Relational 'glocalities': a study of 'cartographies' of media and migration through the approach of 'glocal' cosmopolitanism

© 2012 Dr. Ying Wei Esther ChinIn this thesis, I explore constructions of social spaces in experiences of media and migration. In particular, I focus on the interweaving of the ‘global’ and the 'local' in a distinctive, Singaporean context of contemporary globalised media and migration. This study involves a hermeneutical analysis of phenomenological interviews with twenty-one Singaporeans who are university students in Melbourne, Australia. While this thesis is primarily positioned in media and migration studies, I develop a conceptual framework that draws and builds on related discourses of mediated globalisation and cosmopolitanism, as well as mediated social spaces. In particular, I expand existing conceptions of 'relational space' to a tripartite conception. I conceptualise three dimensions of what I view as 'relational spaces': spaces as constructed through social relations (social spaces), relations between social spaces, and relations to social spaces. I argue that social spaces are constructed in experiences of media and migration as 'cartographies' (see Brah, 1996, p. 145) characterised by 'relational glocalities'. I define 'relational glocalities' as 'glocal' (R. Robertson, 1995) social spaces that are locally and unequally differentiated in relation to one another within 'global fields' (Glick Schiller & Çağlar, 2009; R. Robertson, 1992). Drawing on Beck’s (2006) approach of 'methodological cosmopolitanism' and Robertson’s (1992, 1995) conception of 'glocality' as a 'universalism-particularism nexus', I introduce the concept of 'glocal cosmopolitanism' to examine the construction of 'relational glocalities' through dialectical negotiation between 'universalism' and 'particularism'. The notion of 'relational glocalities' challenges the established approach of 'methodological nationalism' (Beck, 2006; A. Wimmer & Glick Schiller, 2003) that informs existing research on media and migration. It contributes to the reconceptualisation of sociospatial experiences of media and migration through the approach of 'methodological cosmopolitanism' (Beck, 2006; Beck & Beck-Gernsheim, 2009; Beck & Grande, 2010; Georgiou, 2007b; Jansson, 2009). This study finds that a multiplicity and diversity of countries and cities of migration are apparent in and across macrostructural constructions of what I describe as 'biographical geographies'. 'Biographical geographies' are differentiated by stages of migration, the relevance of close personal relations for experiences of migration, as well as first-hand and second-hand experiences of migration. Expanding the view of social spaces beyond (particular) countries and cities, this study finds that a much broader variety of 'relational spaces' are relevant in microstructural constructions of 'cartographies'. I identify distinct 'relational spaces' that emerge as configurations of media, social relations, place, and space. In the final chapter, I discuss the broader potential of 'glocal cosmopolitanism' as a framework to examine sociospatial experiences of media and migration in a global environment of networked communication (Castells, 2010)