Premium
Reterritorialization in the Micromediascape: Indonesian Regional Television amid the Rise of Normative M edia‐ I slam
Author(s) -
Barkin Gareth
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
visual anthropology review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.346
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 1548-7458
pISSN - 1058-7187
DOI - 10.1111/var.12003
Subject(s) - indonesian , articulation (sociology) , normative , ethnography , narrative , broadcasting (networking) , ethnic group , state (computer science) , sociology , public broadcasting , identity (music) , media studies , gender studies , political science , anthropology , law , aesthetics , art , literature , computer network , philosophy , linguistics , algorithm , politics , computer science
In I ndonesia, national broadcasting in the 21st century has been characterized by increasing Muslim normativity across the spectrum of commercial programming, along with sectarian clashes that have further marginalized religious minorities. This article investigates the case of a small, regional television station in one of the country's C hristian‐majority provinces to explore the ways that such minorities have exploited a relaxation of broadcast regulations to form distinctive and insular micromediascapes within the larger field of Indonesian media culture. I suggest the need for a more graduated articulation of A rjun Appadurai's “mediascape” concept that foregrounds the import of local, small‐scale production and broadcasting, particularly to marginalized groups. Based on an ethnographic study in M anado, N orth S ulawesi, I argue that local TV has risen to the foreground of the province's public culture in a manner that mobilizes its religious, ethnic, and historical identity narratives to reterritorialize audiences and reify the region's distinction from the state.