Student

Back to overview

First name:	Jacob
Last name:	Thorsen
Institution:	Institut for Informations- og Medievidenskab, Århus Universitet
Address:	Helsingforsgade 14
Post code:	8200
City:	Århus N
Tel.:	42608808
E-Mail:	imvjat@hum.au.dk
Project title:	Negotiating citizenry by means of radio: poor and marginalised people\\\\\\\'s aspirations and strategies in rural Nepal
Advisor:	Poul Erik Nielsen
Starting date:	2009-02-01
Expected completion date:	2012-01-31
Danish short presentation: Projektet fokuserer på dét at blive medborger som noget formet og forhandlet. Radio ses i dette projekt som en del af civilsamfundet, bistår med at skabe sociale, kulturelle og politiske processer, der er forbundet med at opbygge et aktivt civilsamfund.
Full Presentation: The overall objective of the proposed project is to study poor and marginalised (PAM) people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s aspirations and how these affect negotiation of citizenry by the influence of radio in rural Nepal. Based on fieldwork in Nepal, the project examines radio from the perspective of PAM and focus on the consequences for them to become active citizens in a context of major socio-political changes. The Maoist insurgency, launched 1996 near Livang in Rolpa district, killed more than 13000 people, injured and displaced thousands and affected millions. Root causes to the revolt can be found in the structural social inequalities into which PAM are trapped. Now 12 years later a fragile peace has been established, the king left his palace, and Nepal has embarked the path as a federal democratic republic. The project focusses on Nepal because the country exemplifies a very timely case. Parallel to the political changes, interdependent radios are emerging in rapid pace and envisaged to play a major role in developing communities and facilitating negotiation of citizenry. Media has been in the eye of the storm during the conflict and major resources and symbolic factors to be gained from the involved in the conflict. Nepal thus provides an opportunity to follow the reinterpretation of values of citizenry through media in the midst of major changes. The societal upheavals call for an analysis of the prospects for social change at individual and country level and the ways radio can facilitate negotiation of citizenry. To do so, the immediate objectives of the project are to: * Explore and discuss perceptions, experiences and aspirations of PAM and major factors influencing and diversifying these. * Examine how radio shape and are shaped by PAM\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s aspirations and strategies and what conflict and negotiations these give rise to. Radio Rolpa (RR) in Livang is selected as case study. Rolpa isn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t exposed to local electronic media and RR, which is founded by a local human rights organisation, will soon begin its broadcasting and be the first community radio in Rolpa. This gives scope to explore the spheres and process of negotiating citizenry of PAM in a \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'virgin\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' area severely affected by the conflict. Theoretical and analytical framework There is no research on radio in relation to citizenship in Nepal. Studies on community media in the development of citizenry are few (Agosta). This project seeks to advance such insights on creation of citizens, understood as the ways PAMs perceptions of their needs, rights and responsibilities are shaped and negotiated by radio. Several scholars argue to bring the discussions of citizenship out of the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'empirical void\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' (Kabeer, Gaventa). They challenge liberal understanding of citizenship as legal rights and responsibilities bestowed by the state and argue to focus on the ways people define, perceive and act on notions of citizenship. This project combines such a focus with a separate debate on the role of media to inculcate civic and national values. This allows for an analysis of socialisation through radio from PAM\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s perspective and an exploration of alternative media/networks (Rodríguez, Waisbord). Analysing PAM\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s engagement with RR will illuminate the spheres of PAMs lives and the radio, that will be crucial understanding how citizenry is negotiated by means of radio. The project draws on and combine three separately existing theoretical discussions within communication and development research and argues to combine these in order to study citizenry negotiation through radio from the perspective of PAM. Poor and marginalised Insights into the specific characteristics and strategies of PAM requires understanding of internal dynamics and inter-linkages. In a Nepalese context, definitions and experiences of PAM depend especially on caste and thereby socio-economic status, educational status and gender. Being embedded in a context of multiple socio-cultural influences the project follows Bourdieu who conceptualise agency as structured by collective norms, values, experiences and previous practises. The study will link this notion to the concept of aspirations in order to understand how agency, besides being shaped by structural influences