Cameroonians in Oslo, Diaspora, and Uses of the Media

In this study a series of in-depth interviews were conducted with Cameroonians living in Oslo in order to analyze the role of media in the way they constructed their identities. The article showed how through the use of email and Cameroonian websites transnational social networks were strengthened, and ethnic identities were maintained. It examined the role of public discourse in the host country’s mass media in the way Cameroonians negotiated their relationship with the host country. It also showed how the popularity of Anglo-American audiovisual products indicated a willingness to embrace global popular culture. This article’s main argument was that the construction of diasporic identities involved a multi-directional gaze; looking inward to the local context of the host country, backwards to the home country, and all around to the global context, and that the media played a major role in all these processes.