Historical Trends in Ethnic Media

Abstract

Ethnic Media is a group of media which are created by racial and ethnic minorities seeking to establish their own channels for self-expression. In the twentieth century, both building of nation-state and international migration have contributed to emergence of minority groups inside of many countries, where enormous ethnic media have been produced. This article investigated historical trends of ethnic media in the United States by focusing on its three types : “immigrant media”; “minority media”; and “transborderer media.” As the American society has become more diversified, the core of ethnic media has changed from immigrant media, which presupposes assimilation of ethnic groups to the mainstream culture, to minority media, whose goal is establishment of each racial and ethnic minority's autonomy. Recently, though, a new type of ethnic media, which we name transborderer media, has been created on the basis of transborder experience of people who are often detached from both a host society and a mother society. As a result, ethnic media become more diversified in their social functions and cultural impacts.