UM Associate Professor Todd Sandel receives Outstanding Book Award from US National Communication Association

Todd Sandel, an associate professor from the Department of Communication, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Macau (UM), received the 2016 Outstanding Book Award from the International & Intercultural Division at the 102nd Annual Convention of the National Communication Association of the United States held in Philadelphia, for his new book, Brides on Sale: Taiwanese Cross-Border Marriages in a Globalizing Asia.

Prof Sandel’s book is based upon field research conducted in Taiwan and Indonesia. The book explores the cultural, linguistic, and mediated conditions that impact ‘foreign spouse’ marriages in Taiwan. This book argues that the rise of foreign spouse marriages is a gendered and relational phenomenon, linked to the forces of globalisation. Traditional ideas such as the belief that a woman ‘marries out’ of her natal family to be dependent upon her husband and family, and the idea that a man should ‘marry down’ to a woman of a lesser social and economic status, have not kept pace with changes in women’s educational and career opportunities. This book explores how these relationships are formed, how they impact gendered understandings of men and women, how families are constituted and relationships are developed, and how they affect the children of these families and their education.

The book breaks new ground in the understanding of transnational and cross-border marriages by looking at the long-term effects of such marriages on communities, families, and individuals. Advertisements of ‘brides for sale’ play a negative role in shaping ways women are framed and categorised. The book also finds that the introduction of mobile phones in rural communities has impacted perceptions of these marriages, and contributed to the empowerment of women and their families, and a decline in ‘brokered’ and for-profit, arranged marriages.

Prof Sandel holds a PhD degree in communication from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His doctoral thesis was based upon research conducted in Taiwan, and examined childhood language socialisation and cross generational communication within Taiwanese families. He is also currently the editor of The Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, published by the National Communication Association with Taylor & Francis.

The conference was organised by the National Communication Association of the United States, the oldest and largest communication association in the world. Approximately 5,000 scholars from more than 1,000 universities across the world participated in the conference in Philadelphia.

澳門大學社會科學學院傳播系副教授申大德最新著作《新娘出售—亞洲全球化中的台灣跨國婚姻》於美國費城舉辦的“第102屆美國國家傳播協會年度大會"中,獲國際與跨文化部授予“2016年傑出書籍獎”。

該著作是基於申大德在台灣及印尼所進行的實地調查和研究,目的是探索文化、語言以及仲介因素對台灣“外籍配偶”婚姻的影響。該書認為外籍配偶婚姻的興起,正是一種性別與關係現象,是全球化力量的推動所致。傳統婚嫁思想,諸如出嫁後的女性需要依賴其丈夫和家庭、男人應娶一個較其社會經濟地位比較低的女性,女性沒有因為接受教育與就業機會而改變其社會地位。書中探討的問題包括外籍配偶婚姻關係的形成、外籍配偶婚姻對人們兩性認識的影響、外籍配偶家庭的構建、外籍配偶關係發展,以及孩子在外籍家庭成長與教育等。

新書剖析了人們對跨國及跨境婚姻認識,從長期效應的角度解讀外籍婚姻中對社區、家庭以及個人的影響,也探討了“新娘出售”廣告對女性形像被框架及分類所造成的負面影響。該書還發現手機科技在鄉村社區中的應用,影響了人們對“外籍新娘”婚姻的認知,促進了女性及其家庭的權力,同時也減弱了仲介、牟利、安排式的婚姻。

申教授於美國伊利諾大學厄巴納-香檳分校獲得傳播學博士學位,其博士論文是基於他在台灣的研究,包括台灣家庭中的兒童語言社會化以及跨代溝通。他目前也是《國際與跨文化傳播期刊》編輯,該期刊是由美國國家傳播協會以及泰勒與法蘭西斯出版集團(Taylor & Francis)共同出版。

此國際會議由美國國家傳播協會主辦,吸引來自全球共一千多所高校近五千名專家學者參與,探討一系列傳播學中的問題及議題。美國國家傳播協會是歷史悠久、大型的傳播協會。