ECREA16-Abstract

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DMM04 NewDirections in Diaspora and Transnationalism

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Divided Diaspora? Memory-Related Communication Repertoires of Vietnamese Diasporic Communities in Germany

C. Sanko

University of Bremen, Centre for Media- Communication and Information Research ZeMKI, Bremen, Germany

In 2015, Vietnam officially celebrated the 40

anniversary of Ngay Giai Phong, the end of the Vietnam War. Lauded as commemorative public holiday

in the homeland, the same date represents a day of mourning for those Vietnamese who fled after the Communist takeover in 1975. While so-called

boat people found refuge in the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic employed Vietnamese workers as part of a deal between

socialist "fraternal" countries, many of who stayed after German reunification. How do members of these Vietnamese diasporic communities remember

their homeland and deal with the past by means of communication practices? This is the fundamental question of fieldwork conducted with (German-)

Vietnamese communities in Berlin, Leipzig and Hanover.The study applied in-depth interviews, including visual elicitation (Harper 2002), with respondents

from different migrant communities and generations, covering questions of individual biography, media use, media memories, intergenerational commu‑

nication and historical perceptions. The role of everyday communication practices for cultural memory (Erll 2011; Assmann 2008) and thus for Vietnamese

diasporic and generational identity (Mannheim 1959) still lacks examination. Although Dayan (1999) early stated the significance of communication for

diasporas due to territorial dispersion, only few case studies approached Vietnamese diasporic communities in communications (Banerjee 2012; Hoang

2010; Cunningham/Nguyen 2003). Based on audience research by Hasebrink and Domeyer (2012) this study introduces the respondent-centred empirical

approach of "memory-related communication repertoires" to analyze and compare memory and communication practices in different Vietnamese dias‑

poric groups. Findings of an exploratory examination of six cases indicate on which occasions (e.g. cultural holiday) memory and communication practices

interlink, how they are embedded in everyday life (e.g. dinner talks) and contribute to the communicative construction of cultural memory, generational

and diasporic identity against the backdrop of individual migration biographies and perceptions. Bibliography Assmann, J. (2008) ‘Communicative and

Cultural Memory’, pp. 109–118 in A. Erll and A. Nünning (Eds.) Cultural Memory Studies: An Interdisciplinary Handbook. Berlin: de Gruyter. Banerjee, Mita

(2012): ‘Von Fröschen und Hunden: Soko Leipzig und das (V)erkennen der vietnamesischen Diaspora in Deutschland’, pp. 57–71 in K. N. Ha (Ed.) Asiat‑

ische Deutsche. Vietnamesische Diaspora and beyond. Berlin: Assoziation A. Cunningham, S., Nguyen, T. (2003). ‘Actually existing hybridity: Vietnamese

diasporic music video’, pp. 119–132 in K. H. Karim (Ed.) The media of diaspora. London: Routledge. Dayan, D. (1999): ‘Media and Diasporas’, pp. 18–33 in

J. Gripsrud (Ed.): Television and common knowledge. London: Routledge. Hoang, Anh-Ngoc (2010): Des vietnamités numériques? Etude des imaginaires

sociaux dans les échanges entre lesVietnamiens nationaux et lesVietnamiens diasporiques. (unpublished dissertation) Erll, A. (2011) Kollektives Gedächtnis

und Erinnerungskulturen: Eine Einführung. Stuttgart: Metzler. Harper, D. (2002): ‘Talking about pictures: A case for photo elicitation’, Visual Studies 17(1),

13–26. Hasebrink, U., Domeyer, H. (2012) ‘Media repertoires as patterns of behaviour and as meaningful practices: A multimethod approach to media use

in converging media environments’, Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies, 9(2): 757–783. Mannheim, K. (1959) Essays on the Sociology

of Knowledge. London: Routledge.

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Nostalgia Triggers, Inhibitors and a Longing to Stay in Touch. The Role of Soap Operas for the Iraqi Diaspora

M. Cola

, M. Witwit

University of Bedfordshire, School of Culture and Communications, Luton, United Kingdom

University of Bedfordshire, Research Institute for Media- Art and Performance, Luton, United Kingdom

The research developed within the area of media and diaspora studies has already demonstrated the important role played by media: in recreating the sense

of home (Morley and Robins, 1995); in the process of cultural transformation, creating spaces for maintaining and negotiating various identity processes

(Rydin and Sjöberg, 2008) as experienced by displaced people; in the creation and consolidation of the imagined community (Anderson, 1983; Tsagarou‑

sianou, 2004). To cite only few of the pivotal researches conducted in the area. At the same time, soap opera has been a largely studied TV genre. From

the seminal works of Ang (1985) on Dallas and Brunsdon (1993) on identity, feminism and soap opera; to the work of Turner on cultural identity and soap

narrative (2005); or in a diasporic perspective, the research on ethnic minority audiences watching Flemish soaps, by Dhoest (2009). Nostalgia is usually

triggered by a memory or an analogous event, setting, a song or even similar looking faces and pets. This creates a longing to glide back into the past to

re-live the memory in one’s imagination. The scenes recovered are not always faithful and are overcome by ‘an impulse to secure, repair, restore, or discover

a more enduring meaning in events that shape the unfolding of time, emotional history, and memory’(Rubenstein, 2001: 160). However the case is slightly

different for Iraqi immigrants due to the various political and economic ups and downs influencing their lives. This paper sheds light on the role played by

Iraqi and Arab soaps, shown on Iraqi satellite channels, in influencing the extent of nostalgia felt by Iraqi migrants taking into consideration the impact

of the various political and military traumas on their social beliefs and sensitivities and capacity to adjust to their new life in the new homeland. The re‑

search focuses on the unique position of Iraqi migrants through highlighting the potential influence ofTV soaps, presented on two, post-2003, Iraqi satellite

channels, to assess the nostalgic impact on Iraqi audiences. Following up the type of soaps presented, the authors were able to identify two major types

of soaps: nostalgia triggers and nostalgia inhibiters.The two types work in an opposing manner; nostalgia-triggers help maintain the Iraqi migrant’s threat‑

ened identity while nostalgia inhibiters confirm the soundness of his choice to emigrate. References (part of) Anderson, B. (1983). Imagined communities:

reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism, London: Verso. Ang, I. (1985) Watching Dallas. Soap opera and the melodramatic imagination. London:

Methuen Publishing. Brunsdon, C. (1993) ‘Identity in feminist television criticism’, Media, Culture and Society, 15, pp. 309–320. Dhoest, A. (2009) ‘Estab‑

lishing a Multi-ethnic Imagined Community? Ethnic Minority Audiences Watching Flemish Soaps’, European Journal of Communication, 24(3), 305–323.

Morley, D., Robins, K. (1995). Spaces of Identity: Global media, Electronic Landscape and Cultural Boundaries, London: Routledge. Rubenstein, R. (2001)

Home Matters: Longing and Belonging, Nostalgia and Mourning inWomen’s Fiction. NewYork: Pelgrave Macmillan.Turner, G. (2005)‘Cultural Identity, Soap

Narrative, and Reality TV’, Television and New Media, 6(4), pp. 415–422.