Communication And Culture In Ancient India And China

The author explores questions which are answerable only as oral communication is considered in relation to philosophy and social customs. An examination of the relationship between culture and rhetoric, East and West, opens the book. The rhetorical milieu of India, its philosophy, social system, and uses of speech, leads to a probing of the caste system and speech of the Brahmins, Hinduism and other pre-Buddhistic rhetorical theories, including a study of the Upanishads and forms of debate, are considered along with the influence of Gautama Buddha. The rhetorical milieu of China is examined, together with analysis of the earliest classic, an anthology of political speeches. Chinese rhetoric of etiquette is compared with Hindu caste rhetoric. The rhetorical systems of Confucius and Mencius are evaluated in detail, after which the motivational rhetorics of Mo-Tze and Hsüntze are examined. Han Fei-Tzu's totalitarian rhetoric is contrasted with the Taoist rhetorics of Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu. The book concludes with a chapter on characteristics of Asian rhetoric, where the author compares rhetorics of East and West.--From publishers' description.

The author explores questions which are answerable only as oral communication is considered in relation to philosophy and social customs. An examination of the relationship between culture and rhetoric, East and West, opens the book. The rhetorical milieu of India, its philosophy, social system, and uses of speech, leads to a probing of the caste system and speech of the Brahmins, Hinduism and other pre-Buddhistic rhetorical theories, including a study of the Upanishads and forms of debate, are considered along with the influence of Gautama Buddha. The rhetorical milieu of China is examined, together with analysis of the earliest classic, an anthology of political speeches. Chinese rhetoric of etiquette is compared with Hindu caste rhetoric. The rhetorical systems of Confucius and Mencius are evaluated in detail, after which the motivational rhetorics of Mo-Tze and Hsüntze are examined. Han Fei-Tzu's totalitarian rhetoric is contrasted with the Taoist rhetorics of Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu. The book concludes with a chapter on characteristics of Asian rhetoric, where the author compares rhetorics of East and West.--From publishers' description.

Many varying factors contribute to the dynamics of Chinese communication, which both resembles and differs from its Western counterparts. In this provocative new collection of essays, an international group of scholars challenges the conventional notion of Chinese culture as static, recognizing the causes of cultural change and strategies of resistance. Examining communication contexts in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Chinese Communication Studies: Context and Comparisons considers the relationship between culture and communication in Chinese political, gender, family, and media contexts, providing the reader with insight both into how enduring Chinese cultural values are, and how they are being appropriated to meet political and economic goals. Moreover, comparisons and distinctions are made between Chinese and Western communication concepts and practices on the issues of human rights, world opinions, pedagogical approaches, and instruction of rhetoric. In a work sure to be of value to many disciplines, the authors trace the historical development of ideas and value systems of both cultures, rendering an understanding of similarities and differences in both communication and cultural mindsets.

The Handbook of Communication History addresses central ideas, social practices, and media of communication as they have developed across time, cultures, and world geographical regions. It attends to both the varieties of communication in world history and the historical investigation of those forms in communication and media studies. The Handbook editors view communication as encompassing patterns, processes, and performances of social interaction, symbolic production, material exchange, institutional formation, social praxis, and discourse. As such, the history of communication cuts across social, cultural, intellectual, political, technological, institutional, and economic history. The volume examines the history of communication history; the history of ideas of communication; the history of communication media; and the history of the field of communication. Readers will explore the history of the object under consideration (relevant practices, media, and ideas), review its manifestations in different regions and cultures (comparative dimensions), and orient toward current thinking and historical research on the topic (current state of the field). As a whole, the volume gathers disparate strands of communication history into one volume, offering an accessible and panoramic view of the development of communication over time and geographical places, and providing a catalyst to further work in communication history.

This book is unique in the sense that it offers a comprehensive review and analysis of human communication and mediated communication around the world. This is one of the first attempts to do so in a systematic, comprehensive way. It challenges the assumption that Western theories of human communication and mass communication have universal applicability. It surveys the applicability of mass communication theories to other than Western cultures. The book explains the influence of culture on all forms of communication behavior, be it personal, mediated or mass communication. It presents communication theories from around the world, incorporating a vast body of literature from Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America. This updated information on important international perspectives that includes both interpersonal and mediated communication is presently not readily available in other sources. The book offers an integrated approach to understanding the working of electronic means of communication that are hybrid media combining human and mediated communication. These new media that are often presented as universal are even more culture-bound than the traditional media.

The Routledge Handbook of Comparative World Rhetorics offers a broad and comprehensive understanding of comparative or world rhetoric, from ancient times to the modern day. Bringing together an international team of established and emergent scholars, this Handbook looks beyond Greco-Roman traditions in the study of rhetoric to provide an international, cross-cultural study of communication practices around the globe. With dedicated sections covering theory and practice, history, pedagogy, hybrids and the modern context, this extensive collection will provide the reader with a solid understanding of: how comparative rhetoric evolved how it re-defines and expands the field of rhetorical studies what it contributes to our understanding of human communication its implications for the advancement of related fields, such as composition, technology, language studies, and literacy. In a world where understanding how people communicate, argue, and persuade is as important as understanding their languages, The Routledge Handbook of Comparative World Rhetorics is an essential resource for scholars and students of communication, composition, rhetoric, cultural studies, cultural rhetoric, cross-cultural studies, transnational studies, translingual studies, and languages.

Explores relationships between classical and contemporary approaches to rhetoric and their connection to the underlying assumptions at work in Zen Buddhism.