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Media, power and space: Ways of constructing the periphery as the 'other'
Social & Cultural Geography
Abstract
The article examines the representation patterns of the Israeli geographic periphery in the national media over a period of four decades. Its main goal is to analyse the role that the national press plays in constructing the periphery as the 'other' in public consciousness. Our analysis demonstrates bow the press makes use of diverse strategies, all leading to the construction of peripheral locations as 'unimportant, 'marginal' or 'negligible', and all characterized by events, customs, culture, norms and behaviour patterns different from those characteristic of the 'centre'. We will show how the national press glorifies the Israeli 'centre', defines who is included within its boundaries and who is not, and delineates between it and the periphery.
... The research findings from that time showed that, for several decades, media coverage confirmed and strengthened the hierarchical and dichotomous division of center-periphery relations in Israelmostly by providing little and partial coverage of the peripheries, which highlighted negative dimensions (Avraham and First, 2006). This included consistent use of stereotypes and generalizations, focusing on a narrow and superficial set of themes (Lahav and Avraham, 2008). ...
... The negative framing included discourses of poor, dirty and dangerous cities and towns. When reports with a positive orientation were published, they tended to highlight folklorist dimensions, alongside exotic anecdotes that focused on Oriental communities (Avraham and First, 2006). ...
... Indeed, relating to the Gaza Strip as 'cool and unique', and describing Gaza City as 'a neighbor', bear positive connotations. This finding stands in clear opposition compared to the consistently negative representations that characterize traditional media coverage of the same (Avraham and First, 2006). Only a few texts formulate the closeness to the Gaza Strip in negative terms (13%), associating the sites in the southern periphery with unpleasant feelings. ...
New media platforms offer diverse modes of mediation of every day and tourist places and communities. Spatial social media now augment older forms of mediation, partly by enabling contributions from ‘ordinary’ users, who create and share spatial discourses. This study examines the discursive construction of peripheral places, produced through user-generated content. Employing qualitative methodology, we sample and analyze 1,053 texts, shared on Google Maps in southern regions of Israel. The key conclusions suggest that compared to traditional media discourses depicting peripheral spaces in Israel, the findings demonstrate a shift from homogeneous depictions to more diverse and multilayered ones. Digital affordances result in more actors and stakeholders partaking in discursive construction, including private and institutional local players, visitors and tourists. Theoretical contributions are offered to the field of digital placemaking, by considering the subjective, evaluative and ideological layers that augment geographical data digital maps provide (‘bottom-up’ perspective), and to the fields of study of marginalized peripheral and rural communities and tourism crisis in peripheral (post-Coronavirus) locations.
... According to Avraham (2003), government institutions and administration, as well as media institutions, are controlled from the centre of the country, which is considered the locus of events, activity, authority and power, embodying the social values and symbols that define the boundaries of the Israeli collective. This leaves the peripheral areas in an inferior position in terms of political representation as well as media coverage (Avraham and First, 2006). ...
... Peripheral causes and organizations are often ignored, and when they do reach the headlines, they are frequently framed in a negative context (such as disasters or crimes). The media tend to present anything outside of Tel-Aviv as 'remote', 'neglected' and 'at the end of the world' (Avraham, 2003;Avraham and First, 2006). National news organizations do not allocate enough journalists to cover the periphery, and the relative absence of local journalists in the periphery representing major media also affects the coverage of those areas. ...
The study examines perceptions of the significance and roles of new and mainstream media in protests, using interviews with 31 individuals involved in the 2011 protests in Israel: Activists and Campaigners, who organized the protests ‘on the ground’; Techies, who operated the digital presence of the protests; and Journalists, who covered the protests. Findings indicate that the perceptions of media’s significance and roles varied greatly. While Techies attributed a significant role to the Internet, Activists and Journalists placed greater emphasis on the enduring dominance of mainstream media. In addition, interviewees argued that the Internet, particularly Facebook, has a greater added value in supporting protests associated with peripheral than central regions. Finally, most interviewees argued that the Internet, particularly Facebook, was highly significant to the success of the protest in its early stages, but mainstream media coverage is necessary for achieving wider public recognition and legitimacy in subsequent stages.
... Bisherige Arbeiten haben auf unterschiedliche in diesem Zusammenhang relevante Aspekte aufmerkam gemacht: auf die mit medialen Repräsentationen einhergehenden Marginalisierungen und Inferiorisierungen, die entlang von gesellschaftlich etablierten Differenzen (Geschlecht, Alter, Ethnie) oder räumlichen Gegensätzen verlaufen (Shields 1991, Massey 1994, Hörschelmann 1997, Massey et al. 1999, Strüver 2011, auf ungleiche Möglichkeiten der Artikulation (Avraham und First 2006), auf die produktive Verbindung des Mediensektors und korporatistische Interessen in der Artikulation geopolitischer Imaginationen (Mercille 2013(Mercille , 2014a, aber auch darauf, dass subjektive Ortsbindungen durch territoriale Stigmatiserungen untergraben werden können und massenmediale Artikulationen sozial-räumlicher "Dysfunktionalitäten" lokale Desintegrationen verursachen (Wacquant 2007) und Handlungsmöglichkeiten beschränken können (Bürk et al. 2012). ...
