Articulating Participation and Agonism: A Case Study on the Agonistic Re-articulations of the Cyprus Problem in the Broadcasts of the Community Broadcaster MYCYradio
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Abstract
The article starts with a discussion on the material and discursive components of conflict transformation, arguing for the need to complement the dominance of material and psychological approaches with a more discursive-cultural approach. This plea contextualises the analysis of a series of broadcasts of the Cypriot web community radio station, MYCYradio. Supported by the Mouffe’s (discourse-) theoretical conceptualisations of antagonism and agonism, the analysis focuses on the broadcasts of three MYCYradio shows. For each show, 10 episodes, broadcast between September and November 2013 are analysed, using discourse-theoretical analysis. Through this analysis, four main re-articulations are identified in the MYCYradio shows: the overcoming/decentralising of the divide, the deconstruction of the self (and the enemy), the reconfiguration of time, and the elaboration of the cost of the conflict. The analysis shows that community media, despite the many different problems they face, have particular abilities to support agonistic discourses.
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Keywords
community media, pariticipator media, Cyprus Problem, conflict transformation, discourse theory, antagonism, discourse-theoretical analysis, constructionism, agonism
References
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Carpentier, N. and De Cleen, B. (2007) ‘Bringing Discourse Theory into Media Studies’, Journal of Language and Politics, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 267–295.
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Carpentier, N., Lie, R. and Servaes, J. (2003) ‘Community Media – Muting the Democratic Media Discourse?’, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 51–68.
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Maso, I. (1989) Kwalitatief Onderzoek [Qualitative Research]. Amsterdam: Boom.
Matoko, F. and Boafo, K. (eds) (1998) The United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa: Component 1c, Peace Building, Conflict Resolution and National Reconciliation: Communications for Peace Building. Conceptual Framework and Strategy. Paris: UNESCO.
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Rodriguez, C. (2001) Fissures in the Mediascape: An International Study of Citizens’ Media. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Rodriguez, C. (2011) Citizens’ Media against Armed Conflict. Disrupting Violence in Colombia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Schlesinger, P. (1987) Putting ‘Reality’ Together. London/New York: Methuen.
Schmitt, C. (1996) The Concept of the Political. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sussman, G. and Estes, J.R. (2005) ‘KBOO Community Radio: Organizing Portland’s Disorderly Possibilities’, Journal of Radio Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 223–239.
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UNESCO (2002) Mainstreaming the Culture of Peace. Paris: UNESCO.
Wallensteen, P. (1991) ‘The Resolution and Transformation of International Conflicts: A Structural Perspective’, in Väyrynen, R. (ed.), New Directions in Conflict Theory: Conflict Resolution and Conflict Transformation. London: Sage, pp. 129–152.
Wester, F. (1987) Strategieën voor Kwalitatief Onderzoek [Strategies for Qualitative Research]. Muiderberg: Coutingho.
Wester, F. (1995) ‘Inhoudsanalyse als Kwalitatief-Interpreterende Werkwijze’ [Content Analysis as a Qualitative-Interpretative Method], in Hüttner, H., Renckstorf, K. and Wester, F. (eds), Onderzoekstypen in de Communicatiewetenschap [Research Types in Communication Science]. Houten/Diegem: Bohn Stafleur Van Loghum, pp. 624–649.
World Bank (2014) World Development Indicators. Cyprus. Available at: [http://data.worldbank.org/ country/cyprus], accessed on 25 September 2014.
Bailey, O., Cammaerts, B. and Carpentier, N. (2007) Understanding Alternative Media. Maidenhead: Open University Press/McGraw and Hill.
Barlow, W. (1988) ‘Community Radio in the US: The Struggle for a Democratic Medium’, Media, Culture and Society, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 81–105.
Briel, H. (2013) ‘The Uses of Oral History in Cyprus: Ethics, Memory and Identity’, Language and Intercultural Communication, Vol.13, No. 1, pp. 27–43.
Burr, V. (2003) Social Constructionism. London: Routledge.
Butler, J. (1993) Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of ‘Sex’. New York: Routledge.
Cadavid, A. and Moreno Martínez, Ó. (2009) ‘Evaluación Cualitativa de Radio Audiencias por la Paz en el Magdalena Medio Colombiano’ [Qualitative Assessment of Radio Audiences for Peace in the Magdalena Medio Region of Colombia], Signo y Pensamiento, Vol. 54, No. 28, pp. 276–299.
Carpentier, N. (2008) ‘Dichotomised Discourses of War. The Construction of the Self and the Enemy in the 2003 Iraqi War’, in Carpentier, N. and Spinoy, E. (eds), Discourse Theory and Cultural Analysis. Media, Arts and Literature. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press, pp. 29–54.
Carpentier, N. (2011) Media and Participation: A Site of Ideological-Democratic Struggle. Bristol, UK: Intellect.
Carpentier, N. and De Cleen, B. (2007) ‘Bringing Discourse Theory into Media Studies’, Journal of Language and Politics, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 267–295.
Carpentier, N. and Doudaki, V. (2014) ‘Community Media for Reconciliation. A Cypriot Case Study’, Communication, Culture and Critique, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 414–434.
Carpentier, N., Lie, R. and Servaes, J. (2003) ‘Community Media – Muting the Democratic Media Discourse?’, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 51–68.
Christophorou, C., Şahin, S. and Pavlou, S. (2010) Media Narratives, Politics and the Cyprus Problem. Report 1. Oslo: Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
Cyprus Community Media Centre (CCMC) (2009) Foundation Charter, Available at: [http://www.cypruscommunitymedia.org/images/stories/CCMCFoundationCharter.pdf], accessed on 1 May 2014.
Deleuze, G. and Guattari, F. (1984) Anti-Oedipus. Capitalism and Schizophrenia. London: Athlone Press.
