Immigrant Generations, Media Representations, and Audiences

“Immigrant Generations, Media Representations, and Audiences addresses an important absence in the field of communication studies by exploring the complex interaction of race, immigration experience, diaspora and media. The contributions are wide-ranging in their diversity, method, and focus. Together, they point to the rich, racialized tapestry of immigrants in the United States and the ways that media matter – textual representation, audience meanings and affect, and the spaces for meaningful production.”  
--David C. Oh, Associate Professor of Communication Arts, Ramapo College of New Jersey  
 “This edited book is timely and significant especially at a time when immigrants and their generations are rediscovering their cultural practices and using new media technology to express their views on global issues in the public spheres to enhance cross-cultural understanding, cultural preservation, and connection with the homeland. I recommend this edited book to scholars, students and professionals interested in communication studies, migration studies, African studies, and diaspora studies.”    --Ola Ogunyemi, Founder/Principal Editor of the Journal of Global Diaspora and Media 
This anthology examines how immigrants and their US-born children use media to negotiate their American identity and how audiences engage with mediated narratives about the immigrant experience (cultural adjustments, language use, and the like). Where this work diverges from other collections and monographs is the area is its intentional focus on how both first- and second-generation Americans’ complex identities and hybrid cultures interact with mediated narratives in general, alongside the extent to which these narratives reflect their experience. In a three-part structure, the collection examines representations, “zooms in” to explore the reception of these narratives through autoethnographic essays, and concludes in a section of analysis and critique of specific media. 
Omotayo O. Banjo is Associate Professor at the University of Cincinnati, USA. As a researcher, she focuses on representation and audience responses to racial and cultural media. Her work has been published in several peer reviewed journals, including among them Race and Social Problems and Communication Theory. She is the editor of Media Across the African Diaspora: Content, Audiences, and Influence and, with Kesha Morant Williams, co-editor of Contemporary Christian Culture: Messages, Missions, and Dilemmas.