Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, winter 2011/12
Prof. Dr. Oliver Zöllner

Course title: Media Ethnographies of the Diaspora
Course module: European & international studies
Language of instruction: English
Dates: 28 Oct, 18 Nov, 9 Dec 2011, 13 Jan 2012
Fridays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., bi-weekly
Venue: 23.02.U1.22


About this course:

Diasporas, or long-term expat communities with ties and links to more than just one country, have become a common feature of modern world society. Media and communication studies have opened up to the challenges posed by diasporic groups. Methods borrowed from ethnography have almost become a standard tool for describing and analysing the often 'globalised' use of media and communication technologies by various diasporas.
This course will give an introduction to the field of media ethnography, focusing on electronic media (radio, television, Internet) that operate in the context of localised 'globalisation'. The guiding question will be what kind of role(s) media play in the construction of 'national', 'cultural', or rather 'transnational' or 'transcultural' - or maybe simply 'local'? - allegiances and identities among diasporic communities of non-European origin. We'll find out more about these complex phenomena by doing our own on-site fieldwork, thereby boiling down abstract theoretical issues to empirical results.
Advice: If you don't enjoy reading, and if you're not inclined to spending a good deal of your time on fieldwork (yes - observing and interviewing people, collecting and analysing data, etc.) please do not register for this course.

Allgemeiner Hinweis: Es gilt die Anwesenheitsregelung des Instituts für Sozialwissenschaften.


Reading list:
Brinkerhoff, Jennifer M. (2009): Digital diasporas. Identity and transnational engagement. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Clifford, James (1994): Diasporas. In: Cultural Anthropology, 9(3), S. 302-338.
Dracklé, Dorle (2005): Vergleichende Medienethnografie. In: Hepp, Andreas et al. (Hrsg.): Globalisierung der Medienkommunikation. Eine Einführung. Wiesbaden: VS, S. 187-205.
Gillespie, Marie (1995): Television, ethnicity and cultural change. London, New York: Routledge.
Gillespie, Marie (2002): Transnationale Kommunikation und die Kulturpolitik in der südasiatischen Diaspora. In: Hepp, Andreas/Löffelholz, Martin (Hrsg.): Grundlagentexte zur transkulturellen Kommunikation. Konstanz: UVK, S. 617-643.
Hall, Stuart (1990): Cultural identity and diaspora. In: Rutherford, Jonathan (ed.): Identity. Community, culture, difference. London: Lawrence & Wishart, S. 222-237.
Murphy, Patrick D./Kraidy, Marwan M. (2003): Towards an ethnographic approach to global media studies. In: Murphy, Patrick D./Kraidy, Marwan M. (eds.): Global media studies. Ethnographic perspectives. New York, London: Routledge, S. 3-19.
Karim, Karim H. (ed.)(2003): The media of diaspora. London, New York: Routledge.
Kraidy, Marwan M./ Murphy, Patrick D. (2003): Media ethnography. Local, global, or translocal?. In: Murphy, Patrick D./Kraidy, Marwan M. (eds.): Global media studies. Ethnographic perspectives. New York, London: Routledge, S. 299-307.


» Helpful Internet resources for locating relevant books and articles:
» Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Düsseldorf
» Karlsruher Virtueller Katalog
» Jahres-Aufsatznachweise der WDR-Bibliothek zu Hörfunk und Fernsehen
» Project "e-Diasporas Atlas"