Commentary and Critique of Alexander Dhoest s article - Establishing a Multi-ethnic Imagined Community?

: Ethnic Minority Audiences Watching Flemish Soaps 1

INTRODUCTION Alexander Dhoest in his article Establishing a Multi-ethnic Imagined Community?: Ethnic Minority Audiences Watching Flemish Soaps aims to verify, whether contemporary audience of Flemish television constitute a national imagined community and if ethnic minorities are part of it. One of the difficulties that he faces, is the definition of ethnic minority and question, if ethnic identity becomes salient while watching television fiction (Dhoest, 2009). The article shows numerous shortcomings, misinterpretations in the theory and proves also that chosen research method was inadequate. The aim of this essay is to demonstrate that Dhoest failed to address his question by narrowing the scope of his research, over-simplifying the problematic of ethnic minority s identity and limiting his method to in-depth interviews, whereas ethnographical approach would be much more appropriate. RESEARCH QUESTION, ITS RELATION TO THE THEORY AND LITERATURE The author introduces the term of imagined community by referring to Anderson s (1991) and Hall s (1992) concepts, without explicit description of how the process of constituting such community looks like, what are its premises and finally, what this term actually means . Additionally, it is worth pointing out, that Dhoest draws the research question on Anderson s (1991) definition which sees print media, and not television, as the core factor for integrating imagined communities . The difference is significant and one could refer here inter alia to Fiske (1989,p. 56) who rejects defining audience as an independent object of research, or Tomlinson (1994, p.163) who argues that mass media, given its monological nature, cannot constitute any form of community. Furthermore the author concentrates in his research on two Flemish soap operas, while many scholars emphasize that interpretation of social behaviour and patterns cannot be limited to reception of single text by concrete audience (see for example Morley, 1992; Radway, 1988). If we exclude from our analysis factors as, for instance, micro-social environment, model of the family, power distribution within it, we can never get a reliable picture of the influence of TV on constructing the identity. Finally, the introduction to Dhoest s research brings disturbing notion - he fails to articulate the definition of ethnic minority . His claim, that identities are considered to be constituted by complex of aspects that can become salient in specific (intergroup) contexts (Dhoest, 2009, p. 306) does not define the group which is subject of this research. MAIN FEATURES OF THE RESEARCH DESIGN Dhoest chose for his method in-depth face-to-face, semi-structured interviews. The sample consisted of 80 viewers in the age between 18-25 years-old. Half of respondents were Flemish and the other half represented ethnic minorities. In order to ensure d iversity in each group, there was equal division across gender and level of education. The main focus of the interviews were two Flemish soap operas Thuis and Familie . According to Bauer and Gaskell (2000, p. 43) the used sample is
Dhoest, A. (2009) Establishing a Multi-ethnic Imagined Community?: Ethnic Minority Audiences Watching Flemish Soaps. European Journal of Communication, 24(3), 305 323
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rather oversized, however if the author managed to operate with extensive transcripts, it should not be treated as a significant mistake. Using group instead of individual interviews could introduce more contextual details to the findings and bring a bit different perspective, nevertheless claiming superiority of the former would be inaccurate (Bauer and Gaskell,2000, p.44). First important problem that arises, refers to definition of the researched groups and reflects the problem of ethnic group s definition which was mentioned in the previous paragraph. While the group of Flemish youth can be treated as relatively consistent, it is difficult to treat in any degree interviewed Italians, Turk and Moroccans as a homogenous group. Such sampling may contribute to representatio of n different view (Bauer and Gaskell, 2000, p.42), however excludes drawing reasonable conclusions equally applicable for the whole group. It also seems that Doeh completely ignored the risk of not hearing from his interviewees information revealing their factual state of mind or objective truth . Quoted by the author Gillespie (1995, p. 146) in fact describes a situation where interviewed Punjabi boys consistently denied watching soap operas, which was later negatively verified in the field-work. Another issue, that also Gillespie (1995, p.71) raised, is that in the face-to-face contact gender and ethnicity of the interviewer may have an impact on the quality and content of interviewee s responses. She managed to overcome these impediments by intensive field-work and establishing informal relations with Punjabi community. In Dhoest s research we cannot find any trace of this kind of approach. ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF THE FINDINGS Findings of the interview (percentage of specific answers) presented by Dhoest suggest that he used computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS). What should be here emphasized is that the author excessively concentrated on counting opinions rather than exploring their range, which is seen as a basic aim of interview (Bauer and Gaskell, 2000, p.41). Dhoest focused on similarities in both groups answers, arguing that emerging adulthood may be an important shared experience. He fails though to answer explicitly the research question, which suggests that either the research method was inadequate, or the research question was based on invalid presumptions, as for instance the one, that young people watch soap operas. The author concentrated in his findings predominantly on viewing patterns, on how well Flemish soaps represent the multiculturalism in the society, neglecting at the same time in-depth analysis of integrating role of TV broadcasts and prospects of multi-ethnic (imagined) community. MAIN STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES The main strength of the research are its abounding and diverse references to literature grasping the role of TV in societal and psychological process. On the other hand, though the author refers to Gillespie s project (1995) on Punjabi Londoners as an inspiration for his work, he does not imply much of her suggestions on the methods. This leads to the conclusion that the literature was not precisely analyzed and implemented in the research. Among main weaknesses, one should point out insufficient preliminary work and research on the subject. This resulted in some trivial conclusions, as for instance the fact , that young people do not watch soaps, ethnic minority viewers are diverse, or soaps reflect well everyday life activities. Besides, the findings suggest that the question was wrongly formulated and failure of the research, given this method, was inevitable. Overall, Dhoest s project deserves criticism for so called Thin-Description (Ryle, 1949), shallow analysis and numerous over-

