#425 Cultural diversity and the politics of emotions in the media
Conference topics
Presentation formats
Coresponding author's contact details
First name Iva | Middle name | Last name Krtalić |
Title Dr. | Organization / Institution WDR | Department n/a |
Address In der Maienkammer 24 | Postal / Zip code 50735 | Country DE |
E-Mail Hidden | Phone number Hidden | Presenting author Yes |
Co-authors (1)
Co-Auhtor #1
First name Senka | Middle name | Last name Božić-Vrbančić |
Title Prof. | Organization / Institution University Zadar | Department Anthropology |
Country HR | E-Mail Hidden | Presenting author No |
Abstract
Abstract title
Cultural diversity and the politics of emotions in the media
Abstract text
What does it mean when the media present migration as cosmopolitan experience? What is at work when a program constructs its audience as a convivial hybrid “we”? The paper examines these questions in the context of various discourses on “cultural diversity” in the media. It focuses specifically on the policies and programs of the radio station WDR Funkhaus Europa, today named WDR Cosmo. Established in 1999 by the biggest public service broadcaster in Germany, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), it was endowed with the purpose of reflecting cultural diversity in the country and has since transformed from an “integration” to a “cosmopolitan program”. Germany is a country of migration and continues to be so, increasingly becoming a society of diverse ethnic and cultural identities. Today, over one fourth of the inhabitants of Germany have a so-called migration background, whereas in some urban areas almost half of the inhabitants have a migration biography. In institutional politics, or in the media, this plurality is, however, often represented in a fragmented, sometimes belated, or even contradictory manner. By analyzing the ways in which discourses on cultural diversity have been institutionalized by a media program specifically dedicated to it, the paper opens a set of questions about the cultural politics of emotions (Ahmed) and the politics of sentimentality (Berlant) involved in the processes of creating programs on cultural diversity. It explores the ways in which the programs are designed to offer emotional attachments to imagined communities and their articulation within the context of various forms of citizenship imagined in contemporary Germany, pointing also to the contingency of scripts surrounding difference and diversity.
Conference topic
Panel no. 99 - National Intimacy Historical Present and Possibilities of New Imaginaries
Preferred format
Oral
Abstract Review
This abstract was reviewed on 2021-01-07 10:00h by Senka
Reviewer decision
Accepted