The Lens of the Other: Instagram As a Tool to Counter the Unsafe Images of Countries and the Case of Lebanon
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The Lens of the Other: Instagram as a Tool to Counter the Unsafe Images of Countries and the Case of Lebanon. Raphaela Nehme Submitted to the University of Ottawa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in Communication Department of Communication Faculty of Arts University of Ottawa © Raphaela Nehme, Ottawa, Canada, 2020 Abstract The emergence of new media tools and social media platforms over the last ten years has created new means of intercultural engagement. On Instagram, there is a growing trend of travel pages and travel bloggers whose aim is to introduce and share with other users the highlights of the destinations they travel to. This also applies to locals in these destinations who wish to portray their country positively and promote it as a tourist destination, particularly in certain countries of the Middle East where there is the added challenge of an ‘unsafe’ image to combat. This research focuses on Lebanon to find out to what extent Instagram can be considered a tool to combat the ‘unsafe’ image of the country, and if users who come across depictions of Lebanon on Instagram perceive the country as a potential tourist destination. Using a mixed methods approach, this thesis combines surveys and semi-structured interviews with Canadian participants to reach its findings. Its theoretical framework makes use of Edward Said’s conception of the ‘other’ (1978), Stuart Hall’s system of representations (1980), Jan Neverdeen Pieterse’s hybridization paradigm (1996), and Eli Pariser’s (2011) echo chamber to analyze its findings. Broadly, findings show that while Instagram can effectively be considered a tool to counter the ‘unsafe’ image of Lebanon, and while the country may be branded as a potential tourist destination to users who come across such depictions of it, algorithm restrictions limit the potential for such depictions to fulfill their potential since they don’t always reach users who perceive Lebanon to be an ‘unsafe’ place. Keywords: Representation, perceptions, semi-structured interviews, surveys, new media tools, discourse, Instagram, orientalism. ii Acknowledgment I would first like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Philippe Ross, for his unwavering support over the last two years to see this thesis through. From the moment the idea for this thesis came to fruition, to the last period marked on this paper, you have always allowed my ideas and creativity to take the front seat while guiding me through all the hiccups, sharp twists and turns that are a natural happenstance of the academic world. I believe this makes the best quality in a supervisor. Thank you for always having your door open to this very often confused, very often tired graduate student. This thesis would not have happened without you. I also wish to thank my evaluators, Professor Kyle Conway, and Professor Florian Grandena, for their valuable insights and comments. Objectivity is sometimes hard to attain when you are deeply immersed in a writing project, but your insights allowed me to do so at key points in this thesis. I would also like to thank my close friends, whether in Lebanon or Canada, for their support. You often heard and let me complain about the difficulty to achieve this project without judgment. Thank you for supporting me when I was at my lowest. You know who you are. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their continued love and support throughout all these years. 6 years ago, you let your only child travel across the world for a chance at a better life in Canada. Well, this is it. I consider this project to be the fruition of all these years of hard work you put into my health and education, and I will always cherish it as such. Dad, thanks for making use of your excel skills to help me achieve this thesis. It is the one skill I will probably never master. Mom, thank you for gracing me with your beautiful opera voice over the years and thank you for getting excited over music with me. It has been an essential part of lifting and keeping my spirits up throughout this journey. iii Dedication To Lebanon. إلى لبنان Never here, nor there. ليست هنا، وﻻ هناك A soul split between two places روح منقسمة بين مكانين we call home. ندعوهم الوطن To always yearn for a country to come back to. أن يتوق دائماً لبلد يعود إليه To that school by the beach, إلى تلك المدرسة قرب الشاطئ and a childhood, sun kissed throughout the years وطفولة قبلتها الشمس على مر السنين iv Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Representation of Arabs and Islam by traditional media outlets and strategies to counter the ‘unsafe’ images of countries in the Middle East ................................................................... 6 2.2 Individual representation and social media use .................................................................. 15 2.3 Social media interconnectedness as a means to bridge the gap between ‘imagined communities’............................................................................................................................. 19 2.4 Other social media users’ access to social media representations ...................................... 21 2.5 Research question ............................................................................................................... 24 2.6 Theoretical framework ........................................................................................................ 24 2.6.1 Orientalism and the Other ............................................................................................ 25 2.6.2 System of representations – Semiotic and discursive representation .......................... 26 2.6.3 Globalization, Hybridization, and the Echo Chamber ................................................. 28 Chapter 3: Methodology............................................................................................................. 30 3.1 Research design .................................................................................................................. 30 3.2 Population ........................................................................................................................... 30 3.2.1 Sampling and Recruitment ........................................................................................... 31 3.2.2 Recruitment Process..................................................................................................... 32 3.3 Data collection tools ........................................................................................................... 34 3.3.1 Surveys ......................................................................................................................... 34 3.3.2 SurveyMonkey questionnaire design process .............................................................. 35 3.3.3 Data analysis of SurveyMonkey .................................................................................. 37 3.3.4 Interviews ..................................................................................................................... 38 3.3.5 Interview guide ............................................................................................................ 39 3.3.6 Retrieval document and coding frame ......................................................................... 42 3.4 Limitations .......................................................................................................................... 43 Chapter 4: Results and analysis................................................................................................. 45 4.1 Representations of Lebanon and Lebanese people ............................................................. 45 4.1.1 Knowledge of the Other ............................................................................................... 45 4.1.2 Modernization in Lebanon ........................................................................................... 47 4.1.3 Women in Lebanon ...................................................................................................... 51 4.1.4 Conflict and religion in Lebanon ................................................................................. 53 4.1.5 Tourism and Safety in Lebanon ................................................................................... 57 v 4.1.6 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 63 4.2 Where do representations of Lebanon come from? ............................................................ 63 4.2.1 Social Interactions and word of mouth ........................................................................ 64 4.2.2 Traditional media outlets and news ............................................................................. 67 4.2.3 Social media and Instagram use ................................................................................... 70 4.3 Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 84 4.3.1 Representations of Lebanon, Lebanese people, and the Other .................................... 85 4.3.2 Lebanon and system of representations ......................................................................