Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Media Use by Syrians in Sweden: Media Consumption, Identity, and Integration

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Diaspora and Media in Europe

Abstract

There are an estimated 18 million people living in the Syrian diaspora (Syrian Arab Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates 2014). In 2015, Sweden accepted the most Syrian asylum seekers per capita of any European Union Member State (Tanner, Overwhelmed by refugee flows, Scandinavia tempers its warm welcome. Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/overwhelmed-refugee-flows-scandinavia-tempers-its-warm-welcome, 2016, February 10). Through interviews conducted with Syrian immigrants in Stockholm, Sweden, this research examines how members of the Syrian diaspora consume various channels to follow the ongoing conflict in their home country, how these media affect the respondents’ understanding of both Syria and Sweden, and how these media channels are used in the process of acculturation and integration into the Swedish community. Questions regarding if, and how, members of the Syrian diaspora are communicating with countrymen left behind, how they are keeping up-to-date with developments of the conflict, and where they are able to find the most reliable information are also explored.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Anderson, B. (1991). Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appadurai, A. (1990). Disjuncture and difference in the global cultural economy. Theory Culture Society, 7(2), 295–310.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, J. W. (1997). Immigration, acculturation, and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 46(1), 5–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brinkerhoff, J. M. (2009). Digital diasporas: Identity and transnational engagement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, R. (1997). Global diasporas: An introduction. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Daymon, C., & Holloway, I. (2011). Qualitative research: Methods in public relations and marketing communications (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elias, N., & Lemish, D. (2008). Media uses in immigrant families: Torn between ‘inward’ and ‘outward’ paths of integration. International Communication Gazette, 70, 21–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Georgiou, M. (2005). Diasporic media across Europe: Multicultural societies and the universalism–particularism continuum. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 31(3), 481–498.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harding, J. (2013). Qualitative data analysis from start to finish. London: SAGE Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hansson, W. (2014, February 10). Nya terrorhotet mot Sverige. Aftonbladet. Retrieved from http://bloggar.aftonbladet.se/omvarlden/2014/02/nya-terrorhotet-mot-sverige/

  • Karim, K. H. (2003). Mapping diasporic mediascapes. In K. H. Karim (Ed.), The media of diaspora (pp. 1–17). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraidy, M. M. (2005). Hybridity, or the cultural logic of globalization. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • La Pastina, A. C., & Straubhaar, J. D. (2005). Multiple proximities between television genres and audiences: The schism between telenovelas’ global distribution and local consumption. Gazette, 67(3), 271–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, M., Freelon, D., & Aday, S. (2014). Blogs and bullets III: Syria’s socially mediated civil war (3). Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martí, G. M. H. (2006). The deterritorialization of cultural heritage in a globalized modernity. Journal of Contemporary Culture, 1, 92–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, J., & Glassner, B. (2004). The ‘inside’ and the ‘outside’: Finding realities in interviews. In D. Silverman (Ed.), Qualitative research: Theory, method & practice (2nd ed.). London: Sage Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morley, D. (2001). Belongings: Place, space and identity in a mediated world. European Journal of Cultural Studies, 4, 425–448.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oiarzabal, P. J., & Reips, U. D. (2012). Migration and diaspora in the age of information and communication technologies. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(9), 1333–1338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Padilla, A. M., & Perez, W. (2003, February). Acculturation, social identity, and social cognition: A new perspective. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 25(1), 35–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reporters Without Borders. (2014, January 8). Syria. World Report. Retrieved from http://en.rsf.org/reportsyria,163.html

  • Rinnawi, K. (2012). ‘Instant nationalism’ and the ‘cyber mufti’: The Arab diaspora in Europe and the transnational media. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(9), 1451–1467.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rumbaut, R. G. (2005). Sites of belonging: Acculturation, discrimination, and ethnic identity among children of immigrants. In T. S. Weiner (Ed.), Discovering successful pathways in children’s development: Mixed methods in the study of childhood and family life (pp. 111–164). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sakr, N. (2008). Diversity and diaspora: Arab communities and satellite communication in Europe. Global Media and Communication, 4(3), 277–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swedish Migration Agency. (2015, July 18). Översikter och statistik från tidigare år. Migrationsverket. Retrieved from http://www.migrationsverket.se/Om-Migrationsverket/Statistik/Oversikter-och-statistik-fran-tidigare-ar.html

  • Syrian Arab Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates. (2014, January 19). Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.mofa.gov.sy/

  • Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (2016, December 13). About 450 thousand were killed and more than millions were injured in 69 months of the start of the Syrian revolution. Retrieved from http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=56923

  • Syrian Refugees. (2016, September). The Syrian refugee crisis and its repercussions for the EU . Retrieved from http://syrianrefugees.eu

  • Tanner, A. (2016, February 10). Overwhelmed by refugee flows, Scandinavia tempers its warm welcome . Migration Policy Institute. Retrieved from http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/overwhelmed-refugee-flows-scandinavia-tempers-its-warm-welcome

  • Tomlinson, J. (1999). Globalization and culture. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNHCR. (2017). Syria emergency . United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Retrieved July 2, 2017, from http://www.unhcr.org/syria-emergency.html

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Researcher, Stockholm, Sweden

    Michelle Timmermans

Authors
  1. Michelle Timmermans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Karim H. Karim

  2. Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Ahmed Al-Rawi

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Timmermans, M. (2018). Media Use by Syrians in Sweden: Media Consumption, Identity, and Integration. In: Karim, K., Al-Rawi, A. (eds) Diaspora and Media in Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65448-5_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation