Digital media research from beyond the West: theoretical directions from Philippine-based journals

Abstract

Abstract This article contributes to the intensifying calls to globalize and decolonize the field of media and communication by broadening the possibilities for digital media research. To do so, it takes a deep dive into a set of 27 works on digital media from five Philippine-based journals, all of which were published during the COVID-19 years of 2020–2023. Collectively, they spotlight the entanglements of technologies with the distinct and diverse political, economic, and socio-cultural realities outside the West. Through a qualitative thematic analysis, our article identifies how the different works in our selected set are clustered along three key themes: on digital deliberations, digital intimacies, and digital promotion. There were a few of them that did not align with these themes, but nevertheless also indicated emerging vectors from which to see the entwinement of digital media with the dynamics of Philippine society. All these present expanded lines of theorizing research about digital media that connect with but, importantly, also go beyond the typical concerns of scholarship generated in the West.