embedded in the past, is guided by a future element (Appadurai). \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Aspirations\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' as a concept is understood as a personal navigational capacity with strong collective cultural connotations that allow an element of dreaming. Individual aspirations are outcomes of shared values of the multiple cultures and communities to which individuals orient themselves (religion, caste, gender) but they are not necessarily uniformly agreed to. The study therefore focuses on the different communities PAM come from, the different forms of collective organisation they engage in and the influence of socialising agents as crucial for shaping their aspirations and strategies. Radio As radios are emerging in developing countries there is a vast and comprehensive literature on media and development. However, only few studies concern how PAM perceive and negotiate radio and how this affect their future strategies as citizens. This study seeks to advance such insights by focussing on how PAM actively engage in negotiating the meanings of citizens and citizenship through radio and what strategies it leads to. Such a focus rejects a reified connotation of radio as an institution. Radio in this study is seen as part of civil society, assisting in creating organisations and the social, cultural and political processes that are associated with building civil society. This is clear in rural Nepal; any group that wants to publicise its work, events, opinions or gather new members has few choices due to no print media and illiteracy. Inspired by scholars arguing for an ecology of agents which blends the institutional agents of the state and the associational resources of civil society (Mohan & Hickey), this project perceives implementation of stately policies through local bodies as institutional everyday practices in which meso-level actors such as bureaucrats and RR interpret, shape and contest policies and where PAM and local actors negotiate these. In order to understand the function of radio as an agent in the public sphere facilitating interpretation, dialogue and negotiation, the project will analyse the discourses underpinning their practices. Such discourses operate at different levels and reveal specific perception of citizenship expressed in language and symbolic forms. Citizenship The project focuses on citizenship and being citizen as a produced and negotiated notion and thereby goes beyond the commonly used de jure understanding applied by conventional state-centered, liberal approach (Kabeer). It follows researchers who have a transformative understanding of citizenship highlighting people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s possibilities to claim rights and exercise agency and the repercussions this has to improve livelihoods (Hickey & Mohan). They argue for a need to grasp how rights, responsibilities and entitlements are perceived, shaped and struggled for by people and link citizenship to social policy and the role people play in affecting and requiring services, perceiving people as active \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'makers and shapers\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' of policies (as opposed to users) and reject the notion of service providers (givers) (Cornwall & Gaventa). People, who represent various social institutions such as the media sector, should be perceived as duty bearers obliged to respond to people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s rights. For this study it implies a focus on the spheres between RR (duty bearer) and PAM (right holders) and the negotiation it gives rise to. In this light the study perceives citizenship and notions of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'good\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' citizens as political issues imbued with specific values which are rejected, appropriated and negotiated by PAM and RR in the spheres created by radio programs and the interfaces occurring at RR premises and where RR conduct their activities. Methodology The project will contribute empirically founded insights, although theoretically-informed as outlined above. One district is selected to reveal a multitude of stories, which with Nepal\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s diversity is more meaningful than attempts at generalisation.This does, however, not mean that specific research will not find issues of general relevance. Data will be collected during two periods of fieldwork from three interrelated domains: national, district-level and local with focus on the latter two. Field methods Fieldwork follows a semi-ethnographic approach designed to capture qualitative information regarding norms, feelings, representations and actions signifying various levels of social life. Different methods will be used to investigate and triangulate findings of the complex interplay between discourses and practices of PAM and RR. Institutional analysis focuses on RR interaction with PAM. The use of letters and phone calls to RR will be analysed to disclose PAM everyday concerns. Document analysis of program policies and broadcasting plan reveals RR strategies and perception of PAM. Civil society analysis will be conducted in Livang and one rural village for comparative studies. Longer periods of fieldwork in Rolpa gives scope to informally