OSP: Paul Gilroy - Diasporic identity
There are several important theories we need to learn and apply to our Online, Social and Participatory media unit.
These include Clay Shirky's End of Audience theories, Stuart Hall's work on representation and reality and Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory of black diasporic identity.
Notes from the lesson
Stuart Hall: representation and reality
Reflective approach: the media simply mirrors (or reflects) the real world. This is a limited approach that minimalises the power or complexity of the media.
Intentional approach: the producer of the text constructs the world as they see it and the audience accepts those values encoded in the text. This is effectively the dominant or preferred reading (reception theory) and leaves no room for the negotiated or oppositional reading.
The constructivist approach: this was Hall’s preferred approach and closely matches reception theory with preferred and oppositional readings. This suggests concepts and signs do have some shared meanings but they are not all inherent and can be interpreted by the audience in a number of ways (dependent on their own ‘conceptual map’).
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 170: Gilroy – Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets
Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:
1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed?
He has consistently argued that racial identities are historically constructed – formed by colonialization, slavery, nationalist philosophies and consumer capitalism.
2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism?
3) What is ethnic absolutism and why is Gilroy opposed to it?
4) How does Gilroy view diasporic identity?
These include Clay Shirky's End of Audience theories, Stuart Hall's work on representation and reality and Paul Gilroy's postcolonial theory of black diasporic identity.
Notes from the lesson
Stuart Hall: representation and reality
Stuart Hall suggests individuals each have their own conceptual map – effectively what we use to decode and understand media texts.
Building on this, Hall outlines three approaches to understanding the relationship between reality and representations:
Intentional approach: the producer of the text constructs the world as they see it and the audience accepts those values encoded in the text. This is effectively the dominant or preferred reading (reception theory) and leaves no room for the negotiated or oppositional reading.
The constructivist approach: this was Hall’s preferred approach and closely matches reception theory with preferred and oppositional readings. This suggests concepts and signs do have some shared meanings but they are not all inherent and can be interpreted by the audience in a number of ways (dependent on their own ‘conceptual map’).
Paul Gilroy: black diasporic identity
We first explored Paul Gilroy’s theories of black diasporic identity when studying music video.
This is the idea that black identity is informed by diaspora – literally the ‘scattering of people’ across the world. He suggests this creates a “liquidity of culture” that means black identity is formed by journeys across seas, not the solid ground of a home country or culture.
Importantly, Gilroy sees this identity as impossible to reverse – there can be no return to the place of origin as the experience of slavery and displacement can never be “rewound”.
Gilroy: black British identity
The Voice newspaper was formed in 1982 to create a voice for the black British community. Gilroy wrote of the dominant representation of black Britons at that time as “external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation”.
Gilroy suggests diaspora challenges national ideologies and creates “cultural tension”. This tension helps to create the diasporic identity but often comes with negative experiences such as exclusion and marginalisation.
More succinctly, Gilroy sums this up as the white racist’s question to BAME people: “Why don’t you just go home?”
BBC controversy
Gilroy wrote about this in the 1970s and 1980s but it's been in the news much more recently. The BBC found itself embroiled in a controversy regarding BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty's response to Donald Trump suggesting congresswomen should 'go home' to the countries in which they or their parents were born. The original clip and full article can be found below:
Paul Gilroy and Russell Brand
In 2017, Paul Gilroy took part in Russell Brand’s Under The Skin podcast, exploring ideas and modern culture. Watch the following two extracts and consider how Gilroy’s ideas reflect recent events and media culture.
Extract 1: 17.50 – 25.45
Extract 2: 44.30 – 48.08
BBC controversy
Gilroy wrote about this in the 1970s and 1980s but it's been in the news much more recently. The BBC found itself embroiled in a controversy regarding BBC Breakfast presenter Naga Munchetty's response to Donald Trump suggesting congresswomen should 'go home' to the countries in which they or their parents were born. The original clip and full article can be found below:
Paul Gilroy and Russell Brand
In 2017, Paul Gilroy took part in Russell Brand’s Under The Skin podcast, exploring ideas and modern culture. Watch the following two extracts and consider how Gilroy’s ideas reflect recent events and media culture.
