Dissertation Research: Where people Can Speak: Community Radio and Democratization in Postwar El Salvador

本论文研究项目资助的是纽约城市大学人类学专业的一名学生。这名学生将研究战斗结束后萨尔瓦多社区广播电台的出现如何促进民主文化的巩固。通过向以前被排除在公共生活之外的社会团体提供在这一公共论坛中代表其利益的机会，这些电台可以支持“公民社会”的发展，这意味着支撑民主的价值观、规范和社会机构。在一个没有报纸和地方电视台的地区，地方广播充当了社区自我表达的载体。方法包括在萨尔瓦多城市和农村的四个广播电台进行密集采访和参与者观察。将收集的数据将包括电台的组织、参与(和未参与)电台的当地行为者的身份、提供的节目的性质、听众的被动参与和作为参与者的参与。这项研究很重要，因为它将提供关于发展中国家民主化的一个鲜为人知的方面的信息，即当地广播电台如何塑造并受到当地社会和文化的影响。这一案例研究将成为促进类似欠发达地区民间社会建设的概括的基础。

This dissertation research project supports an anthropology student from City University of New York. The student will investigate how the emergence of community radio stations in El Salvador, after the fighting has ended, facilitates the consolidation of democratic culture. By providing access for social groups previously excluded form public life to represent their interests in this public forum, the stations can support the development of `civil society`, meaning the values, norms and social institutions that undergird democracy. In a region where newspapers and local television are non-existent, local radio serves as a vehicle for community self-expression. Methods include intensive interviews and participant observation in four radio stations, in urban and rural El Salvador. The data to be gathered will include the organization of the stations, and the identity of local actors involved (and not involved) in the stations, the nature of the programming offered, the involvement of listeners both passively and as participants. This research is important because it will provide information in a little-studied aspect of democratization in the developing world, how local radio stations shape and are influenced by local society and culture. This case study will be a basis for generalizations to promote the construction of civil society in similar less-developed areas.