ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 provides an introduction. It spells out the relevance of communication and media in politics, and it explains why East Asia is such an important place to study. Readers are introduced to critical area studies questions, such as how scholars create knowledge about local affairs, how assumptions and prejudices can play into this process, and what to do about such biases. This includes a discussion of Orientalism and an introduction to different ideas about research methods, ranging from the humanist, inductive approaches to positivist, deductive strategies. The chapter concludes with an overview of the textbook’s structure.
