Television, identity and diaspora youth: a visual ethnographic study

Media discourses and popular culture offer a broad range of symbolical sources on which teenagers can rely to give meaning to their everyday life experiences and by consequence play a possible role in the identity constructions of young people (Brown; Arnett; Durham). Since adolescent diaspora television use is characterized by hybridization in terms of program preferences and choice as they watch transnational, global as local television content, the possible role of discursive practices in their identity constructions is complex and lacks in academic research. This article tries to understand how second generation diaspora girls (age 14-16) from Turkish descent in Belgium give meaning and negotiate media representations of gender and ethnicity and whether such representations play a constitutive role in girls' identity constructions. Moreover, in an increasingly multicultural society, where racial and ethno cultural divisions are complicating the social picture, there is a great necessity for research that offers a contextually nuanced exploration of girls’ socialization and its impending outcomes. To this end, we will use extensive visual ethnographical methods. European research recently started to employ 'visual ethnographical methods' (Buckingham & De Block; Niesyto, Buckingham & Fisherkeller) or 'visual creative methods' (Gauntlett & Awan), where participants produce their own media in order to give explanations for the role of media in everyday life and their construction of identities. Especially adolescents’ identities are subject of this stance of research because "If somebody-in nowadays media society-wants to learn something about youth’s ideas, feelings and their ways of experiencing the world, he or she should give them a chance to express themselves also by means of their own self-made media products" (Niesyto 137). The study contains four creative research stages and will last about one month (November 2010). In the first exploratory phase, the girls are asked to make a collage representing their 'ideal television program' by using magazines, drawing material and Polaroid photo cameras. Afterwards, collages are presented and discussed in group. In the subsequent phases, the participants get an introductory course on camera use where basic filmmaking principles are learnt. Respondents are then divided in groups and asked to film a trailer for their ideal television fiction program where they present characters, themes, title, genre, music, etc. Afterwards, the films are edited based on choices made by the girls themselves. In the end, the videos are presented to each other and their families. During all research stages, conversations, negotiations and discussions are audio-taped. This research provides rich, various and in-depth material that is not solely 'verbal' but provides 'non-verbal', 'creative artifacts' as well. Moreover, the process of video production involves negotiation and interaction with others contributing to social identity constructions. Furthermore, participants are given time to reflect on their thoughts and feelings about representations on the television screen before producing a response. Next to methodological relevance, this research empowers young people who risk social and political disempowerment. Also, it enables youngsters to develop technical skills and experiment with different forms of representation which can result in an augmented media literacy (Buckingham)