Hermeneutic theory: Malaysian practices
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-4-2022
Abstract
Hermeneutic philosophy and phenomenology are advanced in the Handbook of Media and Communication Research as being two of four `main traditions' shaping media and communication studies. Informed by hermeneutic scholarship, `ready-to-hand' (Heidegger) habitual media user practices become a central focus. Drawing on Gadamer's hermeneutic thought positions agent practices within perspective or a tacit hermeneutic representational `horizon of understanding'. Ricoeur showed subsequently that culturally hegemonic horizons of understanding can be perceived from `distanciated' (Ricoeur) positions, viewed as powerful bearers of ideology, a political `moment'. In this paper's reflecting on approaches to mediated practices, hermeneutic phenomenology underwrites the discussion of Malaysian multicultural research as instantiating exemplar. In a first section, the philosophy involved with a practices analysis is outlined in discussing phenomenology and media studies. The second section considers media research situating practices within horizons of representational understanding, digitally, institutionally and also constituted within `figurations'. A final section sees hermeneutic practices as a tacit presence in Malaysian multi-cultural activity: mall visiting and media viewing, responses to advertising and identity defining religious occasion.
Keywords
Hermeneutic practices, Phenomenology, Malaysian multi-cultural activity
Divisions
MediaStudies
Funders
None
Publication Title
Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies
Volume
36
Issue
3
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Publisher Location
2-4 PARK SQUARE, MILTON PARK, ABINGDON OX14 4RN, OXON, ENGLAND