‘Not Only, But Also’: Mixedness and Media

Abstract

Multicultural media policies and practices developed to foster excluded voices may actually work to fix monological minority sub-cultures without developing channels and genres that cross over ethnic divisions and foster dialogic understanding. Conceptually, the study of diasporic media runs the danger of assuming a cultural fixity belied by the social practices of diasporic ethnic groups. Evidence taken from recent research suggests that minority audiences desire far more mixed kinds of representation and manifest quite mixed-up usage, leading to a ‘not only but also’ approach to the study of minority identity positions and media use.