... Dieses Wissen wiederum kann recht Unterschiedliches beinhalten: bestimmte (häufig wertende) Merkmale, die mit diesem Ort temporär oder dauerhaft verbunden werden ("Boomtown", "sunshine state", "Schlafstadt"), bestimmte Relationen, in denen ein Ort, eine Region, ein Staat eingeordnet wird, wie z. B. Zentrum-Peripherie-Beziehungen (Avraham/First 2006, Beetz 2008 oder eben eine Adressierung der durch einen territorialen Signifikanten "eingeschlossenen" nationalen oder regionalen imaginierten Gemeinschaften (Miggelbrink/Redepenning 2004). Sowohl mögliche Konnotationen wie auch Denotationen basieren -in diesem Zusammenhang -auf gesellschaftlich durchgesetzten oder durchzusetzenden Räumlichkeiten, d. h. ...
Spatial ascriptions and their effects have become a topic of central concern in Political and Social Geography. It has been argued that spatial ascriptions are relevant in processes of peripheralization, marginalisation and social hierarchization. The article gives an overview of recent debates on territorial representation and stigmatization with a focus on discourse analytical and post-structuralist arguments. Building on contemporary approaches towards an understanding of subjective identity and subjects positions, it discusses how potential effects of mass media's spatial representations could be traced in articulations gathered in interactive situations of research.
... Bisherige Arbeiten haben auf unterschiedliche in diesem Zusammenhang relevante Aspekte aufmerkam gemacht: auf die mit medialen Repräsentationen einhergehenden Marginalisierungen und Inferiorisierungen, die entlang von gesellschaftlich etablierten Differenzen (Geschlecht, Alter, Ethnie) oder räumlichen Gegensätzen verlaufen (Shields 1991, Massey 1994, Hörschelmann 1997, Massey et al. 1999, Strüver 2011, auf ungleiche Möglichkeiten der Artikulation (Avraham und First 2006), auf die produktive Verbindung des Mediensektors und korporatistische Interessen in der Artikulation geopolitischer Imaginationen (Mercille 2013(Mercille , 2014a, aber auch darauf, dass subjektive Ortsbindungen durch territoriale Stigmatiserungen untergraben werden können und massenmediale Artikulationen sozial-räumlicher "Dysfunktionalitäten" lokale Desintegrationen verursachen (Wacquant 2007) und Handlungsmöglichkeiten beschränken können (Bürk et al. 2012). ...
... Dieses Wissen wiederum kann recht Unterschiedliches beinhalten: bestimmte (häufig wertende) Merkmale, die mit diesem Ort temporär oder dauerhaft verbunden werden ("Boomtown", "sunshine state", "Schlafstadt"), bestimmte Relationen, in denen ein Ort, eine Region, ein Staat eingeordnet wird, wie z. B. Zentrum-Peripherie-Beziehungen (Avraham/First 2006, Beetz 2008 oder eben eine Adressierung der durch einen territorialen Signifikanten "eingeschlossenen" nationalen oder regionalen imaginierten Gemeinschaften (Miggelbrink/Redepenning 2004). Sowohl mögliche Konnotationen wie auch Denotationen basieren -in diesem Zusammenhang -auf gesellschaftlich durchgesetzten oder durchzusetzenden Räumlichkeiten, d. h. ...
ZUGRIFF UNTER: http://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/fsv/gz/2015/00000103/00000004/art00002 --- Räumliche Repräsentationen und ihre Effekte sind seit Längerem Gegenstand der Politischen Geographie wie auch der Sozialgeographie. In jüngerer Zeit wurde wiederholt vermutet, dass sie zentral für das Verständnis von Dynamiken der Peripherisierung, Marginalisierung und sozialen Hierarchisierung sind. Ausgehend von einem Überblick über gegenwärtige, insbesondere von diskursanalytischen und poststrukturalistischen Positionen geprägte Debatten, diskutiert der Artikel die methodische Möglichkeit, potentielle Effekte medialer räumlicher Repräsentation in Artikulationen innerhalb reaktiver Datenerhebungen herauszuarbeiten.
... These stereotypes have been used by media to paint a biased picture of the people in the European south; while they tried to excuse those in the north by referring to the supposed moral superiority of their behavior. A geographical study of Avraham and First (2006) of certain conditions in Israel has shown that the press can play a crucial role in "constructing the periphery as the 'other' in public consciousness." 4) This is certainly true for the discourse about the euro crisis in media of the centre. ...
