[ecrea] An alternative self-representation? Ethnic minority media, between hegemony and resistances

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
An alternative self-representation?
Ethnic minority media,
between hegemony and resistances
18-19 March 2010
MSHS, Poitiers ? France
CALL FOR PAPERS
An international conference organised by the EU Excellence Team MINORITYMEDIA
(University of Poitiers) together with the 
research centre MIGRINTER (CNRS-UMR 6588).
The conference will be held in English, with a 
possible simultaneous translation into French,
depending on funding.
Keynote speakers:
Prof. Sirma BILGE (CEETUM, University of Montréal) (to be confirmed)
Prof. Robin COHEN (IMI, University of Oxford) (to be confirmed)
Prof. Daya THUSSU (University of Westminster)
Why study ethnic minority media, a subject with 
such little legitimacy? If English
literature has devoted several books and many 
seminars, it remains rarely studied in the
academic field because it suffers some kind of 
dual domination: on the one hand, these media
are generally not visible, with an often limited 
lifetime, an uncertain economic viability and
situated on the periphery of the journalism 
field; on the other hand, these groups are
frequently minorised, and / or poorly represented 
in mainstream media (amongst journalists as
well as in media content) and more widely in 
political and union bodies. However, this subject
seems rather interesting because it is at a 
crossroads of several disciplines and allows to
combine and discuss the contributions of several research fields.
This conference, above all, is in the field of 
cultural studies, subaltern studies and the
sociology of mobilisation by both the choice of 
the subject ? the minoritised cultural media
practices ? and its ambition to show and analyse 
resistances but also the various forms of
adherence of individuals and minority groups to 
the hegemonic ideology. It draws on anthropology
and sociology of migration and interethnic 
relations, by its interest in the process of
identification and othering at work in the 
permanent construction of ethnicity and its borders.
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It also leans towards sociology of journalism, 
through its attention focused on the process of
information production, organisational 
constraints (from the press, editorials) that shape the
media practices. In addition, it touches on 
geography, for its interest in the physical and
symbolic exchanges in various areas. Finally, it 
appeals to political science, with its objective
to compare many very different fieldworks in 
terms of both management policies for cultural
diversity as well as communication policies.
Globalisation is reflected not only by an 
increase but also by a diversification of
material and immaterial flows. Trade and the 
movement of ideas were first allowed by the
physical movement of people across national and 
regional borders. Nowadays, globalisation
has taken a new turn since the popularisation of 
new technologies, especially in information and
communication. The movement is not only physical 
but virtual, information and communication
technologies (ICTs) helping to redefine the 
notion of space. Thus, alongside new ?circulatory
territories? appear new spatial logics. One of 
the direct consequences of these upheavals is a
questioning of national frameworks and 
construction, induced by the reorganisation and
renegotiation of individuals and the various 
groups that form our multicultural societies.
The reference to media is overwhelmingly in 
relation to mainstream media. Beside
them, a multitude of ethnic minority media do 
coexist, created by and for people living in a
context of ethnic minorisation. To what extent do 
they contribute, both in their existence and
by their positions, in redefining majority and 
minority identifications? Products of global
migration and proliferation of minority cultures, 
ethnic minority media are both producers and
containers of identity. A number of influential 
theorists have argued in favour of ethnic media
as an important tool in furthering and supporting 
democracy and participation in the public
sphere. To what extent, by increasing 
opportunities for participation in the journalistic field
and offering new ways to contribute in the public 
sphere, has the advent of Web 2.0 amplified
the abilities, methods and types of expression of 
cultural and religious actors? Among the
issues that this conference wishes to address, 
will be to question the effects of these
developments by attempting to see past the 
enchanted vision of accessibility to ICTs for all as
well as the pessimistic visions of atomisation / 
communitising the public sphere that would
lead to not being able to speak even of a public space.
This international conference focuses on people 
who experience deterritorialisation
and reterritorialisation and who develop or 
sustain distinct identities and social relations
within and across nation-states, through ethnic 
minority media. The purpose is to understand
the growing role of mediated communication in 
defining meanings, uses and appropriations of
cultural, religious and social space. It aims to 
analyse, within the framework of ethnic
minority media, the perception of the feeling of 
belonging, the collective (re)presentation of
the Self, as well as the cultural and religious 
practices. The central question is: what role the
ethnic minority media play in imagining and 
mobilising new communities of belonging, or
transforming them in the context of globalisation and cultural diversity?
Proposals of communication based on extensive 
field surveys will be particularly appreciated,
as well as those offering a theoretical reading 
fed by a previous empirical work. All
disciplines of humanities and social sciences are 
encouraged to participate, especially sociology,
anthropology, geography, history, information and 
communication sciences and political
science. Proposals for papers must fit into one of the following sessions:
1. Re-presentation, production, identity construction
The ethnic minority media feed on and reinvent 
alternately identification with a
?community? (readers, listeners) who revive the 
feeling of having an identity and of belonging
to a common history. They are one of the 
privileged places of unification and identity
construction. The social sciences have shown how 
the identities and affiliations - religious,
political, ethnic, national, linguistic - are 
intertwined and blended. How media actors adapt
to the possible contradictory nature of various 
identity ?mobilisers?? What are the strategies of
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representation and visibility? How do the 
minority and the majority feed off one another?