Demmers, J. (2012) Theories of Violent Conflict: An Introduction. London: Routledge.
Fraser, C. and Restrepo Estrada, S. (2001) Community Radio Handbook. Paris: UNESCO.
Galtung, J. (1969) ‘Violence, Peace and Peace Research’, Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 167–191.
Galtung, J. (2009) Theories of Conflict. Definitions, Dimensions, Negations, Formations. Oslo: Transcend.
Hall, S. (1973) ‘The Determination of News Photographs’, in Cohen, S. and Young, J. (eds), The Manufacture of News: Social Problems, Deviance, and the Mass Media. London: Constable, pp. 176–190.
Hjarvard, S. and Kristensen, N.N. (2014) ‘When Media of a Small Nation Argue for War’, Media, War & Conflict, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 51–69.
Jabri, V. (1996) Discourses on Violence: Conflict Analysis Reconsidered. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Keen, S. (1986) Faces of the Enemy. New York: Harper and Row.
Kellner, D. (1992) The Persian Gulf TV War. Boulder/San Francisco/Oxford: Westview Press.
klipp+klang (2009) Integration durch Freie Radios. Die Bedeutung von mehr- und fremdsprachigen Sendungen für die Integration von Migrantinnen und Migranten. [Integration through Free Radio Stations. The importance of Multi- and Foreign Language Broadcasts for the Integration of Female and Male Migrants]. Zürich: klipp & klang radiokurse. Available at: [http://www.klippklang.ch/download.php?id=10_4c8af4cf ], retrieved 13 October 2012.
Laclau, E. and Mouffe, C. (1985) Hegemony and Socialist Strategy: Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London: Verso.
Lederach, J.P. (2003) The Little Book of Conflict Transformation. Intercourse, PA: Good Books.
Maso, I. (1989) Kwalitatief Onderzoek [Qualitative Research]. Amsterdam: Boom.
Matoko, F. and Boafo, K. (eds) (1998) The United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa: Component 1c, Peace Building, Conflict Resolution and National Reconciliation: Communications for Peace Building. Conceptual Framework and Strategy. Paris: UNESCO.
Mitchell, C.R. (1981) The Structure of International Conflict. Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Mouffe, C. (1997) The Return of the Political. London: Verso.
Mouffe, C. (2005) On the Political. London: Routledge.
Mouffe, C. (2013) Agonistics. Thinking the World Politically. London: Verso.
MYCYradio (2013a) MYCYradio Foundation Charter. Available at: [http://mycyradio.eu/thecharter/], accessed on 1 May 2014.
MYCYradio (2013b) MYCYradio. Meet our Broadcasters. Available at: [http://mycyradio.eu/who-weare/broadcasters/], accessed on 12 November 2013.
Orme, B. (2010) Broadcasting in UN Blue: The Unexamined Past and Uncertain Future of Peacekeeping Radio. Washington, DC: Center for International Media Assistance.
Papadakis, Y. (2006) ‘Toward an Anthropology of Ethnic Autism’, in Papadakis, Y., Peristianis, N. and Welz, G. (eds), Divided Cyprus: Modernity, History, and an Island in Conflict. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, pp. 66–83.
Pondy, L.R. (1967) ‘Organisational Conflict: Concepts and Models’, Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 12, pp. 296–320.
Ramsbotham, O., Miall, H. and Woodhouse, T. (2011) Contemporary Conflict Resolution. Oxford: Polity.
René, M-F. and Antonius, R. (2009) ‘La Diversité Vue par un Journal Communautaire Maghrébin à Montréal’ [Diversity Seen by a Maghreb Community Journal in Montreal], Global Media Journal – Canadian Edition, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 91–111.
Rodriguez, C. (2001) Fissures in the Mediascape: An International Study of Citizens’ Media. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
Rodriguez, C. (2011) Citizens’ Media against Armed Conflict. Disrupting Violence in Colombia. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Schlesinger, P. (1987) Putting ‘Reality’ Together. London/New York: Methuen.
Schmitt, C. (1996) The Concept of the Political. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sussman, G. and Estes, J.R. (2005) ‘KBOO Community Radio: Organizing Portland’s Disorderly Possibilities’, Journal of Radio Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 223–239.
The Cyprus Oral History and Living Memory Project (2011) Available at: [http://www.Frederick.ac.cy/research/oralhistory/], accessed on 1 May 2014.
UNESCO (2002) Mainstreaming the Culture of Peace. Paris: UNESCO.
Wallensteen, P. (1991) ‘The Resolution and Transformation of International Conflicts: A Structural Perspective’, in Väyrynen, R. (ed.), New Directions in Conflict Theory: Conflict Resolution and Conflict Transformation. London: Sage, pp. 129–152.
Wester, F. (1987) Strategieën voor Kwalitatief Onderzoek [Strategies for Qualitative Research]. Muiderberg: Coutingho.
Wester, F. (1995) ‘Inhoudsanalyse als Kwalitatief-Interpreterende Werkwijze’ [Content Analysis as a Qualitative-Interpretative Method], in Hüttner, H., Renckstorf, K. and Wester, F. (eds), Onderzoekstypen in de Communicatiewetenschap [Research Types in Communication Science]. Houten/Diegem: Bohn Stafleur Van Loghum, pp. 624–649.
World Bank (2014) World Development Indicators. Cyprus. Available at: [http://data.worldbank.org/ country/cyprus], accessed on 25 September 2014.
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“Articulating Participation and Agonism:: A Case Study on the Agonistic Re-Articulations of the Cyprus Problem in the Broadcasts of the Community Broadcaster MYCYradio”. 2017. Cyprus Review 27 (1): 129-53. https://cyprusreview.org/index.php/cr/article/view/60.