Media representation and the global imagination

420 Pages·2012·1.567 MB·English

by  Shani Orgad

Media Representation and the
Global Imagination
2
Global Media and Communication
Arab Media, Noha Mellor, Khalil Rinnawi, Nabil Dajani
and Muhammad I. Ayish
European Media, Stylianos Papathanassopoulos and
Ralph Negrine
Indian Media, Adrian Athique
Media Representation and the Global Imagination,
Shani Orgad
3
Media Representation and the
Global Imagination
SHANI ORGAD
polity
4
Copyright © Shani Orgad 2012
The right of Shani Orgad to be identified as Author of this Work has
been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2012 by Polity Press
Polity Press
65 Bridge Street
Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press
350 Main Street
Malden, MA 02148, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the
purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or
by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN: 978-0-7456-8085-9
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for
external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the
time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for
the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or
that the content is or will remain appropriate.
Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any
have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to
include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.
For further information on Polity, visit our website:
www.politybooks.com
5
To Yoav and Assaf, whose imaginations extend far
beyond the globe
6
Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Media Representation and the Global Imagination:
A Framework
I Premises
What are media representations?
What ‘work’ do media representations do?
Why do media representations matter?
II Challenges
Desperately seeking the power of media
representations
A compartmentalized field
Globalization and research on media
representations: Mind the gaps
III Global Imagination
Conclusion: Towards a Critical Study of Media
Representation and the Global Imagination
2 Imagining Others: Representations of Natural
Disasters
Introduction
Global Imagination and Narratives of the Other
7
Imagining Distant Others in Natural Disasters
Lisbon Earthquake, 1755
Representing Lisbon Earthquake
From Quill Pen to Recording Studio – Voltaire with a
Twist
‘We Are The World’, 1985 – the African famine
‘We Are The World’, 2010 – the Haiti earthquake
Conclusion
Mediated proximity and intimacy
The individual other
Symbolic space of contestation
3 Imagining Ourselves: Representations of the Nation
Introduction
Imagining the Nation: Between Identification and
Symbolic Distancing, Attachment and Estrangement
The French riots
Temporality, exposure and placement
Competing frames
Particularity and generalizability
Invisibility and visibility of the other, what they
mean for the vision of ourselves
The Consequences of Estrangement
Conclusion
4 Imagining Possible Lives: Representations of
Migration
Possible Lives: Dreams and Nightmares
Dreams
Nightmares
Beyond Dreams and Nightmares: Ambivalent and
Incomplete Imaginings of Possible Lives
8
Conclusion
5 Imagining the World: Representations of New Year
Celebrations
New Year Celebrations: A Global Media Event
International News Reporting of New Year
Celebrations around the World
The world as a space of sameness
The world as a competitive space marked by
distinction
Alternative Cartographic Consciousnesses
CCTV Chinese New Year gala
Gaza diary: Welcoming the New Year
Conclusion
6 Imagining the Self
Imagining the Other/Imagining the Self
Imagining the Nation/Imagining the Self
Imagining Possible Lives/Imagining the Self
Imagining the World/Imagining the Self
Identification, immersion, embodiment and
navigation in space
Uncertainty, ephemerality and spatial confusion
Conclusion
7 Conclusion: Nothing Gets You Closer Revisited
The Desire to Defeat Distance Revisited
The value of distance
The value of degrees of proximity and different
modes of achieving it
The value of intimacy at a distance
The Desire to Remove the Medium Revisited
9
The Desire for Completeness, Coherence and Closure
Revisited
Notes
Bibliography
Index
10