A SOUTH Perth academic’s work on Chinese communications and media has been recognised by the national body of humanities, electing him as a Fellow among 18 other academics in the country.
Curtin University Chinese Communications and Culture research professor Michael Keane is a newly elected fellow of Australian Academy of the Humanities, the highest honour for achievement in the humanities.
“I was aware it was an honour but didn’t know the prestige associated with it,” he said.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOWThere were 19 newly elected fellows in Australian Academy of the Humanities this year, announced on November 28.
The Fellowship consists of more than 600 experts in humanities as elected by their peers since the Academy’s establishment in 1969.
Dr Keane said he has been researching Chinese communications and media for nearly 20 years and has been to China about 80 times.
“It was fate, I travelled along the Silk Road many years ago then I learned the language,” he said.
“When I was in China, I was watching a lot of TV.
“It’s owned by the government but Chinese media in the last 20 years has become commercialised.”
Dr Keane said Australians should learn more about other traditional cultures in response to our growing demographics.
“Over the years we become more and more of an Asian country,” he said.
“When you study philosophy, it’s always European philosophers – where are the Chinese philosophers or the Indian?”
Dr Keane’s current research focuses on China’s internet communications and its digital revolution.