New Italians’ and Digital Media: an Examination of Intercultural Media Platforms
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
‘New Italians’ and digital media: An examination of intercultural media platforms Marina Morani School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies Cardiff University This thesis is submitted to Cardiff University in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy April 2017 i Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to express special gratitude to my family who have provided moral support and understanding throughout these years. I would also like to thank those friends and colleagues – near and far – who have sustained and encouraged me to strive towards my goal, even at the times when this seemed out of reach. My gratitude also goes to my interviewees who generously shared their time and personal insights, for the purpose of this research. Heartfelt thanks go to Dr Kerry Moore, for providing good supervision, motivation, support, and inspiration along the way. I am also indebted to a number of people who offered insights into my work at its different stages including Dr David Machin, Professor Verica Rupar, Professor Paul Bowman, and Dr Arne Hintze. Throughout my years in JOMEC I have been very fortunate to be offered the opportunity to teach on several undergraduate modules and to work on funded research projects in the department. A special thanks goes to Dr Stephen Cushion for offering me work on his projects which have significantly increased my knowledge and passion for research. My thanks also go to Dr Mike Berry and Dr Iñaki Garcia-Blanco for offering me the opportunity to work on a UNHCR project of great value to me and even trust me to author a chapter of the final report. My experience as a PhD student in JOMEC has been enormously enriched by these opportunities and I would like to thank the School for making this possible, all the academic members of staff I worked with, and the administrative staff for always being so helpful. Finally, thank you Robert for your exceptional patience, encouragement and care that in eleven years you have never failed to provide. Grazie. ii Abstract This thesis presents a critical investigation of ‘intercultural digital media’ in Italy from 2000 to 2016. In this, it focuses on the diverse digital media platforms (largely web- portals and collective blogs) that have offered alternatives to mainstream media discourses of immigration and cultural diversity in Italy, and which have involved people of immigrant background as media producers. Through a focused, in-depth study of website content mainly published in 2014, including mission statements, thematic structures and discursive strategies, as well as the contextual and organisational structures, processes and roles of content producers and editors, the thesis offers a critical insight into the discourse of intercultural digital media in practice. Combining Critical Discourse and Multimodal Analysis approaches with Cultural Studies and digital citizenship theories of identity, representation and belonging, the research aims to explore the possibilities for constructing alternative, ‘intercultural’ discourse through these platforms. In investigating how intercultural discourse can be variously articulated within different modes such as journalism, self- representation and citizenship advocacy, the analysis engages closely with the strategic, organising idea of the ‘new Italians’, and raises broader questions about the cultural politics of under-represented groups seeking inclusion and recognition as ‘citizens’ in increasingly diverse societies. Keywords: cultural diversity, immigration, Italy, identity, interculturalism, citizenship, alternative media, intercultural media, new citizens, new Italians. iii Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 1.1 Aims and structure of the thesis .................................................................... 4 Chapter 2 Immigration in Italy: Discourses, Politics and Practices .................. 8 2.1 The media construction of immigration in Italy ............................................ 9 2.2 The politics of diversity: from multiculturalism to interculturalism ........... 28 2.3 Changing the regime of representation: from ‘immigrants’ to ‘new citizens’ ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….38 2.4 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 51 Chapter 3 Alternative Media and Cultural Diversity: situating ‘Intercultural Digital Media’ ........................................................................................................... 53 3.1 Digital citizenship ........................................................................................ 53 3.2 Defining ‘alternative media’........................................................................ 59 3.3 From ‘ethnic minority’ media to ‘intercultural media’: mapping the field . 63 3.4 Intercultural media ...................................................................................... 73 3.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 79 Chapter 4 Research Questions and Methodology ............................................. 81 4.1 Research Questions ..................................................................................... 81 4.2 Mapping intercultural digital platforms ...................................................... 83 4.3 Analysing digital media texts: A Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis approach ................................................................................................................. 87 4.4 Interviews .................................................................................................. 101 4.4. Methodological reflections and conclusions ............................................. 104 Chapter 5 Mapping Intercultural Digital Media ............................................ 107 5.1 Timeline and location ................................................................................ 109 5.2 Social actors .............................................................................................. 112 5.3 Political economy ...................................................................................... 114 5.4 Themes ...................................................................................................... 118 5.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 122 Chapter 6 Mission, Values and Discursive interventions ............................... 123 iv 6.1. Mission statements: A Critical Discourse Analysis ................................. 124 6.2. A Multimodal Analysis of homepages .................................................... 144 6.3. Conclusions .............................................................................................. 167 Chapter 7 Stories of ‘New Citizens’ .................................................................. 170 7.1 The enterprising citizen ............................................................................. 171 7.2 Struggling for recognition ......................................................................... 184 7.3 Too feel, yet not to be (Italian) .................................................................. 189 7.4 The Other in Us, the Self in The Other ..................................................... 194 7.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................... 199 Chapter 8 The Context of Practice: experiences and reflections ................... 201 8.1 Editorial practices and values .................................................................... 203 8.2 Motivations ................................................................................................ 208 8.3 Interculturalism-in-practice ....................................................................... 211 8.4 Sustainability ............................................................................................. 216 8.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 222 Chapter 9 Conclusions ....................................................................................... 224 9.1 Summary of key findings .......................................................................... 225 9.2 Further reflections and contributions......................................................... 229 9.3 Directions for future research .................................................................... 233 Bibliography ........................................................................................................... 236 Appendix 1 Intercultural websites (name, launch date, location, termination)……252 Appendix 2 Visualisation of life span of the websites (Gantt chart)………………….253 Appendix 3 Ownership / affiliation and funding sources.……………..............................254 Appendix 4 Full mission statements: translation and original Italian text …….......255 Appendix 5 Consent form…………………………………………………………………………..260 v List of Figures and Tables Figure 1 - Number of initiatives per year (in Maneri & Meli, 2007: 19) ................... 71 Figure 2 – Number of intercultural websites launched per year from 2000–2015 .. 109 Figure 3 – Territorial distribution of intercultural websites ..................................... 111 Figure 4 – Breakdown of macro-regions ................................................................