P_I

Reviews
Ethnic Minority Media: An International Perspective (Newbury Park, CA: Sage, 1992). 298 pp.

“Ethnic Minority Media provides an important if somewhat flawed addition to the literature on media-minority relations. The text is useful in the sense that the articles are well-written and clearly underscore the politics of ethnic media as instruments of empowerment and/or domination. The introductory chapter is nearly worth the price of admission itself as Riggins engages areas as disparate as multiculturalism, social movements, and ethnicity.

In short, this text on ethnic minority media represents a workable introduction for anyone interested in the field of minority-media relations. There is much of value for those interested in how ethnic identities are constructed, sustained, and reconstructed as salient features of society. The reward comes to those who begin to see ethnic minority media as essentially a contested site involving struggles between opposing ideologies and competing logics for control of the agenda. The final word in this field still needs to be explored, but Ethnic Minority Media certainly furnishes an admirable first step in that direction.”

Augie Fleras, University of Waterloo, Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, May 1993.

“…This is a most valuable collection of case studies on ethnic minority uses of radio and print. Some of the authors are ‘insiders’ (members of the organizations about which they are writing), and certain aspects of their analysis reveal blind spots and lack of objectivity. …But their offenses are not grievous.

Most of the studies show commendable sensitivity to the problems faced by ethnic minorities seeking to work through the media…. Most importantly, readers will discover that it is very hard work to sustain an ethnic minority operation, with financing, in-group power struggles, the unconscious assumption of majority cultural values and styles, and (little noted by these authors) the drive toward ‘media professionalism’ as chief among the barriers to long-term operation, much less success. Still, there are enough success stories here to assure readers that the game indeed can be worth the candle, if it’s played carefully.”

“The main value of this book lies in the rich and detailed descriptions of ethnic minority media in various social locations. Each study is carefully researched, insightful, and provocative; one is struck by the great diversity of social arrangements that is possible in this area. The next step should be to use these case studies to develop generalizations relating the ethnic media to their environment, and to bring to bear on this subject recent sociological thinking on the salience of ethnic identities and the fluidity of ethnic boundaries. An important direction for future study, as indicated by several authors in this collection, is the role of the media in the political construction, as well as preservation, of ethnicity.

This collection, which will be of interest to students of ethnic relations, popular culture, and communications alike, provides us with extremely interesting and detailed case histories that may stimulate the necessary theoretical development.”