... In his study it appears in a mixture between geographical term and socioeconomic term. The distinction centre-periphery has often been made in the framework of sociological and geographic studies in order to characterize the disparities that exist within countries between urban centres and rural peripheries (Avraham and First, 2006). However, in the context of the euro crisis the term is mostly used to describe economic and socioeconomic disparities that exist in Europe. ...
... 5 As well as providing a better understanding of regional spatial links, natural endowment, ecology, and economic processes, some scholars have used spatial econometric models to describe the effects of resource wealth on economic growth and to explain the heterogeneity of natural endowment, ecology, and economic processes. New models for predicting regional economic growth have been developed, including the Geographic and Regional Models and the Macroeconomic, Industry, Social, and Territorial Models 6 . This study aims to analyze the scientific literature on regional development and the center-periphery model in Europe using bibliometric methods. ...
This paper investigates the effect of spatial divisions and their demarcations on the formation of networks and the inadequacies of specific policy implementations in mitigating marginalization processes. Despite the controversies surrounding numerous theoretical premises, the center-periphery model remains widely accepted. Implications of these ideas by synthesizing critical findings from a vast array of prior literature using a comprehensive bibliometric analysis have been clarified. Innovation and a readjustment of regional policy are required to address the disparities between the center and the periphery. Regional development policies of the European Union aim to reconcile the socioeconomic chasm between prosperous and peripheral regions. The localization theory of regional development provides insights into the spatial distribution of firms, the dispersion of economic prosperity, and the potential for future growth. These insights provide valuable perspectives on regional policies and the factors that influence the geographical distribution of economic activity.
... Alternative institutional patterns could make journalism more demographically diverse, enabling news media to struggle more effectively for social justice and political equality (Glasser et al., 2009). Studies suggest that coverage patterns and story selection processes are often affected by the geographical and social distance between journalists and media outlets, which tend to be located in economic centers, and the location of reported stories (Avraham and First, 2006;Graber, 1989). However, the demographic profile of journalists did not change much over the past few decades (Glasser et al., 2009;Weaver and Willnat, 2012). ...
In the journalism community’s constant search for alternative funding sources, Crowdfunding emerged as a promising mechanism that possibly allows new voices and approaches to secure funding for journalism. In this study, we content analyzed 627 journalistic crowdfunding pitches as a form of metajournalistic discourse and the funding public’s reaction to them as expressed in their funding decisions. Drawing on the journalism studies literature, we consider whether the stated journalistic orientation of the proposed project, the occupational and demographic identity of the campaign creator, and the technical proficiency of the crowdfunding pitch can predict funding success. We find that although technical aspects related to how the pitch was crafted and promoted are the strongest predictors of success, certain journalistic orientations, such as promising to conduct investigative journalism, can contribute somewhat to a project’s success. Data show that while self-identification as journalists, nonprofits, and the location of the proposed projects were strongly associated with crowdfunding success, creators’ gender and ethnic identity were not associated with success.
... An additional important aspect of Israel's periphery connects to its media presentation (Avraham and First, 2006). Media plays a significant role in the creation of places and social and cultural landscapes and the shaping of ethnic relations. ...
This ethnographic study explores the co-influences between urban spaces and ethnic hierarchies in the pop-cultural creations of Russian-speaking immigrants of Generation 1.5 in Israel. The theoretical analysis draws on the concepts of orientalism, ethnicity and spatiality in the context of migration. The findings suggest that physical place influences intergroup/ethnic relations that in turn reshape the symbolic meaning of urban spaces. Young immigrant ethnic entrepreneurs have invented the new cultural trope of Mizrahi or Mediterranean Russianness, expressed in various venues of pop culture, in which they are involved as cultural producers: video clips, festivals, music and dance performances. It is a symbolic expression of Hitmazrehut-the Easternization process experienced by them in Israel's geographic and social periphery.
... Neither in layout nor in content, the advertisements combine Turkish cultural motifs with Western designs and meanings; rather, there is a visible imitative impulse underlying these advertisements. In Avraham and First's (2006) terms, the images reflect Turkish society's "dream identity" and are suggestive of Turkish advertisers' and consumers' admiration of American culture. ...
Purpose
This purpose of this paper is to explore how Western design, fashion and aesthetic styles influenced advertising practice in Turkey in the post-Second World War era. Specifically, the authors focus on the key targets of the consumerist ideology of the period, women and discuss the representations of females in Turkish advertisements.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were analysed using a combination of social semiotic and compositional analysis methods. Compositional analysis focused on the formal qualities and design elements of the ads; social semiotic analysis sought to uncover their meaning potentials in relation to social, cultural, political and economic dynamics of the period. The advertisements of a prominent Turkish pasta brand, Piyale, published in the local adaptation of the American Life magazine, between 1956 and 1966, constitute the data set.