mingle with RR and locals and apply qualitative methods such as participant observation to investigate representations in practice to go beyond what policies and people say, and situational analysis of community events to study organising practices and to grasp contestations and encounters of different agendas and discourses. In-depth interviews with key actors to acquire different perspectives enable to scrutinise and discuss specific issues but also to study discourses deployed and thereby people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s representation and perception of PAM, RR and citizen agents. During each period of fieldwork 51 interviews will be conducted. I manage Nepali and will carry out semi-structured interviews myself with key informants. At district level with RR (5) interviews, key resource persons (5), NGO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (4), and leaders and political actors (4). One male and one female research assistant with local knowledge will be recruited to transcribe and translate all the interviews and conduct the interviews with locals to assure confidence. Interviews will be semi-structured in planning but as close to normal dialogue as possible. I intent to attend the interviews myself to be able to add questions for clarification and to grasp subtle nuances. However, as my presence might influence the interview, initial test interviews will reveal how to fine-tune the methodology. Interviews locally will be conducted with leaders and political actors (6), community members (8) and PAM (15). With PAM significant life stories (MS) will be collected to illustrate the multiple influences shaping individual aspirations and strategies (4). These will be conducted by me in collaboration with the research assistants. Timetable 1 sem is used for theory studies and project design. At a FMKJ course preliminary project design will be presented and feedback on the paper used for adjustments. 2 sem is scheduled 4 months fieldwork around September when the monsoon ends. 4 years as a media advisor with MS in Nepal has provided valuable insights, solid field experience and a network with key informants that I will apply here. A month in Kathmandu will be used to collect documents and interviews with key informants, followed by 3 months fieldwork in Rolpa. RR has confirmed their commitment to the project. The period in the field will also be used for document studies. A paper on the preliminary analysis of the empirical material will be shared at a FMKJ course 3 sem. During this semester I work at IMV and will also attend an international conference with either AMARC, IAMCR or ICA. 4 sem I attend a FMKJ theory course and do 2 months fieldwork. A year between fieldwork allows for initial analysis of the first in order to adjust the latter to encompass a perspective of change. 5 sem will be used on teaching at IMV, analysing empirical material and attending an international conference, and 6 sem focus is on writing the thesis.
Picture:
English project title:	Negotiating citizenry by means of radio: poor and marginalised people\\\\\\\'s aspirations and strategies in rural Nepal
English presentation: The overall objective of the proposed project is to study poor and marginalised (PAM) people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s aspirations and how these affect negotiation of citizenry by the influence of radio in rural Nepal. Based on fieldwork in Nepal, the project examines radio from the perspective of PAM and focus on the consequences for them to become active citizens in a context of major socio-political changes. The Maoist insurgency, launched 1996 near Livang in Rolpa district, killed more than 13000 people, injured and displaced thousands and affected millions. Root causes to the revolt can be found in the structural social inequalities into which PAM are trapped. Now 12 years later a fragile peace has been established, the king left his palace, and Nepal has embarked the path as a federal democratic republic. The project focusses on Nepal because the country exemplifies a very timely case. Parallel to the political changes, interdependent radios are emerging in rapid pace and envisaged to play a major role in developing communities and facilitating negotiation of citizenry. Media has been in the eye of the storm during the conflict and major resources and symbolic factors to be gained from the involved in the conflict. Nepal thus provides an opportunity to follow the reinterpretation of values of citizenry through media in the midst of major changes. The societal upheavals call for an analysis of the prospects for social change at individual and country level and the ways radio can facilitate negotiation of citizenry. To do so, the immediate objectives of the project are to: * Explore and discuss perceptions, experiences and aspirations of PAM and major factors influencing and diversifying these. * Examine how radio shape and are shaped by PAM\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s aspirations and strategies and what conflict and negotiations these give rise to. Radio Rolpa (RR) in Livang is selected as case study. Rolpa isn\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t exposed to local electronic media and RR, which is founded by a local human rights organisation, will soon begin its broadcasting and be the first community radio in Rolpa. This gives scope to explore the