Roots and trajectories: Essays on the legacy of Jesús Martín-Barbero in global communication studies

Abstract

“Roots and Trajectories: Essays on the Legacy of Jesús Martín-Barbero in Global Communication Studies” is an introduction to this special collection for Media, Culture & Society’s Crosscurrents. Our introduction serves to contextualize and frame the role of Martín-Barbero’s theoretical roots and epistemological gaze in the essays authored by Omar Rincón (Colombia), Amparo Marroquín Parducci (El Salvador), Marwan Kraidy (Lebanon) and Nick Couldry (United Kingdom). This introduction positions Martín-Barbero’s work as strong evidence of Latin America’s own epistemological and theoretical formation, as we remind our colleagues in the Global North of the need to dialogue with the South in an effort to de-Westernizing communication theory.