Findings
The analysis reveals that Piyale followed the stylistic and thematic trends prevailing in American and European advertisements at the time and crafted ads that constructed and communicated a Westernized image of Turkish women and families. In line with the cultural currents of the 1950s and 1960s, the ads emphasize patriarchal gender roles and traditional family values and address the woman as a consumer whose priority is to please her husband and take good care of her children.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the advertising history in non-Western contexts and provides an understanding of the influence Western advertising conventions and fashion trends had on developing country markets. The findings indicate that Western-inspired representations and gender roles dominated advertisements of local brands during the post-war period.
... As writers subtly linked the technological transformations of the Colorado River, Black Canyon, and the wider desert Southwest to the transformation and emergence of the American nation, they created a remarkably coherent discourse of landscape transformation as national progress. Since news media can be highly influential in shaping metropolitan views of peripheral areas (Avraham and First 2006;Eriksson 2008), the "story" of Boulder Dam was largely dominated by this media-driven view rather than by any local perspectives. Its narrative effect was so influential that even opponents of the dam felt compelled to endorse its rhetorical undercurrents. ...
Boulder Dam, constructed in the 1930s to impound the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona, was widely considered the most ambitious engineering project of its time. Built during the Great Depression, it used state-of-the-art technology to provide flood control, drinking and irrigation water, hydroelectricity, and recreational facilities on a scale unprecedented for any other water control project in the world. Now called Hoover Dam, this structure was heralded by the American government as a monument to American ingenuity and as a model for solving resource challenges through mammoth technological solutions. The dam also ushered in a three-decade frenzy of building large multipurpose dams that have had profound and lasting effects on the urban, economic, and political geography of the modern American West. Although Boulder Dam was not supported unanimously during its authorization and construction phases, national media sources overwhelmingly championed its benefits. This paper examines the remarkably coherent narrative that emerged in coverage of Boulder Dam' s authorization, construction, dedication, and completion (1928-1936), identifying a rhetoric of national progress that emerged through media attention to landscape change. In mainstream serials with national circulation, writers subtly linked the technological transformations of the Colorado River, Black Canyon, and the wider desert Southwest to the transformation and emergence of the American nation. This narrative effect was so influential that even opponents of the dam felt compelled to endorse its rhetorical undercurrents. In fact, the narrative of rational technological progress through landscape change was so powerfully ingrained in mainstream media representations of Boulder Dam that virtually no opposition to the dam has been possible.
... Zuabi was the first Muslim woman to be elected to the Knesset and is noted for her sharp criticism of Israel. Not surprisingly, she entered prime time through the back door, usually reserved for Arabs who are generally sidelined from Israel's political discourse, through the reporting of protests in which she was involved (Avraham and First, 2006) or in the context of the legality of her candidacy (for more on Zuabi in the Israeli media, see Lavie-Dinur et al., 2013). Zuabi headlined all three main newscasts on 27 December 2012 in the wake of a High Court hearing on whether to disqualify her from running. ...
The study seeks to examine gender portrayal of Israeli women politicians, and specifically that of candidates for Israel’s parliament on televised news and in print in the elections of 2013. The study is based on an interpretive analysis of all news items wherein the women candidates are mentioned during the month preceding the elections. This study joins recent studies that point to a change in how women politicians are portrayed in the media. Leading contenders succeed in influencing their coverage, and commensurately usually enjoy nonstereotypically gendered portrayal. Moreover, they occasionally seek to make use of hegemonic cultural norms to benefit what they perceive as structuring their positive gendered portrayal. In contrast, the coverage of peripheral contenders suffers from traditional patterns of sidelining. It emerges that peripheral contenders who gain relatively high exposure are portrayed as exceptional based either on their extraordinary other-ness or on the newsworthiness of their campaigns.
... Importantly here, he acknowledges the significant role of media in these imaginings as 'creating unified fields of exchange' (Anderson 2006cited in Guibernau & Rex 2010. Not only is national consciousness reflected in the media, but the media plays a significant role in recreating it in times of crisis (Avraham & First 2006). We might speculate that in present times that this role has increased exponentially as a result of the ubiquity of social media. ...
On 22 February 2011 an earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter scale struck the city of Christchurch, New Zealand. Buildings had collapsed, businesses were disrupted, and many lives were lost. As the death toll rose and the realities of the destruction set in, a nation moved from initial shock to anger and depression—not unlike the stages of grieving. This paper discusses the stages of grieving and the mourning process as they were reflected in national media. It explores how national identity and national consciousness is related to national mourning by reviewing the literature and providing a thematic analysis of selected media content. The authors found that emotion is not only evident in reporting but it is necessary and expected when disaster is reported, challenging traditional views of "quality" journalism that favours rationalism and objectivity over emotion in reporting. The emotion shown in reporting of the disaster mimics the process of grieving and in this case the process of national grieving. Media reportage of such disasters, using emotion and responding to emotion, is necessary to allow those affected directly or indirectly to mourn what they have lost. In the process the media both reify and reconstruct national identity. This research contributes to scholarly debate concerning the reporting of national disasters and how it impacts on its national identity, and may contribute to re-evaluating traditional views of quality journalism.
