Conclusion

Abstract

The conclusion of this volume distils the main conceptual and methodological articulations emerging from the research. It reconciles the Heideggerian concept of ‘thrownness’ with reflexive ethnography to articulate the situatedness of the researcher in the field. It also elaborates on the ethnographic research process that, in and by itself, is worthy of systematic critique and reflection. This process un-conceals a more complex structure that fuses the affective, the empirical, the ethical, and the existential. The chapter then turns to the ethnographic evidence which points to a clear disjunction between ‘Arabness’ as a discursive, pan-Arabist narrative and ‘Arabness’ as a structure of feeling about the world. The ethnographic research uncovered varied and complex media uses by the children in the three sites. Again, Heidegger’s concept ‘equipment’ was borrowed to unpack children’s media uses because, as a concept, it captured the functional ways in which the children used the media that enabled them to extend beyond the confines of their material realities.