholarship. We may hope communication research includes a plurality of global voices, but we still lack a clear path to overcome different understandings about quality standards, conceptual languages, and epistemological premises.