Description
This presentation engages with the conference question about whether inquiry in international studies should be in conversation with other disciplines. Here, I advocate for engagement between the disciplines of international studies and anthropology. To validate this approach, I propose a study that engages with two questions: How is international communication of roads utilized and connected to identity formation and power transition in international affairs? Why do societies act upon road communications? This presentation engages with anthropological studies that assess the capacity of roads to enchant as regards to issues of speed, political integration and economic connectivity (Harvey, P. and H. Knox. 2012. “The Enchantments of Infrastructure.” Mobilities 7 (4): 521-536), media anthropology and the strategic narrative literature (Miskimmon, A., B. O’Loughlin, and L. Roselle. 2013. Strategic Narratives: Communication Power and the New World Order. New York: Routledge). The questions are examined using a case study of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, which comprise of land and sea roads. Belt and Road videos on the YouTube channel of the China Global Television Network are selected for their reporting on Eurasian affairs. These videos are then assessed for their representation of local infrastructure experiences and the mediation of infrastructure visions to understand the interaction between infrastructure enchantment and strategic narratives of roads that communicate about China’s role in Eurasia and a Eurasian regional order. After presenting the findings, I reflect on the practice of interdisciplinary inquiry to develop different ways of knowing.