Son yıllarda dünya üzerinde çok sayıda afet ile karşı karşıya kalınmıştır. Bu afetler içerisinde depremler ve küresel ısınmaya dayalı iklim sorunları başta gelmektedir. Yaşanan bu afetler hem afete maruz kalanlar hem de diğer bireyler açısından önemli etkiler yaratmaktadır. Bu etki doğrudan yaşanan olaydan kaynaklanabileceği gibi kitle iletişim araçlarıyla aktarılma biçimiyle de ilişkili olabilmektedir. Geleneksel ya da yeni medyada haber olan bu afet olayları bireyler üzerinde olumlu ya da olumsuz etkilere neden olabilmektedir. Özellikle kurumsal medya olarak tanımlayabileceğimiz geleneksel medya araçları afetler sonrası toplumda oluşan atmosferin yeniden inşası açısından önemli fonksiyonlar üstlenmektedir. Bu çalışma Kahramanmaraş Merkezli olarak 6 Şubat 2023 tarihinde gerçekleşen depremlerle ilgili olarak medyada yayınlanan haberlerde geçen “depremzede” kavramının içerdiği temaların belirlenmesini ve haberlerde kullanılan dilin ötekileştirici olup olmadığının ortaya konmasını amaçlamaktadır. Bu kapsamda deprem sonrası bir aylık süreçte Hürriyet, Yeni Şafak ve Sözcü gazetelerinin haber portallarında depremle ilgili olarak yayınlanan haberleri incelenmiştir. Depremle ilgili olarak bin 291 haber tespit edilmiş ve bunların 191’inde ‘depremzede’ kavramının geçtiği görülmüştür. “Depremzede” kavramının geçtiği bu haberler mağduriyet, zayıf/güçsüz, güçlü/dayanıklı, öteki, sosyal ayrımcılık ve empati temalarıyla analiz edilmiştir. İncelenen haberlerde en çok “mağduriyet” temasına vurgu yapılırken en az işlenen tema “sosyal ayrımcılık” olmuştur. Ayrıca deprem bölgesindeki vatandaşların yayınlanan haberlerde çoğunlukla olumsuz olarak tanımlandıkları ve öteki olarak temsil edildikleri görülmüştür.
Despite increasing experience with the practice of place branding, researchers find it challenging to produce a broad, multi-disciplinary framework that encompasses the full complexity of a place brand. This paper applies a geographical approach to brand analysis, acknowledging the multifaceted relationship between place brands and the network of socio-cultural dependence and collaboration. This study examines how interactions between place brands affect small, peripheral place brands by identifying interactions between brands, estimating their importance, and explaining them geographically. The research focuses on the interactions between four city brands in the Negev region in Israel and between them and the Negev regional super-brand to which they belong. The sample includes Beersheba, the central city, and three medium and small towns in the northeastern Negev. Four hundred questionnaires were completed by residents of the Central District, representing the target audience that might visit or move to the Negev. Various brand components were measured, including brand associations, familiarity, recognition, and perceived quality, to determine the value and positioning of the brands in the eyes of the respondents. The analysis reveals the network of associations and images, showing similarities and differences between the place brands, their strengths and weaknesses, and the impact of spatial relations.
We located the emergence of South Africa’s Daily Sun against the background of colonisation of the print media and the more recent economic embeddedness of Black and alternative media in duopolistic domains. Our analyses found historical marginalisation and contemporary remarginalisation of majority Black readers useful. For theoretical frame, we relied on normative influences that make the centre more newsworthy than the periphery and some citizens outcast from the public sphere. We inferred and concluded that the Daily Sun—with all its real and perceived shortcomings—capitalised on a sectoral gap by focusing on “unknown” and abandoned citizen-readers. Its accomplishments, when not negated by criticism of its White ownership, was in the ability to demarginalise and decolonise poor Black working-class readers. Our submission included implications for theory.