What is the role of religion? Do the ethnic 
minority media, especially electronic contribute to
what might be qualified as a transnational 
identity unification movement? How are multiple
identities expressed on the Net at the time of 
technological, political and social transformation
in the globalised world?
2. Mobilisation and citizenship
This session will examine the role of ethnic 
minority media in the public sphere. In the
tradition of cultural studies, which is 
interested in cultural production as a form of political
participation, the communication papers will try 
to analyse the relationship between ethnic
minority media and collective mobilisation. The 
ethnic minority media may first help to raise
a debate on the public sphere. They can provide 
an arena where dominated social groups
identify their problems, express their demands 
and formalise their interest on the public
sphere. In sum, these media are involved in 
transforming specific concerns into public issues,
to include them in the policy agenda and to get 
answers in terms of public policy. Secondly,
the ethnic minority media can promote activities 
that go beyond the single media activities
and enroll directly in the register of social 
movements. This axis will therefore clarify the
contribution of ethnic minority media in public 
debate and understand how they fit in (which)
public space.
3. Mobility, spaces, territories
Studies on transnational and translocal 
mobilisation of migrants helped to illuminate
the links between areas of mobilisation and areas 
of migration and movement. The social
sciences are traversed by a recent increase in 
the qualifying words: circulatory, migratory,
transnational, translocal, glocal... Rather than 
judge the respective relevance of these
qualifiers, the purpose is to recognise that they 
all belong to the same paradigm of mobility,
whereby any movement in space is accompanied by 
the crossing of social and political spaces.
Does the space represent a material support to 
the media actors, a strategic resource, a
symbolic reference, or all of these combined? Is 
the formation of migratory territorialities
accompanied by the emergence of new militant 
territorialities? Can the ethnic minority media
be a factor of social mobility? This session will 
explore the multiple linkages between mobility
(identity, social, economic, political), space 
and territory, and the ways in which the media
actors experience them.
4. Ethnic minority media in the journalistic field
Ethnic minorities have invested the media space 
by the margin ? whether in special
pages or dedicated sections in the mainstream 
media, or in specific (ethnic) media ? as did
the women in the Anglo-Saxon press of the 
nineteenth century. In this context, are minorities
successful at innovating editorials and at making 
other/alternative subjects heard in the
journalistic and media sphere? Do the ethnic 
minority media share a vision of the political,
cultural and social role of the minorities 
different from that played in the mass media? Have
they led to new ways of doing journalism? Is 
there an adversarial relationship between the
ethnic minority media and mainstream media? Or 
rather, to what extent do the ethnic media
reproduce organisational forms, systems of 
constraint, and divisions of labour, similar to the
hegemonic models in the more legitimate media?
5. Gender and interlocking systems of domination
This session focuses on ethnic minority media as 
gendered organisations. As identified
in the mainstream media, does the trend towards 
feminisation, not only in numerical terms,
but also in terms of the division of power, 
access to high positions and prestigious
informational fields also hold true in the ethnic 
minority media? Can we identify areas
assigned to the ?feminine? and ?masculine?? What 
is the contribution of minorised individuals
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and groups in terms of gender to the recent 
developments in journalism writing? Does a
greater representation of these people allow them 
to offer a different image of themselves
and to promote different topics or to question 
differently issues associated with them?
Compared to mainstream media, do the ethnic 
minority media take more into account the
interlocking systems of domination (gender, 
class, race) as explanatory factors of topical
phenomena or, more broadly, social relations? 
What self-representation do women and men
set up on the public space and especially in the 
media they initiated? Do these modes of
representation differ according to gender, ethnicity or class?
6. Local, national and supranational frameworks and dynamics
The development of ethnic minority media is 
influenced by different state policies,
both in terms of communication as in terms of 
relation to minority phenomenon and ethnic
diversity. Moreover, collective identity 
construction and development of self-representation
on public space depend on dominant societal and 
legal frameworks. In this context, and
despite the emergence of institutional Europe and 
transnational practices, what signification
do the national frameworks have in political, 
legal and institutional terms as well as in
historical and social contexts? How can the 
political representation of minority groups in
countries with opposed patterns of diversity 
management be compared? To what extent the
existence ? or nonexistence ? of means from the 
public sphere affected to minority media,
favour ? or not ? the development of an area of 
confrontation of political positions more or
less loyal or otherwise radical?
