Diasporic media have often been viewed as simply a means through which information of interest can be exchanged, or a means for preserving moribund cultures. By reducing these media to a communitarian logic of bonding, we are failing to understand their instrumental role in helping redefine and challenge the identity and boundaries of a diasporic community. Diasporas are by definition re-imagined communities, constructed around multiple narratives and discourses. Their survival depends to a large extent on their ability to provide a space for conflicting claims of belonging and their willingness to reconcile those differences.; In my research, I focus on radio MultiKulti, a public station targeting Germans and all ethnic minorities in Berlin, and Beur FM, a private station targeting only North Africans both in Paris and a few major French cities. My intention in this research is to achieve some understanding as to how the socio-political context in which these media operate as well as their operations and missions help determine and sustain the diasporic consciousness of a minority community. Issues of identity and cultural orientation, therefore, are interrogated through both production and consumption.
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