The aim of this article is to tackle the sociosemiotic strategies through which the relation between power and visibility is articulated in today’s metropolitan São Paulo. Drawing on the theoretical-methodological framework of Greimasian and post-Greimasian semiotics, the following hypotheses are put forth: (1) contemporary São Paulo is characterized by a true visual hypertrophy, which manifests itself, all at once, in both its architectural and mediatic landscapes; (2) in São Paulo, power is hypervisible and apparently transparent; (3) the excess of images, gazes, and perspectives produces, in São Paulo, dense and wide areas of topological, mediatic, and social invisibility; (4) the predominant visibility in São Paulo can be qualified as a “populist” visibility. Based on these assumptions, this article intends to contribute to the consolidation of a critical debate on the visual matrices of power and on social processes of exclusion and inclusion currently in place in global metropolises. Likewise, it is intended to contribute to the elaboration of a theoretical-methodological framework capable of understanding and addressing the complexity of the phenomena that characterize such debate.
Interaction between a minority and the majority is usually multifaceted and can be examined from different angles. This article explores the approach of National-Religious Israelis towards the media, primarily television, radio, and printed press, as a means to understanding the relationship of that group to the larger society.
This article examines the 2001‒2003 coverage by the local press in the Haifa region of the struggle of the fishermen who claimed to have contracted cancer as a result of coming into contact with the polluted water of the Kishon River. It shows that the local press chose to deliver to its readers an ‘interpretive package’ that portrays the fishermen as ‘The River’s Heroes’, a group fighting for justice and morality for the benefit of all. However, alongside the favourable framing were also some of the writers’ stereotypical elitist perceptions, at times explicit and at others implicit, of the fishermen. In the case of the Kishon fishermen, whereas the local press played an important role in covering their struggle, it only partially presented the solidarity dimension wherein the differences between people and groups constitutes the basis for moral relations between them.
The study of mobilisation and organisation of money in churches is not new: it is actually a staple of Western Christianity where documentation is a routine practice and openness is accepted as a norm of existence for most religious bodies. The issue of resource mobilisation within Pentecostalism in Africa is however a blind spot. This article is a new empirical investigation of Pentecostal mobilisation and the organisation of money in West African Pentecostalism. It also focuses on selected churches in Cameroon and Nigeria in order to have a comparative perspective on the issue. It is concluded that the two focused churches in this article demonstrate different attitudes and behaviour towards money, its mobilisation and organisation. The need for deeper research on the dynamics and dialectics of faith and finance in African Pentecostalism is strongly emphasised.
Processes of peripheralisation have over the past years been studied from structuralist and discursive angles alike. There is at the same time a growing awareness that the two need to be studied together. This paper makes an attempt by showing how socio-material and discursive processes can co-constitute centre-periphery relations, on the example of Hungarian regions. Particular focus is given to Békés County as well as to Central Hungary. The empirical sources consist of sociographic books and popular scientific articles written mostly by geographers. The former show that images of peripheral areas have signifi cantly altered over time. While the "Land of Storms" - an epithet associated with Békés County - for instance has typically stood for toughness and combat-readiness up until the 1950s, it has been connected more with passivity and tardiness since the 1980s. Despite the changing nature of these images they have curiously always been attributed to the region´s peripherality, even though a rising spirit for instance has not been a typical feature of peripheries in Hungary. The analysis of popular scientific articles reveals that they are usually written from the centre´s perspective, targeting the centre´s audience. Further, certain places are peripheralised by being depicted as forgott en or remote; the natural endowments of rural and sparsely populated areas are not rarely exotified and romanticised. Such descriptions may make so-called peripheries more interesting for readers (in the centres), yet they also maintain old images of such areas that can considerably affect their development potentials.
Tourism consumption has been conceptualized either as a free pursuit of pleasure and escape or a highly rationalized activity. Based on questionnaire surveys of 483 tourists and personal interviews of 18 tourists concerning Lijiang Ancient Town, a World Heritage site in China, this article contends that tourism consumption neither draws on freedom of choice nor conforms to the rigidities of predetermined norms. Instead, evidence suggests that tourism consumption dwells in the endless negotiations between tourists’ imagination, their economic and cultural capital, and the norms and values embedded in their destinations. Following Ateljevic's work on circuits of tourism, this paper has two objectives. First, it will analyse the touristic imagination of Lijiang Ancient Town and examine how this imagination shapes tourists’ practices of consumption. Secondly, the paper will explore the multi-sensory practices of consumption and how these practices transform Lijiang's heritage landscapes. The paper argues that imagination and consumption together help to build a socio-spatial connection between destinations and the wider consumer society, which enables tourists to become an active group to shape the production and representation of tourism landscapes.
Drawing from fieldwork conducted to examine the roles played by ferry mobilities in the lives of residents of ferry-dependent islands and coastal communities of British Columbia, Canada, this paper focuses on three elements of spatial mobility assemblages: motives, costs, and frictions. In doing so, this paper contributes to the growing literature on the politics of mobility constellations. Data shed light on the transformative, but contested, power of spatial mobilities. To analyze these dynamics the analysis builds upon Ingold's ideas on wayfaring to highlight how practices, representations, and experiences of ferry mobility exercise their transformative power.