7. The ethnic minority media in history
The ethnic minority media are a historically 
rooted phenomenon, contemporary of the
first waves of migration ? internal and external 
? both in Europe and across the Atlantic. If
the Chicago School produced the first research on 
this topic early in the twentieth century,
the scientific output on the historical period 
are still lacking. What was the impact of ethnic
minority media in Europe still largely marked by 
internal and regional migration? How have
these media been able to contribute to the 
development and the strenghtening of the
cohesive identity of diaspora (Jews, 
Armenians...) or groups of immigrants (Belgians, Italians,
Poles...)?
8. Trajectories at the intersection of media, political and social spheres
This session will discuss the individual 
trajectories of media actors. We are inspired
here by the paradigm of mobility according to 
which any movement in space is accompanied
by the crossing of social and political 
hierarchies. Does the popularisation of ICTs allow the
access to the media sphere by the most minorised 
groups/persons? Does the use of ICTs by
ethnic minorities, with the boom of virtual 
ethnic social networks in all countries of
immigration, constitute a bottom-up reappropriation of new types of media?
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SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Dr. William BERTHOMIÈRE (Geographer, MIGRINTER ? France)
Dr. Yvan GASTAUT (Historian, URMIS-SOLIIS, University of Nice ? France)
Prof. Rainer GEIßLER (Sociologist, University of Siegen ? Germany)
Dr. Myria GEORGIOU (Communication studies, Leeds University ? UK)
Prof. Marie GILLESPIE (Sociologist, The Open University ? UK)
Prof. Danielle JUTEAU (Sociologist, University of Montreal ? Canada)
Dr. Ayhan KAYA (Politist, Bilgi University ? Turkey)
Prof. Emmanuel MA MUNG (Geographer, MIGRINTER ? France)
Prof. Marco MARTINIELLO (Sociologist & politist, 
CEDEM, University of Liege ? Belgium)
Prof. Gema MARTÍN MUÑOZ (Sociologist, Autonomous University of Madrid ? Spain)
Prof. Tristan MATTELART (Communication studies, University Paris 8 ? France)
Prof. Érik NEVEU (Sociologist & politist, IEP Rennes ? France)
Dr. Antoine PECOUD (Sociologist, UNESCO, Paris ? France)
Prof. Kevin ROBINS (Sociologist, City University London ? UK & Turkey)
Prof. Catherine WIHTOL DE WENDEN (Politist, CERI-IEP, Paris ? France)
ORGANISATION COMMITTEE
MA. Françoise BRAUD (Scientific secretary of 
MINORITYMEDIA, University of Poitiers
- MIGRINTER ? France)
Ms. Alexandra BRUNAUD (Administrative secretary of MINORITYMEDIA & MIGRINTER ?
France)
Dr. Laurent CHAMBON (Politist, MINORITYMEDIA research fellow, University of
Poitiers ? France)
Dr. Claire COSSÉE (Sociologist, MINORITYMEDIA research fellow, University of
Poitiers; GTM-CNRS, Paris ? France)
MA. Sirin DILLI (Communication studies & politist, MINORITYMEDIA research
fellow, University of Poitiers ? France; University Paris 3 ?
France / Bilgi University, Istanbul ? Turkey)
Dr. Laura NAVARRO GARCIA (Communication studies, MINORITYMEDIA research fellow,
University of Poitiers ? France; University of Valencia ?
Spain)
M. Maurad HAMAÏDI (Administrator of MIGRINTER ? France)
Dr. Souley HASSANE (Historian & sociologist, MINORITYMEDIA research fellow,
University of Poitiers; MIGRINTER ? France)
Dr. Isabelle RIGONI (Sociologist, Team leader of MINORITYMEDIA research fellow,
University of Poitiers - MIGRINTER ? France)
Dr. Eugénie SAITTA (Politist, MINORITYMEDIA research fellow, University of
Poitiers ? France)
CONTACTS
Isabelle RIGONI ? (isabelle.rigoni /at/ univ-poitiers.fr)
Françoise BRAUD ? (francoise.braud /at/ cegetel.net)
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SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS
Communication proposals, in English, should include:
Page 1: Title
Author
Full contact information (including: name / 
institutional affiliation / address /
country of residence / telephone / e-mail)
Page 2: Title of the communication
Title of the session
Abstract (500-750 words, single-spaced), for publication in the conference
program. The abstract should provide a summary of the paper, including
conceptualisation, method, and major findings.
Panel sessions last 2:30 hours. The number of 
discussants participating in the panel is between
four and six. Ample time will be provided for 
engaging the audience (conference participants)
in the discussion.
Intending participants to the conference should 
electronically submit their communication
papers proposals to both Isabelle Rigoni 
((isabelle.rigoni /at/ univ-poitiers.fr)) and Françoise Braud
((francoise.braud /at/ cegetel.net)) as well as to 
(conference /at/ minoritymedia.eu) by the 30 October
2009 for consideration. All submitted proposals 
will be peer-reviewed by the scientific
committee of the conference by the 30 November 2009.
Eligible participants should submit their full 
papers (+/- 8000 words) by the 31 January 2010.
All submitted manuscripts must be original papers 
of scientific quality in regard to theoretical
and methodological criteria.

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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