The telenovela as a space for possible identifications for diaspora youth in Flanders (Belgium)? A case-study: „Sara‟

Telenovelas have a long established history and presence in Latin-American countries, however in Flanders (Belgium) the telenovela format is only recently explored and developed with ‘homemade’ productions like ‘Sara’ (2007-2008) and ‘Louislouise’ (2008-2009). Previous explorative quantitative research has shown that this ‘new’ format is extremely popular among second generation diaspora girls (age 14-20) with Moroccan background living in Flanders. Most girls highly ranked these programmes in their ultimate ‘top five’ of favorite and most frequently watched television shows (Adriaens, 2009). Originally, telenovelas were produced in Latin-America and deeply rooted in historical forms of authentic local fiction. Scholars spoke of a ‘braziliation’ of TV content and values where telenovelas were known to provide possibilities for the construction of ‘diasporic identities’ due to the embedding of the theme in the text (cfr. Hall, 1996). But nowadays, in the context of increased globalisation, this authenticity of telenovelas seems to dissolve into a neutral, hybrid, universal export formula (Mazziotti, 1996; Biltereyst & Meers, 2000). In this article, we study whether telenovelas still offer identification possibilities for its audiences. More specifically, we will take an in-depth look at the recently produced Flemish telenovela ‘Louislouise’ and its identification possibilities for diaspora girls with Moroccan backgrounds in Flanders who frequently watch this programme. We prefer to talk about possibilities for ‘identification’ instead of ‘identity construction’ (cfr. Brubaker & Coppens, 2000). By means of a textual analysis, we will take a closer look at the themes embedded within the text that open up possible spaces for identification. Of course, we acknowledge that in this paper, we cannot speak for the audience, therefore, a reception analysis among adolescent diaspora girls from Moroccan background is required in a further research stage