Recent media studies in Europe have stressed the importance of studying socie- ties’ negotiations on migration and the ability of migrants and other ethnic minorities to participate in these processes. Social media platforms have been widely praised for their openness to culturally diverse voices and representations. For minorities who have often been ignored and misrepresented in traditional media, these platforms arguably provide an empowering space where they can self-represent their identities, provide counter-representations to large and diverse audiences, and enhance their careers as media professionals. The video streaming social media platform, YouTube, is at the forefront of media participation. However, YouTube also has been criticized for promoting a highly commercialized culture of self-commodification and entertainment that maintains the status quo instead of enabling progressive social change. This study presents the results of an examination of the YouTube scene in Finland, a country with the lowest percentage of foreign-born inhabitants in Northern and Western Europe, where few YouTubers with migrant backgrounds have become increasingly visible within the last few years. Drawing on interviews with YouTubers, the study presents new insights into ethnic minority participation on YouTube and challenges binary oppositions between commercialism, entertainment and social change.
Similar to the rest of Europe, multicultural programming in Finland has become risky for public broadcasting. Programs aimed at encouraging social inclusion may not attract sufficiently large audiences and may be attacked by ever louder antiimmigration voices. This article focuses on what seems to be an exception in this respect: Ali and Husu. Hosted by immigrants from Iran and Somalia-a stand-up comedian and a politician-this popular talk show aired on Finnish public radio between 2013 and 2016. Through interviews with the producers and the analysis of a selection of episodes, we examine Ali and Husu's daring and unapologetic ethnic/racial humor as well as its combination of funny and serious talk. Our findings underscore specific ways in which multicultural programming can use humor strategically to engage relatively large and diverse audiences in discussions meant to humanize immigrants and challenge social prejudices, while minimizing right-wing criticism and unintended readings.
In many European countries, the different local rap music scenes were originally founded by marginalized ethnic minority youths, and in academia, the genre is often discussed as resistance music that these youths employ to challenge oppressive cultural hegemonies. Thus, the focus in academic research has often been on rappers who are openly political and critical towards their societies in their music. However, as rap has become highly popular and influential within global youth culture, many academics have become increasingly concerned about its messages, arguing that commercial rap with apolitical, materialistic and self-obsessed lyrics have replaced rap’s anti-hegemonic resistance messages. This article challenges the idea that the majority of contemporary rap music is either harmful or insignificant and that only openly political and socially critical rap is worthy of academic praise. Instead, by focusing on the music of Finnish rappers of African descent, this article examines how rap music by marginalized ethnic minorities can challenge oppressive cultural hegemonies and foster cultural change because of an element that unites all rap: the central role of authenticity.
In many European nations, there have been a significant number of cinematic explorations of the experiences of migrants, a trend often called migrant cinema. By contrast, in Finland, where large-scale immigration is a relatively new phenomenon, there have historically been very few mainstream films that include migrant characters and practically none that explore the circumstances of migrant protagonists. Since the late 2010s, that has slowly begun to change, primarily due to filmmakers of migrant backgrounds who have drawn from their autobiographical experiences when making mainstream migrant cinema in Finland. Their films are important as cinema has a key role in representing divergent social groups and providing spaces for their political engagement. However, in other European countries, mainstream migrant cinema has drawn criticism – even when made by migrant filmmakers – since commercialism is seen to lead to depoliticization and representations that are counterproductive to migrant emancipation. By examining two Finnish examples where the creative impetus came from filmmakers of migrant backgrounds, and taking into account publicly available interviews with them, this article provides more nuance to the discussion of authorship, commercialism and political engagement in migrant cinema.
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