Introduction

This chapter describes the theoretical rupture, or how Latin American academics moved away from research questions centred on media to exploring people’s experiences with media and how those experiences are permeated by power – as domination and also as resistance. It explores the historical development of the Latin American concept of praxis. The chapter explains the influence of praxis on areas of inquiry in the field of communication research, such as community/citizens’ media, educommunication, and cultural studies centred on the notion of mediations. It also explains the evolution of educommunication in Latin America as a field that understands media and communication as educational praxis. Among Latin American media scholars, ‘the practice paradigm’ does not have the same labels as those used by scholars in the Global North. ‘Media practice’ is not a term used by Latin American media scholars.