Cultural Representations of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Arabs in American Soap Operas: A Corpus-based Analysis

Through the current world of multi-media, television has emerged as a crucial tool of both knowledge transaction and culture formation. Among various TV programs, soap operas are known to turn into one of the most culturally influential ones due to constant exposure of viewer during a long time s...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mohammad Saber Khaghaninejad, Mehrnoosh Dehbozorgi, Mohammad Amin Mokhtari
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Lasting Impressions Press 2019-10-01
Series:International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.eltsjournal.org/archive/value7%20issue3/14-7-3-19.pdf
_version_ 1817993897126658048
author Mohammad Saber Khaghaninejad
Mehrnoosh Dehbozorgi
Mohammad Amin Mokhtari
author_facet Mohammad Saber Khaghaninejad
Mehrnoosh Dehbozorgi
Mohammad Amin Mokhtari
author_sort Mohammad Saber Khaghaninejad
collection DOAJ
description Through the current world of multi-media, television has emerged as a crucial tool of both knowledge transaction and culture formation. Among various TV programs, soap operas are known to turn into one of the most culturally influential ones due to constant exposure of viewer during a long time span. One of the current issues in media studies is the biased nature of media toward minorities (Mastro, 2015). This study has been an attempt to view the way American soap operas reveal Americans in comparison with three groups of minorities (i.e. Arabs, Europeans and Africans) in American society based on the frequency of words and collocations used for their representations. Using the Corpus of Contemporary America (COCA), this meta-analysis aimed at shedding light on the perceptions expressed toward American culture and that of the selected minorities consulting with Lewis (2006) model of cultural categorization. The results showed that America is presented as a place of justice and pursuing dreams while the other countries are represented as one-dimensional nations which should be known for their forgotten art and history, recreational and leisure concessions or broken families; things which are peripheral in the real modern life.
first_indexed 2024-04-14T01:45:01Z
format Article
id doaj.art-61acb06445184322af75042a9d537afa
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2308-5460
2308-5460
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-14T01:45:01Z
publishDate 2019-10-01
publisher Lasting Impressions Press
record_format Article
series International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies
spelling doaj.art-61acb06445184322af75042a9d537afa2022-12-22T02:19:34ZengLasting Impressions PressInternational Journal of English Language and Translation Studies2308-54602308-54602019-10-010703133141Cultural Representations of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Arabs in American Soap Operas: A Corpus-based AnalysisMohammad Saber Khaghaninejad0Mehrnoosh Dehbozorgi1Mohammad Amin Mokhtari2Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Shiraz University, IranDepartment of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Shiraz University, IranDepartment of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Shiraz University, IranThrough the current world of multi-media, television has emerged as a crucial tool of both knowledge transaction and culture formation. Among various TV programs, soap operas are known to turn into one of the most culturally influential ones due to constant exposure of viewer during a long time span. One of the current issues in media studies is the biased nature of media toward minorities (Mastro, 2015). This study has been an attempt to view the way American soap operas reveal Americans in comparison with three groups of minorities (i.e. Arabs, Europeans and Africans) in American society based on the frequency of words and collocations used for their representations. Using the Corpus of Contemporary America (COCA), this meta-analysis aimed at shedding light on the perceptions expressed toward American culture and that of the selected minorities consulting with Lewis (2006) model of cultural categorization. The results showed that America is presented as a place of justice and pursuing dreams while the other countries are represented as one-dimensional nations which should be known for their forgotten art and history, recreational and leisure concessions or broken families; things which are peripheral in the real modern life.http://www.eltsjournal.org/archive/value7%20issue3/14-7-3-19.pdfsoap operastereotypelewis’s model of cultural categorizationamerican society
spellingShingle Mohammad Saber Khaghaninejad
Mehrnoosh Dehbozorgi
Mohammad Amin Mokhtari
Cultural Representations of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Arabs in American Soap Operas: A Corpus-based Analysis
International Journal of English Language and Translation Studies
soap opera
stereotype
lewis’s model of cultural categorization
american society
title Cultural Representations of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Arabs in American Soap Operas: A Corpus-based Analysis
title_full Cultural Representations of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Arabs in American Soap Operas: A Corpus-based Analysis
title_fullStr Cultural Representations of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Arabs in American Soap Operas: A Corpus-based Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Cultural Representations of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Arabs in American Soap Operas: A Corpus-based Analysis
title_short Cultural Representations of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Arabs in American Soap Operas: A Corpus-based Analysis
title_sort cultural representations of americans europeans africans and arabs in american soap operas a corpus based analysis
topic soap opera
stereotype
lewis’s model of cultural categorization
american society
url http://www.eltsjournal.org/archive/value7%20issue3/14-7-3-19.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT mohammadsaberkhaghaninejad culturalrepresentationsofamericanseuropeansafricansandarabsinamericansoapoperasacorpusbasedanalysis
AT mehrnooshdehbozorgi culturalrepresentationsofamericanseuropeansafricansandarabsinamericansoapoperasacorpusbasedanalysis
AT mohammadaminmokhtari culturalrepresentationsofamericanseuropeansafricansandarabsinamericansoapoperasacorpusbasedanalysis