Middle Eastern Diasporas and Political Communication: New Approaches

This edited book explores the development and reconfiguration of Middle Eastern diasporic communities in the West in the context of increased political turmoil, civil war, new authoritarianism, and severe constraints on media in the Middle East.

Taking an interdisciplinary approach, incorporating political and intercultural communication, the contributors investigate the rationale for diasporic politics, as well as the role of the transnational media in shaping diasporic political mobilization. This analysis of the media, situated within specific case studies, encompassing Afghani, Armenian, Bahraini, Egyptian, Lebanese, Syrian, Tunisian, and Turkish diasporic communities, reveals the variegated ways it influences diasporic politics and facilitates political action, as well as its influence on democratic actors residing in the Middle East. These new insights into Middle Eastern diasporas, political communication, and political mobilization are based on developments in the Middle East since 2011, and ultimately highlight how diaspora groups in the West relate to the situation in the Middle East, particularly in their countries of origin.

The book is important reading for students and researchers working in political/intercultural communication and diasporic politics, as well as those with a general interest in the Middle East.

Ehab Galal is an Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen. He is the Project Leader of ＂Mediatized Diaspora: Contentious Politics among Arab Media Users in Europe.＂ His research focuses on Arab media, Islamic television, regime-critical media, media and migration, Arab media audiences, and mediatized diaspora.

Mostafa Shehata is a Lecturer of Media and Digital Communication in the Faculty of Mass Communication, Menoufia University, Egypt, as well as Associate Researcher at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He holds a PhD from Roskilde University in Denmark. His research focus is on political communication, intercultural communication, social movement, migration, and the Middle East.

Claus Valling Pedersen is an Associate Professor in Persian at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen. His main research interest is in modern literature from Iran, spanning the period from about year 1900 until today, and most of his publications are about literature. He has also completed research on contemporary Iranian history, society, and religion.