spheres and process of negotiating citizenry of PAM in a \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'virgin\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' area severely affected by the conflict. Theoretical and analytical framework There is no research on radio in relation to citizenship in Nepal. Studies on community media in the development of citizenry are few (Agosta). This project seeks to advance such insights on creation of citizens, understood as the ways PAMs perceptions of their needs, rights and responsibilities are shaped and negotiated by radio. Several scholars argue to bring the discussions of citizenship out of the \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'empirical void\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' (Kabeer, Gaventa). They challenge liberal understanding of citizenship as legal rights and responsibilities bestowed by the state and argue to focus on the ways people define, perceive and act on notions of citizenship. This project combines such a focus with a separate debate on the role of media to inculcate civic and national values. This allows for an analysis of socialisation through radio from PAM\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s perspective and an exploration of alternative media/networks (Rodríguez, Waisbord). Analysing PAM\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s engagement with RR will illuminate the spheres of PAMs lives and the radio, that will be crucial understanding how citizenry is negotiated by means of radio. The project draws on and combine three separately existing theoretical discussions within communication and development research and argues to combine these in order to study citizenry negotiation through radio from the perspective of PAM. Poor and marginalised Insights into the specific characteristics and strategies of PAM requires understanding of internal dynamics and inter-linkages. In a Nepalese context, definitions and experiences of PAM depend especially on caste and thereby socio-economic status, educational status and gender. Being embedded in a context of multiple socio-cultural influences the project follows Bourdieu who conceptualise agency as structured by collective norms, values, experiences and previous practises. The study will link this notion to the concept of aspirations in order to understand how agency, besides being shaped by structural influences embedded in the past, is guided by a future element (Appadurai). \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'Aspirations\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' as a concept is understood as a personal navigational capacity with strong collective cultural connotations that allow an element of dreaming. Individual aspirations are outcomes of shared values of the multiple cultures and communities to which individuals orient themselves (religion, caste, gender) but they are not necessarily uniformly agreed to. The study therefore focuses on the different communities PAM come from, the different forms of collective organisation they engage in and the influence of socialising agents as crucial for shaping their aspirations and strategies. Radio As radios are emerging in developing countries there is a vast and comprehensive literature on media and development. However, only few studies concern how PAM perceive and negotiate radio and how this affect their future strategies as citizens. This study seeks to advance such insights by focussing on how PAM actively engage in negotiating the meanings of citizens and citizenship through radio and what strategies it leads to. Such a focus rejects a reified connotation of radio as an institution. Radio in this study is seen as part of civil society, assisting in creating organisations and the social, cultural and political processes that are associated with building civil society. This is clear in rural Nepal; any group that wants to publicise its work, events, opinions or gather new members has few choices due to no print media and illiteracy. Inspired by scholars arguing for an ecology of agents which blends the institutional agents of the state and the associational resources of civil society (Mohan & Hickey), this project perceives implementation of stately policies through local bodies as institutional everyday practices in which meso-level actors such as bureaucrats and RR interpret, shape and contest policies and where PAM and local actors negotiate these. In order to understand the function of radio as an agent in the public sphere facilitating interpretation, dialogue and negotiation, the project will analyse the discourses underpinning their practices. Such discourses operate at different levels and reveal specific perception of citizenship expressed in language and symbolic forms. Citizenship The project focuses on citizenship and being citizen as a produced and negotiated notion and thereby goes beyond the commonly used de jure understanding applied by conventional state-centered, liberal approach (Kabeer). It follows researchers who have a transformative understanding of citizenship highlighting people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s possibilities to claim rights and exercise agency and the repercussions this has to improve livelihoods (Hickey & Mohan). They argue for a need to grasp how rights, responsibilities and entitlements are perceived, shaped and struggled for by people and