Voicing Diasporas
Ethnic Radio in Paris and Berlin Between Cultural Renewal and Retention
By (author) Nabil Echchaibi
Publication date:
01 September 2011Length of book:
192 pagesPublisher
Lexington BooksDimensions:
239x164mm6x9"
ISBN-13: 9780739118849
The events of 9/11 have cast a shadow of suspicion on Muslims in Western Europe and fostered a public discourse of arbitrary associations with violence and resistance to social and cultural integration. The antagonistic ascendancy of militant Islam globally and the anxiety this has engendered are animating day-to-day debates on the place and loyalty of Muslims in Western societies. Exploring the neglected reality of ethnic radio in Paris and Berlin, Voicing Diasporas: Ethnic Radio in Paris and Berlin Between Cultural Renewal and Retention examines how Muslim minorities of North African descent in France and Germany resist these glaring generalizations and challenge bounded narratives and laws of cultural citizenship in both countries. Through an analysis of Beur FM in Paris and Radio Multikulti in Berlin, this book also questions the reductionist view of diasporic media as expressions of longing, nostalgia, and cultural dislocation. This ground-breaking study is as essential read for not only scholars and higher educational students in various fields, but for those interested in this ever-changing, topical issue.
Voicing Diasporas is a significant contribution to the fields of media studies and of cultural studies because it argues that the media, particularly that produced in diaspora, constitute a key site for identity formation. Whereas ethnic media have often been discarded, by academics and politicians alike, for various reasons, this manuscript is a good attempt to show that ethnic media should be conceived of as a diasporic/ethnic public sphere 'where traditions are celebrated and debated, ideas are created and reinvented, and cultures are avowed and challenged.'