Media, Geography And Identity:Forming And Changing Of The National Identity In Southwest Minorities

In order to investigate how the combing of mass media and interpersonal communication and how it influence the national identity in southwest minorities, the communication mechanism of national identity in ethnics was analyzed based on the communication theory of identity, though the research about use of mass media in southwest minorities and questionnaire survey of national identity.Because of the diversity about the postmodern national identity, the ethnic national identity studies shift from essentialism to constructivism. Therefore, based on the "communication theory of identity" proposed by Hecht, and considering the "Imagined Communities" proposed by Anderson, the research was conducted from the angle that the imagination of postmodern state was constructed by mass media.National identity influenced by the factors from social, geographic and information dissemination. From the late Qing Dynasty to the founding of The People's Republic of China, the changing of connotation about "Chinese people" affected the boundaries of national identity in minorities. The formation of national identity in southwest minorities also has changed from ethnic to nation. Under the influence of mass media and interpersonal communication the feelings of national identity which is based on native emotion was strengthened continuously.The key part of this dissertation is the analysis of the relationship between media use and the national identity of the Southwest minorities. From the analysis of different variables, such as audience differences, viewing time, viewing status, viewing content, area (ethnic) differences, and combining different angles of these variables, how these variables could affect the national identity of ethnic minorities were studied. The following conclusions were drawn:?Age and education background become the key variables which affect minority media contact, and there is a strong correlation between media use and national identity in minority audiences.?About media content selecting, the different gender leads to different preferences on selected content, but there is no apparent correlation between the education level and the content preferences.?Increased penetration of television and internet associating with the decline of traditional media such as radio, indicate it is important to focus on the roles of television and the internet on affecting the acculturation of national identity for the minorities.?As a important mass media, minority media cannot be ignored because it also plays a supporting role in shaping the national identity of minorities.?The status of media contact determines the interpersonal communication and greatly influence and shape the national identity of ethnic minorities.?The differences between different minority geographical environments impacts the media use and the shape of national identity in minorities.This dissertation is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction, which described the object, methodology and the basic framework of this dissertation as well as to define the basic concepts and literature review. Chapter two to Chapter four are the main parts, which discussed the following topics:the imagine foundation of nationai identity and the factors that could impact the foundation; how did the national identity of ethnic minorities change from ethnic to national identity and the formation of the identity borders; the correlation analysis of media use and national identity of ethnic minorities. As the conclusion chapter, the chapter five rethought the relationship between communication and national identity.With the globalization of mass communication and China's social transformation, the conflct taking place in lifestyles and values when the minority individuals communicate with the outside world. Because of the mass media play an inermediary role when the minorities obtaining information, the individual's therefore more dependent on indirect information to cognitive the objective world. Nowadays, it becomes more difficult to avoid influence from others because of the influence of new social transformation. The individuals are exposed to more and more non-experienced and long-distance symbols through the media and image information life in the world. Only use the mass media to obtain the recognition of state and government in ethnic groups can contribute the unity and development of the country and help maintain the legitimacy of the government. It is in this sense, the importance of national identity of minorities was highlighted.