Media, conflict and diaspora audiences

Abstract

Abstract Emergence of diaspora communities has resulted in diasporic media playing a key role in enabling a reconnection of diasporic populations with a mediated homeland. This becomes more poignant amongst diaspora communities that feel marginalized, racially discriminated against and battle threats of xenophobia, Islamophobia and other forms of social exclusion in their adopted Western homes. This makes mediated co-presence more powerful than physical co-presence as diaspora individuals try to find community at a distance. Taking the Somali diaspora community as a case study, this article explores how diasporic media content is consumed amongst conflict-generated diaspora audiences. When conflict dynamics are manifested within diaspora social networks, the re-creation of conflict takes place, which then facilitates the engagement of diaspora with homeland conflicts. But their views, reactions and concerns regarding diasporic media content also indicate their potential for deliberatively engaging with it.