Iranian-Norwegian Media Consumption. Identity and Positioning

Abstract

This study examines 20 Iranian-Norwegians and their diverse media consumption. The claim is that the dynamics between media’s hegemonic quality, expressed in their discursive representation of realities, and Iranian-Norwegians’ subjective positions seem to have a vital impact on the processes of meaning construction and positioning that Iranian-Norwegians experience in Norwegian society. Analysis of the respondents’ media preferences indica - tes that they are most often attracted by three characteristics linked to their status: being Iranian, immigrant and Muslim. These elements emerge as identity markers that Iranian- Norwegians focus on in their relationship to the media, and furthermore employ in their negotiation of identity and position in Norwegian society. They often express an anomaly between their understanding of themselves, who they are and where they belong, and the discursive representation of them in the media. This results in an attitude of resistance, in the shape of the subjective constructions of the respondents, and which seems to propel them in different directions