Paper short abstract:

Based on the analysis of its most visible contents present in the internet, this paper aims to discuss and explore the emergence and consolidation of ‘A migrant Portuguese voice’ in Canada through the production of an ‘ethnic minority media’ – The TV show Gente da Nossa.

Paper long abstract:

New networks of communication, are transforming our senses of locality/community and of "belonging" to either, national and transnational communities. Migrants, indigenous populations and other traditionally less "empowered" people, usually subjects of representation and not producers of contents, are using communication technologies in the construction of the idea of "nation" and "nationalism" producing technological mediated "imagined communities".

This paper corresponds to one research line of a broader project focused on the constituency of a 'migrant Portuguese voice' in Canada through the production of an 'ethnic minority media' - the TV show Gente da Nossa. The show is created, produced and presented by a team of Portuguese migrants and is broadcasted to all Canadian territory, Bermuda and also in the internet (www.gentetv.com).

Since internet is becoming a major medium for the "consolidation, strengthening and definition of collective identities" (Eriksen, 2006), and like any other (potential) multisided audience, the projects' first research stage used it as a privileged medium to access the Gente da Nossa contents. The main objectives at this stage are to explore the constituency of an "imagined Portuguese audience community" through the understanding of the processes of establishing a "migrant discursive space" supported by a media production, and scrutinize the most visible representations and discourses about Portugal, the Portuguese culture and the Portuguese-Canadian community. We are particularly interested in the rhetoric's of modernism and tradition, and also in the "sociotechinal frames" (Morely and Silverstone, 1990) involved in this communication process.