Extract 1: 17.50 – 25.45
Extract 2: 44.30 – 48.08
Paul Gilroy - blog task
Go to our Media Factsheet archive on the Media Shared drive and open Factsheet 170: Gilroy – Ethnicity and Postcolonial Theory. Our Media Factsheet archive is on the Media Shared drive: M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets
Read the Factsheet and complete the following questions/tasks:
1) How does Gilroy suggest racial identities are constructed?
He has consistently argued that racial identities are historically constructed – formed by colonialization, slavery, nationalist philosophies and consumer capitalism.
2) What does Gilroy suggest regarding the causes and history of racism?
Gilroy is saying that racism isn’t caused by race, racism causes race. Racism is not caused by the clash of two or more races – racism is not a natural phenomenon. Instead, Gilroy states that racial difference and racial identities are the product of racial oppression.
Ethnic absolutism is a line of thinking which sees humans are part of different ethnic compartments, with race as the basis of human differentiation. Gilroy is opposed to ethnic absolutism as it is counter to his argument that racism causes race.
the country a group have been forced to leave will always be the place that defines the cultural or ethnic identity for those individuals.
5) What did Gilroy suggest was the dominant representation of black Britons in the 1980s (when the Voice newspaper was first launched)?
At the time, the dominant representation of black Britons was as “external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation.”
At the time, the dominant representation of black Britons was as “external and estranged from the imagined community that is the nation.”
6) Gilroy argues diaspora challenges national ideologies. What are some of the negative effects of this?
negative experiences of exclusion, exposure to regressive ideologies and marginalisation will also create an identity which is then shared within the diasporic community and perhaps from the origin country.
7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples.
Cultural identities are still connected in diasporic communities through media platforms such as Netflix , and Amazon prime etc. They may also read the news and stay aware of whats happening in their home country.
8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity?
Gilroy suggests that slavery is important in diasporic identity because it had the most impact on Black lives and altered the reality of how black people are living today. Slavery was an event which created diaspora and no one can go back and change the damage it has caused.
9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US?
Double consciousness provides more ways of understanding the world, but it places a great strain on black Americans as they consistently feel they are looking at themselves through the eyes of others; there is a ‘two-ness’ within the identity of the black American which is unreconciled.
10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.
negative experiences of exclusion, exposure to regressive ideologies and marginalisation will also create an identity which is then shared within the diasporic community and perhaps from the origin country.
7) Complete the first activity on page 3: How might diasporic communities use the media to stay connected to their cultural identity? E.g. digital media - offer specific examples.
Cultural identities are still connected in diasporic communities through media platforms such as Netflix , and Amazon prime etc. They may also read the news and stay aware of whats happening in their home country.
8) Why does Gilroy suggest slavery is important in diasporic identity?
Gilroy suggests that slavery is important in diasporic identity because it had the most impact on Black lives and altered the reality of how black people are living today. Slavery was an event which created diaspora and no one can go back and change the damage it has caused.
9) How might representations in the media reinforce the idea of ‘double consciousness’ for black people in the UK or US?
Double consciousness provides more ways of understanding the world, but it places a great strain on black Americans as they consistently feel they are looking at themselves through the eyes of others; there is a ‘two-ness’ within the identity of the black American which is unreconciled.
10) Finally, complete the second activity on page 3: Watch the trailer for Hidden Figures and discuss how the film attempts to challenge ‘double consciousness’ and the stereotypical representation of black American women.
The trailer challenges black female stereotypes as you see three empowering females working for NASA. It also challenges the 'double conscious' since they are not phased by anyone else's input about them instead they are proving everyone wrong through their intelligence.