The welfare and future of asylum seekers in Australia have been very contentious contemporary issues. Findings based on content analysis of media releases in 2001 and 2002 reveal the unrelentingly negative way in which the federal government portrayed asylum seekers. While the government's negative tenor was constant during the study period, the specific terms of reference altered, from ‘threat’ through ‘other’, to ‘illegality’ and to ‘burden’. The negative construction of asylum seekers was clearly mutable. Analysis of newspaper reporting during the same period indicates that the media largely adopted the negativity and specific references of the government. The media dependence upon government statements and spokespersons in part explains this relation. The findings generally support the ‘propaganda model’ that holds a pessimistic view of the news media's critical abilities. However, the media departed somewhat slightly from the government's unchanging stance following some key events and revelations. Clearly, there is scope for disrupting the flow of negative constructions from government to media, and ultimately to audiences.
Located on the southernmost tip of Israel, at the meeting point of the Negev desert and the Red Sea, Eilat was occupied in March 1949 in the last military operation of Israel's War of Independence. Notwithstanding official notions of Eilat as a strategic asset and efforts to sustain Israeli presence there in the form of a permanent settlement, in Israeli popular culture Eilat, which later evolved into a thriving tourist resort, has had from the outset the reputation of being ‘different, special, distinct’. This article explores the unique position of Eilat in Israeli popular culture. The underlying argument is that this unique position of Eilat both evinced and reflected a dynamic interplay of liminal conditions and phenomena that rendered Eilat an exceptional experience. Furthermore, being situated at the southernmost tip of Israel, the location of Eilat at the geographical margin of Israel was productive of its image as an extraordinary place and sustained its prominence in popular imagination. The article charts and analyses a variety of liminal phenomena in their social and cultural contexts in different periods of Eilat's history.
This study focuses on the portrayal of Arabs in Israeli news during the beginning of the Palestinian Intifada. At that time, there was only one news television programme in Hebrew - Mabat - which was (and still is) owned by the state. This was the only source of information and images which constructed and represented Israel-Arab relations and legitimized the contemporary power structure. We have found after conducting a content analysis of 54 news broadcasts that coverage presented a negatively biased portrayal of all Arabs. Arabs tend to be underrepresented, unidentified by name or profession and engaged in oppositional activities. The coverage also distinguished the Palestinians from the other Arab groups in ways that tended to undermine or trivialize their struggle. This finding can be best understood in the context of a conflict between two nations where each is trying to draw the boundaries of its own `imagined community'.
Examines the causes of Americans' fears that their country is gradually being relegated to the 'periphery' of world affairs, reviewing both the country's rise from periphery to centre in the 20th century, and the country's debate on its own role this century. Concludes with the proposition that the world is becoming polycentric. -afterAuthor Dept History, Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts Univ, USA.
Landscapes is a timely and well-written analysis of the meaning of cultural landscapes. The book delves into the layers of meaning that are invested in ordinary landscapes as well as landscapes of spectacle and power. Landscapes is a powerful and vivid application of the new cultural geography to case studies not previously visited within cultural geography texts.
This research demonstrates how the social-political environment affects news media organizations’ well-researched tendency to focus on subjects like crime, disasters and disorder when covering minorities. The analysis showed that the social-political environment affects many key internal decisions, routines and journalistic practices of media organizations that shape the coverage of marginal groups. The aspects covered include the social and professional backgrounds of the newspeople who cover and edit news about minority groups; the news organizations’ definition of news that focuses on crisis reporting; the selection of information sources that reinforce this news definition; and the decision regarding the target audience. The case study looks at the image of marginal cities in the Israeli national press. To do so, we employed two research methods to analyse the research questions: content analysis of news articles published and in-depth interviews with editors and journalists.
Content analysis of the early evening national newscasts on ABC, CBS, and NBC from July 1985 to June 1987 reveals that the New Federalism has failed to focus national media attention on state issues. State news was extremely sparse, spotlighted a small number of states, and lacked political substance. Disaster, crime, and trivia stories prevailed. A parallel content analysis of state news covered by the New York Times indicates that newsworthy political stories were plentiful so that much better coverage of this important aspect of American politics was possible. When population is used as a yardstick of political significance, the concerns of midwesterners received the least attention while the Pacific region dominated in television as well as in print news. Compared to news broadcasts in the seventies, media attention has shifted from the Northeastern and New England regions to the West and Southwest, possibly contributing to the economic decline of Rust Belt states. State news coverage during presidential campaigns suggests ways for increasing coverage at other times.
