ECREA16-Abstract

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Saturday, November 12

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IIC04

Cross-Cultural Studies: Narratives andMethods

PP 557

One of the Guys: Doing Inside Interviews from an Outsider Perspective

E. Lehmann-Jacobsen

University of Copenhagen, Department of Media- Cognition and Communication, Copenhagen S., Denmark

Interviewing journalists and editors who interview for living is a tricky task. Interviewing journalists and editors working in media systems and journalistic

fields that by the Western world are considered constricted or lacking press freedom is even trickier. Not least if the researcher by coming from the West

per definition has an outsider perspective. However, having an outsider perspective can turn out to be an advantage as the researcher might be able to

“scrutinise certain problems more closely, instead of seeing them as common phenomena or not seeing them at all” (Liamputtong 2010, 115). Combine

that with an insider perspective of the journalistic profession in general and you have, what this paper argues, to be the key to success in obtaining insider

knowledge about a journalistic field. Based on experiences from doing qualitative interviews with journalists and editors in Vietnam and Singapore for

a larger research project on journalism in Southeast Asia, the paper presents some of the major methodological challenges of doing cross-cultural studies

of the journalistic profession as a researcher with a different cultural background. Through analysis of different interviews undertaken during fieldwork in

Vietnam and Singapore and drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of field theory (1984, 1993, 2005), the paper shows how the researcher by interacting

with interviewees as an equal member of an international version of the journalistic field can get access to information otherwise not available toWestern

researchers. By invoking the journalistic habitus and showing knowledge of the journalistic doxa, the self-evident, unquestioned truths of the journalistic

field, the researcher might be able to perform as “one of the guys” despite his or her initial outsider position. However, choosing an interactive interview

technique and using oneself as a researcher does not come without problems. There is a fine balance between encouraging interviewees to share insider

information through interaction and putting words into their mouths. As the paper concludes, observations in connection to the interview situation itself

must therefore also be considered as part of the empirical material. Not least since some interviewees might choose to answer to questions in a manner they

think, the researcher wants, simply because of the researcher’s Western affiliation. Even though the researcher can play the role of an insider belonging to

the journalistic field, he or she remains an outsider, for better or for worse. Only by being aware of the consequences of this dual position can the researcher

gain full value of the qualitative interviews and the collected empirical material.

PP 558

Awakening Memories and Narratives: Exploring the Use of Visual Methods Among People Living with HIV in the Western Cape, South

Africa

C. Lambert

University of Antwerp, Department of Communication Studies, Antwerp, Belgium

The global South has been plagued with the devastation of the HIV and AIDS epidemic since the early 1980s. HIV and AIDS has to date claimed more than

36 million lives, with close to 24.7 million people currently living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa alone. South Africa has been one of the countries hardest

hit, accounting for 23% of all new in infections in the region. (UNAIDS, 2013).Visual methods which build on images and narratives - particularly in the field

of health and human services - has been used in numerous South African contexts within NGOs, research organisations and higher education institutions

to investigate the impact on society and the people living with the disease (Moletsane, 2009; Matthews & Sunderland, 2013). These visual methods have

also been proven to contribute positively to the empowerment of the socially invisible. The following empirical study therefore explores the use of visual

methods among people living with HIV in theWestern Cape region in South Africa. The two visual methods used and observed were; body maps – a draw‑

ing and painting technique used to artistically articulate the effects of HIV on the body; and mobile phone images - captured and used by the participants

themselves. Though aesthetically and methodologically different, both visual methods awakened significant memories and lived experiences related to

the participants lives and their illnesses.The results proved that visual methods may have the ability to give meaning to situations and experiences as the in‑

dividuals who created them, interpret them to. Symbolic meanings are often attached to images which often gives us an insight to a possible narrative that

may have been previously untold and also hold the capability of unlocking healing and empowerment for those in need of it. People living with HIV in South

Africa often come frommarginalised groups in society who are at times ostracized due to their low-income or lack of education. These visual methods were

able to tell the stories of those who were previously too ashamed, too marginalized or too dejected to do so willingly in a visual and contextually suitable

way. Matthews, N., & Sunderland, N. (2013). Digital Life-Story Narratives as Data for Policy Makers and Practitioners: Thinking Through Methodologies for

Large-Scale Multimedia Qualitative Datasets. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 57(1), 97–114. doi:10.1080/08838151.2012.761703 Moletsane,

R., de Lange, N., Mitchell, C., Stuart, J., Buthelezi, T & Taylor, M. (2007). Photo-voice as a tool for analysis and activism in response to HIV and AIDS stigma‑

tisation in a rural KwaZulu-Natal UNAIDS (2014) The gap report. (pp. 1–86). Geneva.

PP 559

Cosmopolitanism as a Pop-Cultural Metanarrative: From Civil Rights to the Final Battle of Good Against Evil

C. Ritter

Stockholm University, Department of Media Studies, Solna, Sweden

In recent years cosmopolitanism studies has developed into a sprawling interdisciplinary research field. No longer confined to its traditional domains in

ethics and political philosophy, the concept of world citizenship has been applied in a broad range of contexts to investigate empirical developments and

normative dilemmas associated with globalization. To date, however, cosmopolitanism in popular culture has been largely overlooked. This is unfortunate:

as this paper sets out to demonstrate, pop-cultural narratives form an important part of cosmopolitanism discourse. Presenting the results of an ongoing

investigation of cosmopolitanism in contemporary film and television, this paper argues that pop-cultural cosmopolitanism, in the totality of its manifes‑

tations, constitutes something like a metanarrative of historical progress toward more inclusive forms of social organization. The examination has resulted