This study on minority media employs a quantitative methodology encompassing a sample of migrant communities in Kuwait to explore their uses, consumption patterns, gratifications and the cultural spaces through which identities are mediated and potentially recreated. Fieldwork data was collected through a survey questionnaire between October 2024 and February 2025. The study capitalizes on the social identity theory (SIT), which posits that part of what constitutes people’s perceptions about themselves, and others results from the social groupings they belong to and interact with. SIT also helps explain how identities may be shaped and reinforced through selective media consumption patterns. The research considers the construction of cultural identity and ethnicity expressions and draws on the conception of ethnicity and ‘imagined communities’ from Stuart Hall and Benedict Anderson to explore ethnicity as a dynamic and negotiated process shaped through acculturation and migration. This study responds to the lack of research addressing this phenomenon as well as concerns about limited or negative portrayals of immigrants in the host societies. Findings indicate that the rise of digital platforms has enabled minority media in Kuwait to expand, and that platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube and satellite TV have become instrumental compensatory media spheres enabling communities to connect, communicate and preserve heritage otherwise absent in mainstream Kuwaiti media.
Miladi et al. (Wed,) studied this question.