Vol. 16 No. 2 (2025): MEDIA EDUCATION – Studi, ricerche e buone pratiche
Articles

Domestication of Media Literacy theory in a non-western context: Models of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in academic discourse in Uzbekistan

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  • Maarit Jaakkola
Maarit Jaakkola
University of Gothenburg, Sweden
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/me-17693

Published 2025-12-30

Keywords

  • media and information literacy (MIL),
  • systematic literature review,
  • thematic analysis,
  • MIL policy,
  • Uzbekistan

Copyright (c) 2025 Maarit Jaakkola

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

This paper builds on calls to dewesternise media theories by examining the conceptualizations of Media and Information Literacy (MIL) in Uzbekistan, suggesting that we should examine more individual countries’ MIL understandings from their internal, emic perspectives. As a Central Asian country situated at the crossroads of multiple influences along the Silk Road, Uzbekistan faces the challenge of gradually developing a unified vision for MIL on its own grounds. Understanding how MIL has been framed and applied by key stakeholders – including academics, practitioners, and policymakers, both national and international – is therefore essential. With the help of a systematic literature review of academic publications addressing MIL in Uzbekistan from 2011 to 2025, this study identified a growing number of national, regional, and international perspectives on MIL, with practical applications and pedagogical implications. Besides the UNESCO’s widely adopted global framework, a thematic analysis identified four distinct MIL conceptualisations: the value-based, synthetic-thematic, user-centred, and the disinformation model, which can be observed to entail protective, evaluative and emancipatory elements. These models and their implementation are analysed in the broader context of developing culturally relevant and sustainable MIL frameworks.

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