Multicultural Society, Media Communication and Cultural Citizenship(Multicultural Society and Media Communication)

Abstract

This paper will discuss the imperativeness of making hitherto marginalized voices of ethnic minorities heard and embraced in the mediated public space of Japan. It will be argued that we need to go beyond both the pitfall of the "ethnic media" paradigm, which tends to presume the existence of coherent and homogeneous ethnic communities, as well as the pitfall of the "diaspora media" paradigm, which tends to put too much attention on the transnational connections between diasporas. In either case, the mediated practices, voices and connections of migrants and ethnic minorities would be separated from the wider public sphere of the society in which they live. Based on recent discussions of cultural citizenship in the English language literature, this paper argues for the importance of considering both how to make hitherto silenced voices and differences expressed, shared and heard in society at large and how to establish channels of communication between various kinds of ethnic minority media and the mainstream mass media. For this purpose, it is proposed that researchers should strive to advance the project of cultural citizenship as a dialogic learning process by collaborating with various actors in society.