In the early 2020s, a quarter of the population in both Germany and Sweden had a migrant background. Post-migrants are increasingly claiming the right to participate in the public sphere by producing their own media, which mainstream media (MSM) rarely recognize. This study used the theoretical concept of voice and listening to analyze German and Swedish podcasts that deal with issues of life in a post-migrant society. Which frames are privileged in these podcasts? How do corporate media respond to these media productions? Through the generic frames of human interest and responsibility, the podcasters draw attention to the living conditions of marginalized people, which they argue have an impact on society as a whole. In particular, the recurring theme of racism in society has provoked a certain response from the mainstream media, i.e. the inclusion of these issues in media coverage and the podcasters in MSM production.

Sweden is a post-migrant society where the suburbs of the largest cities in Sweden have become the symbol of failed integration in public debate and media. To broaden the representation, young people from the suburbs use podcasting to challenge and present their own perspectives. Based on content analysis and interviews with selected podcasters, this article explores how they position themselves in relation to mainstream media and society by focusing on their distinct media practices. The study suggests that these podcasts can be perceived as sites of cultural production where the articulation of mundane practices of solidarity and resistances are central. This is illustrated in the content and the guests that are invited and reflected in how the podcasters articulate their aims and goals, as well as how they position themselves in relation to other actors and spheres.

In both academic and popular discourses, there has been much talk of a mobile revolution in Kenya. Yet how revolutionary has this been for women? The aim of this chapter is to explore how women’s mobile phone usage is related to the negotiation of gender roles in everyday life and how and in what situations mobile phones can empower women. The data was gathered in Uasin Gishu County, an area which is predominantly rural but also home to the city of Eldoret and its surrounding peri-urban areas. The living situation differs widely for women in rural, peri-urban, and urban areas, which influences women’s appropriation of mobile phones. The chapter is based on 30 semi-structured interviews with Kenyan women and asks: how do Kenyan women in rural, peri-urban, and urban areas use mobile phones? When and how do mobile phones empower Kenyan women?

This article, by partly adopting a historical perspective, examines the introduction of new media in a Kenyan rural village, Kapkoi, and how it changes the communication ecology in the village. Further it explores how people in Kapkoi use and ascribe meaning to media. The article argues that categories such as gender, age and financial situation influence people's access to and use of media and demonstrates how media use can simultaneously reinforce and challenge power structures. Moreover, it highlights the clear digital divide between rural areas and urban centres, and yet suggests that the introduction of new media is partly owing to the connection between the urban and the rural and that media and communications technologies sustain and increase the connectedness of the local.

This article explores how increased media access and use influences Kenyan women’s everyday life and alters the domestic space. Based on 30 in-depth interviews with women in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya, the article demonstrates that women have incorporated newly gained media into their daily lives and routines. Increased media access has opened up the home and turned the domestic sphere from a secluded place into a connected space in which women can receive input from,connect with and interact with the world beyond their immediate surroundings whilst simultaneously remaining at homeand fulfilling their traditional gender roles. Women’s media use thus reinforces their connection to the domestic sphereand the gendered division of labour. Although it has the potential to challenge gender inequalities, the extent to which this occurs depends on the individual woman’s ability to act on the imagin aries and ideas that media carry.

This editorial introduces the thematic issue of “Media and Communication between the Local and the Global”. It does so first by presenting the origin of this thematic issue: the Media, Globalization and Social Change division at the NordMedia2017 conference. The thematic issue is then anchored theoretically through discussion of the widely conceived notion of mediation as a technological, symbolic and ethical process―highlighting the interest in how media actors and communication technologies, practices and artefacts mediate between global phenomena and local contexts, which is what unites the contributions to this thematic issue. Last, the final section of this editorial introduces the articles, which coalesce around three broad themes: migration, marginalised communities, and consumption.