link citizenship to social policy and the role people play in affecting and requiring services, perceiving people as active \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'makers and shapers\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' of policies (as opposed to users) and reject the notion of service providers (givers) (Cornwall & Gaventa). People, who represent various social institutions such as the media sector, should be perceived as duty bearers obliged to respond to people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s rights. For this study it implies a focus on the spheres between RR (duty bearer) and PAM (right holders) and the negotiation it gives rise to. In this light the study perceives citizenship and notions of \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'good\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' citizens as political issues imbued with specific values which are rejected, appropriated and negotiated by PAM and RR in the spheres created by radio programs and the interfaces occurring at RR premises and where RR conduct their activities. Methodology The project will contribute empirically founded insights, although theoretically-informed as outlined above. One district is selected to reveal a multitude of stories, which with Nepal\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s diversity is more meaningful than attempts at generalisation.This does, however, not mean that specific research will not find issues of general relevance. Data will be collected during two periods of fieldwork from three interrelated domains: national, district-level and local with focus on the latter two. Field methods Fieldwork follows a semi-ethnographic approach designed to capture qualitative information regarding norms, feelings, representations and actions signifying various levels of social life. Different methods will be used to investigate and triangulate findings of the complex interplay between discourses and practices of PAM and RR. Institutional analysis focuses on RR interaction with PAM. The use of letters and phone calls to RR will be analysed to disclose PAM everyday concerns. Document analysis of program policies and broadcasting plan reveals RR strategies and perception of PAM. Civil society analysis will be conducted in Livang and one rural village for comparative studies. Longer periods of fieldwork in Rolpa gives scope to informally mingle with RR and locals and apply qualitative methods such as participant observation to investigate representations in practice to go beyond what policies and people say, and situational analysis of community events to study organising practices and to grasp contestations and encounters of different agendas and discourses. In-depth interviews with key actors to acquire different perspectives enable to scrutinise and discuss specific issues but also to study discourses deployed and thereby people\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s representation and perception of PAM, RR and citizen agents. During each period of fieldwork 51 interviews will be conducted. I manage Nepali and will carry out semi-structured interviews myself with key informants. At district level with RR (5) interviews, key resource persons (5), NGO\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s (4), and leaders and political actors (4). One male and one female research assistant with local knowledge will be recruited to transcribe and translate all the interviews and conduct the interviews with locals to assure confidence. Interviews will be semi-structured in planning but as close to normal dialogue as possible. I intent to attend the interviews myself to be able to add questions for clarification and to grasp subtle nuances. However, as my presence might influence the interview, initial test interviews will reveal how to fine-tune the methodology. Interviews locally will be conducted with leaders and political actors (6), community members (8) and PAM (15). With PAM significant life stories (MS) will be collected to illustrate the multiple influences shaping individual aspirations and strategies (4). These will be conducted by me in collaboration with the research assistants. Timetable 1 sem is used for theory studies and project design. At a FMKJ course preliminary project design will be presented and feedback on the paper used for adjustments. 2 sem is scheduled 4 months fieldwork around September when the monsoon ends. 4 years as a media advisor with MS in Nepal has provided valuable insights, solid field experience and a network with key informants that I will apply here. A month in Kathmandu will be used to collect documents and interviews with key informants, followed by 3 months fieldwork in Rolpa. RR has confirmed their commitment to the project. The period in the field will also be used for document studies. A paper on the preliminary analysis of the empirical material will be shared at a FMKJ course 3 sem. During this semester I work at IMV and will also attend an international conference with either AMARC, IAMCR or ICA. 4 sem I attend a FMKJ theory course and do 2 months fieldwork. A year between fieldwork allows for initial analysis of the first in order to adjust the latter to encompass a perspective of change. 5 sem will be used on teaching at IMV, analysing empirical material and attending an international conference, and 6 sem focus is on writing the thesis.