Media or mediations? A dialectic exercise in the delimitation of the study object of communication

Abstract

Departing from the theoretical – epistemological formulation of Jesus Martin-Barbero, this article discusses the question of our study object. By confronting the “mediacentrism” that was predominant in the Latin-American communicational studies of the second half of the 20th century and the fascination caused by digital technologies of nowadays, it tries to understand the contribution of Martin- Barbero to the epistemological debate of that area. The theory of “mediations” is re-examined in an epistemological perspective.