The Worlding of St. Petersburg and Shanghai: Comparing Cultures of Communication in Two Cities Before and After Revolutions

In this article we propose an alternative model for comparative communication research. We first make the case for comparing cities, especially worlding cities outside what is traditionally called the “West.” We then explicate what we mean by comparing cultures of communication and why this offers an opportunity to reevaluate methodological nationalism and the cultural dynamics of worlding. We go on to use Shanghai and St. Petersburg as two historical examples to demonstrate how worlding cities (a) compel us to see cultural hybridization as a historical process; (b) offer good opportunities to observe contested elements of cultures; (c) make it possible to analyze cities as texts that are always connected with, but not necessarily contained by the nation.