Community Radio and Transnational Identities

In this chapter Mitchell and Lewis summarise their TRE research into minorities use of radio. 'Sharing experience' workshops in contrasting regions of the UK, and participation in conferences in mainland Europe and beyond, facilitated exchanges with community radio staff and volunteers and with representatives of minority communities. Participatory Action Research involved a 'translation' of TRE's cross-cutting themes and their application to the realities of community radio experience. The approach led, as PAR does, to activities not foreseen in the original research plan - to broadcasts, podcasts, stories and reports shared among participants working in the same area but often previously unknown to each other. Particular issues are discussed: language - in different situations both a barrier and a bridge, the importance of archives in the cultural memory of minorities, and the infrastructural constraints from national to local, station level within which community radio operates.