The Role of Mass Media in Shaping Identity Construction 3

Methodology

Since the question put forward in this research paper, i.e. the role mass media play in shaping identity among British Muslim diasporas, attempts to uncover the way diasporic Muslims understand their experiences as community members and audiences, an ethnographic method is more suitable for the research. Morley (1992: 183) asserts that the ‘ethnographic approach for studying communication rests on an ability to understand how social actors themselves define and understand their own communication practices’. As for in-depth interviewing, it is appropriate for the type of issues in which the research has to dig under the surface of social and cultural manifestations to discover ‘what is usually hidden from ordinary view or reflection or to penetrate to more reflective understandings about the nature of that experience’ (Johnson, 2002: 107).

Accordingly, I conducted interviews with eight Arab Muslims, seven males and one female, who have all been living in Britain for periods between 10 and 25 years; their ages vary from 37 to 65 years. Three are Iraqis, Two are Moroccans, one Algerian, one Libyan, and one Egyptian. Though the interviews covered the same issues, they were semi-structured as the questions were not structured nor worded in an identical way. This gave informants a great deal of freedom to engage in a conversation-like form of speaking, and allowed the adaptation of questions to the different informants who come from diverse backgrounds. The interviews took 60 to 90 minutes, were tape-recorded and conducted in diverse locations in the city of Leeds.

A number of reasons informed the choice of this particular category of British Muslims. Firstly, I concentrated on the members of the first generation of diasporic Muslims in order to narrow down the number of variables for which the research has to account, such as the age category, level of exposure to the local culture and command of English as a first or second language. The choice of Arab diasporic Muslims equally limited the number of variables the research has to deal with, such as the type of transnational media that the informants consume.

In addition, while these people belong to the first generation of immigrants whose culture and identity are deeply rooted in their countries of origin, they stayed in Britain long enough to become familiar with the host country’s social and cultural norms and traditions. Indeed, though their experience may not be informed by intense forms of hybrid identities, as would be the case of the members of the second generation, they are more representative of diasporic experience characterised by living a continuing journey while paradoxically trying to settle down somewhere away from ‘home’.

What’s more, since effective in-depth interviewing seeks to build intimacy between the interviewer and informants (Johnson, 2002: 104), concentrating on Arab Muslims was very helpful. The fact that I share with informants the same cultural and linguistic background encouraged the informants to share with me their deep feelings and opinions about their experiences. It also enabled the informants to use both Arabic and English interchangeably to express their feelings, and to make diverse cultural references to illustrate their viewpoints.

It is noteworthy that one of the biggest obstacles I encountered in conducting the interviews was to find suitable informants who were ready to participate in such forms of research. A large number of the people I contacted were very reluctant to sit for an interview, and I was able to convince some of them only through community leaders. Two reasons account for their fear of and scepticism about all forms of field research. Many people among diasporic Arabs came to Britain in the last 20 or 30 years to flee political persecutions in their home countries (Ermes, 2002). Besides, most of them have a feeling of being targeted after 9/11. These two reasons arguably make them very cautious in what they say to strangers.