Researching Arab Media, Culture and Society: Confronting Methodological Challenges
| Date: | 9 December 2006 |
| Time: | 12.00am - . |
| Location: | Universityof Westminster, Cavendish Campus 115 New Cavendish Street, London W1W 6UW |
Room: CLG.06
Saturday 9 December 2006
Arab media and culture remain heavily under-researched, even though world events demonstrate how urgent it is to rectify this situation. Yet research into Arab media and culture is also highly problematic, often for reasons of methodology. Papers from a recent US symposium on field research methods in the Middle East (see the July 2006 issue of PS: Political Science and Politics) highlighted in considerable detail the practical and ethical pitfalls of conducting interviews and surveys under the region's particular authoritarian political conditions. At the same time, an upsurge in Western policy-makers' interest in Arab media and communication is helping to make more funding and facilities available for research in this field today than has been the case hitherto. As researchers take up the challenge, a risk exists that serious methodological concerns will be sidelined because of short-term pressures to gather data.
Following the success of its six ESRC-funded one-day seminars on Arab media in 2003-05, the University of Westminster's Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) is convening a further one-day workshop on Arab media, culture and society to address the issue of research methods. The event is designed for anyone doctoral candidate, doctoral supervisor, post-doctoral fellow, lecturer, professor who is involved in research in this field, whether at UK universities or beyond. It will be the first national/international meeting organised by CAMRI's nascent Arab Media Centre and a curtain-raiser for a new series of Arab media seminars that the centre plans to hold in 2007-08.
Programme
10.30 am
Registration and Tea/Coffee
11.00
Session 1
11.05-12.30
Audiences and Ethnography
Chair: David Gauntlett
Opening Contributions (10-15 minutes each):
Susan Ossman: The place of ethnography
Walter Armbrust: Ethnography and media
David Gauntlett: Visual and creative methods
Discussion
Prepared Interventions (5-10 mins each)
Dina Matar: Researching audiences: conceptual and empirical dilemmas
Imad Karam: Negotiating access, gaining trust with Arab youth audiences
Discussion
Other Comments (5 mins each)
Amira Halperin (Consumption of Hamas-related media)
Discussion
12.30-1.30pm
Lunch
Session 2
1.30pm-3.00pm
Texts, Discourse and Representation
Chair: Gareth Stanton
Opening Contributions (10-15 mins each)
Jerry Palmer: Translation in news-gathering and dissemination
Lina Khatib: Thinking creatively about locating sources of knowledge
Discussion
Prepared Interventions (5-10 mins each)
Paul Robertson: Using critical discourse analysis to investigate ideologies of language identity and use
Farida Vis: Researching media representations of conflict and disaster
Discussion
Other Comments (5 mins each, approx)
Layal Ftouni (Researching gender and image)
Discussion
3.00-3.30
Coffee Break
Session 3
3.30-5pm
Surveys and Interviews
Chair: Annabelle Sreberny
Opening Contributions
(10-15 minutes each)
Tim Walters: Doing media surveys in the UAE
Giovanna Maiola: Quantitative research on election coverage
Discussion
Prepared Interventions
(5-10 mins max)
Deena Dajani: News broadcasting in the Middle East: audience ratings and field research
Moded Aljmi: Research with young Saudi press interns
Alma Kadragic: Face-to-face interviews with journalists in the UAE
Haider al-Safi: Researching independent media in Iraq
Discussion
Other Comments
(5 mins max)
Maha Taki (Bloggers)
Kay Dickinson (Film industry interviews)
Discussion
5-5.30
Drinks
