Chapter 5. Language in transnational communities of consumption

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-98
Author(s):  
Britta Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Transnational Communities

scholarly journals Mapping Digital Diasporas @ BBC World Service: Users and Uses of the Persian and Arabic Websites

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 256-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Gillespie ◽  
Hugh Mackay ◽  
Matilda Andersson
Keyword(s):  
Communication Networks ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Transnational Communities ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Language Groups ◽  
Service Staff ◽  
The World ◽  
Transnational Communication ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThis article presents research on two key BBC World Service websites, BBC Persian Online and BBC Arabic Online. It draws on in-house BBC data, supplemented by our own semi-structured interviews with online editors and other key World Service staff. It examines where users of the two sites are located, their demographic characteristics and their views on and uses of the sites. The data is analyzed in the context of debates about the politics of diasporic media and communication networks and changing collective identities, the UK government's Foreign and Commonwealth Office's (FCO) strategy of 'digital diplomacy' and the World Service's stated public purpose of fostering a 'global conversation.' Our research has shown how the majority of users of both BBC Arabic and Persian Online services reside outside the geographical areas that the BBC World Service targets and may be defined as diasporic. And these two websites are not exceptional. Diasporic groups make increasing use of the BBC's online foreign language news sites but these transnational communication networks are an unintended consequence of the BBC's activities. We highlight how the internet is changing configurations of audiences and users at the BBC World Service as geographically dispersed language groups can log on to the news services from anywhere in the world. We argue that the BBC World Service can no longer be seen as an international broadcaster pursuing the BBC's motto 'nation shall speak peace unto nation.' Rather, as one of the world's largest news providers, it is implicated in the formation of new kinds of transnational communities and communications which has as yet unforeseen consequences for national identifications and for strategies of public diplomacy.

The slippery concept of ‘community’, both locally and transnationally

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marjorie Mayo
Keyword(s):  
Faith Communities ◽  
Transnational Communities ◽  
Communities Of Place

This chapter starts by summarising previous definitions and approaches to the contested concept of ‘community’, typically defined in terms of ‘communities of place’, ‘communities of identity’ and ‘communities of shared interests’. Reflecting upon the experiences of communities in response to migration and displacement, the chapter concludes that such previous definitions need to be expanded. They need to take account of the ways in which communities form and re- form, in response to displacement and dispossession. And they need to take account of the multiple ways in which people identify with varying communities simultaneously, both locally and as members of faith communities and transnational communities.

Transnationalism and Ethnonational Diasporism

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-145
Author(s):  
Gabriel (Gabi) Sheffer
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Transnational Networks ◽  
Transnational Communities ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
The One

This article argues that much recent scholarship devoted to the concept of transnationalism and to the category of transnational communities is misguided. Such scholarship neglects to acknowledge the distinctions between the transnational and the diasporic, in particular the qualities and features of certain ethno-diasporas that set them apart. The article argues that “scholars need on all occasions to acknowledge, first, the difficult work that dispersed entities must conduct in order to persist” and must recognize the very different capacities possessed by, say, Latino or Muslim transnational networks and communities, on the one hand, and Jewish, Armenian, or Indian ethnonational diasporas, on the other. It also affirms that scholars must acknowledge all features of the behavior of such communities, including “the possibility that some members of these entities may be guilty of creating difficulties, unrest, conflicts, [even] terrorism,” which does not mean that scholars need neglect their obligation to emphasize the immense contributions of various dispersions to the economies and cultures of their hostlands.

Layers of Audience Communities

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chua Beng Huat
Keyword(s):  
East Asian ◽  
Pop Culture ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Affective Labor ◽  
Regular Diet ◽  
Transnational Communities ◽  
Fan Communities ◽  
Cultural Boundary ◽  
Different Types

With the national and cultural boundary-crossing of East Asian Pop Culture becoming part of the regular diet of regional media consumers, national and transnational communities of audience/consumers have emerged, ranging from different types of “occasioned” communities to highly organized transnational fan communities that engage with the national politics of different countries as necessary. While all these beyond-the-text activities of communities of consumers are motivated by their affective labor and are engendered by their love of the pop culture, stars and genres, they still unavoidably get appropriated and transformed by the producers into profit, even the sub-fan organizations cannot ultimately escape this fate.

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