At 14:30 p.m. on September 14, 2018, the third session of the Latin America and China lecture series, jointly sponsored by the Fudan Development Institute and the School of Foreign Literature of Fudan University, was successfully held in the Fudan Development Research Institute. The theme of the lecture is Latin American Communication from a Global South Perspective. The lecturer is Zhang Zhihua, Associate Professor of Journalism School of China Communication University, Director of Latin American Communication Research Center of China Communication University, and Visiting Scholar of New York City University. His main research fields are communication political economy, Latin American communication and platform economy. Over forty teachers and students from Fudan University came to the scene.
Photo 1: Professor Zhang Zhihua is explaining the political and economic context of Venezuela.
In the lecture, Professor Zhang Zhihua explained the characteristics of southern countries and the definition of global south from the perspective of communication. Taking Detroit as an example, he made a specific distinction between south and north. Then by taking the coup in Venezuela as an example, Mr. Zhang analyzed in detail the media structure in Venezuela and the distinct roles played by media with different political orientations in the coup. In addition, Mr. Zhang pointed out that for a long time, the most important source of information between Latin American countries was the American media, not their own media, which led to repression of demand expression of the people at the bottom. Venezuela has a unique policy of community media empowerment. This top-down government empowerment of the community media echoes the spontaneous struggle of the lower classes, prompting the Venezuelan people to speak out and grow. South-South communication, which appeals for the interests of Latin Americans, and the transverse flow between the countries of the South, also makes a rare Southern voice in the world communication structure dominated by the western developed countries.
Photo 2: Professor Zhang is answering students' questions.
There are three rounds of lectures on Latin America and China, with 2-3 sessions each, inviting well-known experts and scholars from Latin America. The three sessions of the first round ended today. The second round of lectures will be held in October. The lecturers will be Professor Yu Man, Director of Western Language Department in Shanghai International Studies University; Fan Ye, Dean of Spanish language department in Peking University, and Wei Ran, Assistant Research Fellow of the Latin American Institute in the Chinese Academy of Social Science.
Translation: ZHU Min