International Journal of Cultural Studies current issue

Radical pluralism and free speech in online public spaces: The case of North Belgian extreme right discourses

Cammaerts, B. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:16:54 PDT

• Progressive political movements and activists are not the only ones appropriating Web 2.0 as a way to construct independent public spaces and voice counter-hegemonic discourses. By studying (post-) fascist movements, it will be shown that the internet also gives rise to anti-public spaces, voicing hatred and essentialist discourses. In this article, discourses of hate produced by North Belgian (post-)fascist movements and activists will be analysed. Theoretically the analysis is informed by radical pluralism and the limits of freedom of speech in a strong democracy. The cases presented challenge the limits of freedom of speech and of radical pluralism, and bring us to question whether being a racist is a democratic right, whether freedom of speech includes opinions and views that challenge basic democratic values. •

Popular music against extreme right populism: The Vlaams Belang and the 0110 concerts in Belgium

De Cleen, B. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:16:54 PDT

•On 1 October 2006 — one week before the municipal elections — the 0110 concerts ‘for tolerance, against racism, against extremism, against gratuitous violence’ were held in the Belgian cities of Antwerp, Brussels, Ghent and Charleroi. With these concerts the organizers wanted to make a statement against the extreme right Flemish-nationalist party Vlaams Belang (VB). This article looks at the discourse of the artists organizing and participating in the concerts, and at how this was communicated through the concerts, and asks how the VB reacted to 0110. The key to understanding this discursive struggle is populism. After discussing the VB and earlier anti-racist initiatives in Belgium from the perspective of populism, the article presents the results of a discourse analysis of the external communication of the VB and of the 0110 organization, of press coverage of 0110, and of the live coverage of the concerts. It discusses three issues that were central to the struggle between 0110 and the VB: the relationship between 0110 and (institutionalized) politics, the discourse of tolerance, and the participation of popular artists. •

To be a common hero: The uneasy balance between the ordinary and ordinariness in the subject position of mediated ordinary people in the talk show Jan Publiek

Carpentier, N., Hannot, W. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:16:54 PDT

ABSTRACT • This article looks at the articulations of the subject position ‘ordinary people’ by analysing focus group discussions with audience members, and interviews with participants in a north Belgian audience discussion programme called Jan Publiek. In this talk show ordinary people are granted access to a prime-time, live television programme, in order to discuss one specific issue each broadcast. This feature positions Jan Publiek among what have been called ‘audience discussion programmes’ or ‘vox-pop’ programmes (in contrast to elite talk shows). The article focuses on the construction of the ordinary person as a complex and multi-layered subject position. We argue that this identity is relational, and positioned towards an alliance of power-blocs consisting of celebrities, experts, politicians and media professionals. Through this relational positioning, ordinary people become articulated in Jan Publiek as authentic, but also as unorganized, apolitical, powerless, unknown, spontaneous and unknowledgeable. Lefebvre’s distinction between the everyday and everydayness is then used to evaluate the political and emancipatory capacity of Jan Publiek and audience discussion programmes in general, which are sometimes criticized for their commodified and apolitical nature, but on other occasions valued for their democratic potential. •

'Everyone has a story to tell': Mediation and self-representation in two UK institutions

Thumim, N. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:16:54 PDT

This article addresses a global phenomenon: mediated selfrepresentations by ‘ordinary people’, and focuses on public cultural institutions. In order to address how processes of mediation shape institutionally mediated self-representations, the article explores two UK projects, the Museum of London’s London’s Voices and BBC Wales’ Capture Wales. It is suggested that processes of institutional mediation are constituted through tensions in four key areas: the purposes of the projects; the construct of the ‘ordinary person’; the construct of ‘community’; and defining and achieving quality. I argue that critical analysis of the production processes shaping self-representations is crucial to examining the challenge to the power of media institutions implied by their inviting ‘ordinary people’ to represent themselves. The article concludes that, while institutional power is not fundamentally altered in the projects discussed, nevertheless empowerment of participants does have the potential to effect shifts in the role of public cultural institutions; and this is important at a time when that role is questioned, worldwide, as a result of technological, social and political developments. Finally, I suggest that the notion of mediation processes as constituted through tensions, provides analytic tools with which to critically examine the self-representation landscape.

Selling Alberta at the Mall: The representation of a Canadian province at the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Gauthier, J. L. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:16:54 PDT

This article examines the representation of the Canadian province of Alberta at the 2006 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Through a close analysis of the site layout of the festival, the author points to a conflict between the anthropological goals of the Smithsonian Institution and the political/industrial goals of the province. The article draws upon scholarship from the fields of anthropology, museum studies and cultural studies, using Gramsci’s notion of folklore and a comparison between the Folklife Festival and World’s Fairs.

Review: Daniel Miller The Comfort of Things Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008. 302 pp. ISBN-13: 978-07456-4403-5 (cloth)

van Dijck, J. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:16:54 PDT

Review: Jose van Dijck Mediated Memories in the Digital Age Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2007. 256 pp. ISBN-13: 978-08047-5623-5 (cloth)

Miller, D. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:16:54 PDT