simplifications, regarding mainly the issue of ethnicity. The majority of reproaches are due to inaccurate choice of the method. SUGGESTIONS OF IMPROVEMENTS In general, Dhoest failed to imply ethnographic approach and to present a thick description (Geertz 1973) of his audience study, which would help to better understand the viewers reception of soap operas in the context of their environments. Television viewing should be interpreted in a broader context and treated as both symbolic and material process (Morley, 1992, p 173). Morley defines the main challenge of studies on viewers behaviour as follows: (...)ability to construct the audience as both a social and a semiological (cultural) phenomenon, and in our ability to recognize the relationship between viewers and the television set as they are mediated by the determinancies of everyday life and by the audience s daily involvement with all the other technologies in play in the conduct of mediated quotidian communication. (Morley, 1992, p. 197) As Gillespie (1995) argues, anthropological ethnography requires long-term immersion and investigation. According to Pike (1966) the researcher can achieve the native point of view after about eighteen months of fieldwork. Gillespie spent in her project 2 years on field study and was close enough to Punjabi community to participate in their family events and other traditional festivals, as for example Diwali. In case of Dhoest, we cannot state such level of engagement. Gillespie (1995) emphasises that without this deep immersion in the environment we fail to , understand the process of mediatisation. She argues (Gillespie, 1995, p.144) that soap talk discussing the programme outside home (with friends, at work etc.) completes the process of communication. In order to address the criticism of Dhoest s lack of preliminary research, questionnaire based survey could have been carried among the studied groups. This suggestion is drawn on Gillespie s study, in which she used survey in the initial phase of the project. This served not only to bring together qualitative and quantitative methods, but also as a framework for the forthcoming fieldwork. Lastly, it would be recommended to include group interviews in the study on establishing multiethnic community. Morley (1992, p. 97) supports this approach by arguing that much individually based interview research is flawed by a focus on individuals as societal atoms divorced from their social context . The potential help of this method in grasping the societal interactions within ethnic communities should not be underestimated. CONCLUSION To summarize, Dhoest s research can be predominantly criticised for limited scope of the problematic which could have been overcome by choosing ethnographical and anthropological approach to the study. Without intensive field work and immersion in the culture of interviewed youth, the author was unable to draw satisfying conclusions. Dhoest should be given credit for extensive references to the subject s literature, however insufficient implementation of other scholars suggestions on how to run audience s research effectively and lack of sufficient preliminary

study, resulted in a piece of work that for sure cannot be described as an invaluable and important contribution to current academic debate.

References:
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Anderson, Benedict (1991) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, revised edition. London: Verso Bauer, M. W. & Gaskell, G. (eds.) (2000). Qualitative researching: with text, image and sound. A practical Handbook. Chapter 3: Individual and group interviewing. London: Sage. Dhoest, Alexander (2009) Establishing a Multi-ethnic Imagined Community?: Ethnic Minority Audiences Watching Flemish Soaps. European Journal of Communication, 24(3), 305 323 Fiske, John (1989) Moments of television, in E. Seiter et al (eds) Remote Control, London: Routledge Geertz, Clifford (1973) Thick description, in C. Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures, New York: Basic Books Gillespie, Marie (1995), Television, Ethnicity and Cultural Change. London: Routledge Hall, Stuart (1992) The Question of Cultural Identity, p. 273-325 in S. Hall, D. Held and T. McGrew (eds) Modernity and its Futures. Cambridge: Polity Press/ Open University Morley, David (1992) Television, audiences, and cultural studies, London; New York: Routledge Pike, Kenneth L. (1966) Etic and Emic Standpoints for the description of Behaviour in A. , Smith, ed., Communication and Culture, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, p. 152-163 Radway, Janice (1988) Reception study, Cultural Studies 2 (3). Ryle, Gilbert (1949) The Concept of Mind, New York: Barnes & Noble Tomlinson, John (1994) A Phenomenology of Globalization? Giddens on Global Modernity, in European Journal of Communication, Vol. 9, No. 2, 149-172