In research on regional development little attention is devoted to socioeconomic distinctions within peripheral and core regions, rather than disparities between regions. This approach is evidently shared by policymakers, who tend to formulate regional development policies without taking account of existing socioeconomic differences within the regions. Development policy for Israel's national peripheries is a salient example of a homogeneous development policy. The findings of the present study point to the need to reconsider regional development by placing the main emphasis on the fashioning of a differential regional development policy, together with or in preference to a homogeneous or uniform policy. The findings are obtained through application of a relatively new method of multivariate analysis: 'multicriteria decision aid' (MCDA). The study suggests theoretical and methodological considerations in the larger context of regional development.
Power and the news media Political Communication in Action
- J Tunstall
Tunstall, J. (1971) Journalists at Work. London: Constable. van Dijk, T.A. (1996) Power and the news media, in Paletz, D.L. (ed.) Political Communication in Action. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, pp. 9 –36.
Cross-regional disparity in Israel, doctoral dissertation
- G Lipshitz
Lipshitz, G. (1982) Cross-regional disparity in Israel, doctoral dissertation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem (in Hebrew).
Reporting the nation front: British values observed Race in Britain: Continuity and Chance
- B Troyna
Troyna, B. (1982) Reporting the nation front: British values observed, in Husband, C. (ed.) Race in Britain: Continuity and Chance. London: Hutchinson, pp. 259–278.
Places on the Margin Centre and Periphery Outsiders in society and place
- R Shields
Shields, R. (1992) Places on the Margin. London: Routledge. Shils, E (1975) Centre and Periphery. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Sibley, D. (1999) Outsiders in society and place, in Anderson, K. and Gale, F. (eds) Cultural Geographies (second edition). Melbourne: Addison Wesley Long-man, pp. 135–151.
The post-colonial stand point
- Y Shenhav
- H Hever
Shenhav, Y. and Hever, H. (2002) The post-colonial stand point, Theory and Criticism 20: 9– 22, (in Hebrew).
Social Problems and the Mass Media (second revised edition)
- Deviance
Deviance, Social Problems and the Mass Media (second revised edition). London: Constable/Sage.
Qualitative methods in the study of news
- G Tuchman
Tuchman, G. (1991) Qualitative methods in the study of news, in Jensen, K.B. and Jankowski, N.W. (eds) A Handbook of Qualitative Methodologies for Mass Communication Research. London: Routledge, pp. 79–92.
The Third World on T.V. news: Western way of seeing the 'other Television Coverage of International Affairs
- P Dahlgren
- S Chakrapani
Dahlgren, P. and Chakrapani, S. (1982) The Third World on T.V. news: Western way of seeing the 'other', in Adams, W. (ed.) Television Coverage of International Affairs. Norwood, NJ: Ablex, pp. 45–62.
Out of bounds: the myth of marginality Television Mythology: Stars, Shows and Signs
- J Hartley
Hartley, J. (1984) Out of bounds: the myth of marginality, in Masterman, L. (ed.) Television Mythology: Stars, Shows and Signs. London: Comedia, pp. 118 –127.
Discovering the other Israel: the journalist as ethnographer and cultural critic
- A Yasif
Yasif, A. (1995) Discovering the other Israel: the journalist as ethnographer and cultural critic, Alpayim 11:
Is Anyone Responsible? Chicago and London
- S Iyengar
Iyengar, S. (1991) Is Anyone Responsible? Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.
Racism in society and the mass media: a critical interaction
- C Husband
Husband, C. (1975) Racism in society and the mass media: a critical interaction, in Husband, C. (ed.) White Media and Black Britain. London: Arrow Books, pp. 15–38.
Behind Media Marginality: Coverage of Social Groups and Places in the Israeli Press
- E Avraham
Avraham, E. (2003) Behind Media Marginality: Coverage of Social Groups and Places in the Israeli Press. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Between State and Society: The Sociology of Politics (Part A) Tel Aviv: The Open University
- B Kimmerling
Kimmerling, B. (1995) Between State and Society: The Sociology of Politics (Part A). Tel Aviv: The Open University (in Hebrew).
Changes in the political, cultural, and media environment and their impact on the coverage of conflict: the case of the Arab population in Israel
- A First
- E Avraham
First, A. and Avraham, E. (2003) Changes in the political, cultural, and media environment and their impact on the coverage of conflict: the case of the Arab population in Israel, Communication and Conflict Online 2(1): 1–14.
From frontier to periphery: the development of Israel's Negev (eds) Frontiers in Regional Development
- Y Gradus
- H Lithwick
- I Lithwick
Gradus, Y., Lithwick, H. and Lithwick, I. (1996) From frontier to periphery: the development of Israel's Negev, in Gradus, Y. and Lithwick, H. (eds) Frontiers in Regional Development. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, pp. 143–170.
Nation and Narration Netivot's Western Wall
- K H Bhabha
Bhabha, K.H. (1990) Nation and Narration. London: Routledge. Bilu, Y. and Ben-Ari, A. (1990) Netivot's Western Wall, Politics 31: 56–58, (in Hebrew).