Reading the Diaspora

Sammanfattning: This thesis set the goal to contribute to the fields of diaspora studies and cultural studies from a media and communication studies angle by addressing the blank spots ‘white minorities’ and book use. White diasporas are nearly invisible within academia and very often ‘under the radar’ in society as well. Books are underresearched within media studies in favour of other media. On the other hand, previous studies on the reception of news, television and social media by ethnically‑defined audiences also warned against ethnicity as the only focus of the research, because it possibly essentialises the conclusions and masks the sociocultural division in the audience made up of displaced people. This thesis explores what role do books play in the everydays of Hungarians in Sweden and how they articulate cultural identities through reading, without overemphasising the Hungarianness if it is not an all‑encompassing pattern. In order to answer the research questions, the middle‑class Hungarian audience around Lund was chosen as an extreme, theoretical case because of their potential transculturality. 11 women were interviewed, their diaspora settlement varied from ten months to 33 years. Two reading experiences were identified, an escapist immersive and a more critical. In the acculturation process shared by all women, after moving to Sweden, books are no priority because of practical reasons, but by the time the country becomes the ‘here home’, the library will be moved to mark the change. This discursive repertoire from the past is partly extended by books in Hungarian, purchased at every visit in the country, that are seen as ordinary media that de‑ethnicises the readers. The home media also blends with newly purchased books in Swedish or in English for those arrived 8+ years ago. These are rather seen as unavoidable due to availability reasons than affective. The language of the books is emphasised much more by the Hungarian female readers around Lund than the country of origin of the authors, and thus articulates their language‑based cultural identity, that varies from separated to transcultural. Finally, this thesis places books in the digitalized media environment, and calls for the re‑evaluation of the media environments of displaced people.