Globalisation and national identity in Libya : the impact of satellite television on university students

• Main Author: Muftah, Amira R.
• Published: University of Exeter 2009
• Subjects: 303.482
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.504992

The value of globalisation is currently the subject of dispute. Some scholars and societies consider it in negative as well as in positive terms. Developing societies such as that in Libya were struggling to accommodate modernity before they experienced the full force of globalization, which, when it arrived, came rapidly. It is only logical to ask what happens to such developing societies when they feel the influence of globalisation. Many scholars have held up culture as one of the most important factors in the fornlation of national identity and nationalism. The thesis examines the impact of globalisation on culture, specifically the impact of globalization encountered in Libya via satellite television. Concerning culture, examination of the current situation in Libya requires consideration of the role of culture in Libyan national identity and the impact of regional Arab and Islamic cultures, including the effect of globalization on these cultural influences. The relationship between the Arab nation, the Islamic Ummah, and Libya must also be considered, given that the Arab region is more open than Libya to the effects of globalization, economically, politically and technologically. The researcher examines satellite television, one of the most important tools of globalisation, and its impact on Libyan identity. Libya was under economic and political sanctions between 1991-2003, hence satellite media represented the only way through which Libyans encountered globalisation prior to the lifting of sanctions. Satellite media started to become important from 1991, with CNN's live broadcasts of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait; people in the Arab world wishing to hear the news switched to satellite dishes and watched events unfolding on satellite television. Regional powers were keen to control this new technology and in a few years the number of regional annels exceeded a hundred. Hence this research extended to the role and influence of such regional powers over the only manifestation of globalisation that exists in Libya. To obtain data for the study, a questionnaire-based research was conducted at Garyounis University in eastern Libya, using a sample of three hundred third-year students from thee departments of finance, political science, and media and telecomumnication. The findings from this research were generally supportive of the hypothesis that younger generation Libyan are affected by media contents produced by satellite channels. The important finding from both this research and from general study of-work published on this topic was the substantial degree of influence exerted by regional Arab forces over the global tool of satellite television and how the medium is made use of effectively to shift the audience's allegiances and loyalties.