Consuming Familiarity and Alterity in Domestic Space. Transnational Television

Abstract

The present article addresses how stereotyped constructions of migrants’ television behaviour should be contrasted with empirical investigations into the perceptions and articulated practices of migrants themselves. In order to do this, the article explores how 20 migrant households in Norway make sense of television and TV-related activities in their everyday lives. The analysis, employing the domestication theoretical framework, reveals that TV consumption is a multi-faceted and situationally contingent phenomenon. The “practicing of television” goes beyond the mere viewing of programmes based on ethnic origin. Although transnational broadcasts are important, they are neither uncritically domesticated nor sufficient in creating a sense of stability and belonging for migrant families. Rather, it is television as a total experience that proves to be a crucial element in home construction. The domestication theory offers an analytical framework that allows for the dynamics of household relations to be properly articulated, including the embedding of television within household moral economies.