| Yhteenveto: | This case study of community radio station IDA Helsinki explores how volunteers of the organisation construct narratives around personal and shared identities, belonging, informal learning, self-expression, personal development and agency. It examines community participation from an emic-insider perspective and assesses the value of community projects of this nature as a vehicle for self-actualisation and social change. The research angle and focus of this study are unique as I integrate the impacts of community participation and volunteer work from an emic perspective within a community radio space in the context of Finland.
The collected data consists of 11 semi-structured interviews with community volunteers and is analysed using a narrative-discursive methodology. This comprises a narrative analysis of themes across the interviews and the application of discourse analytic tools to survey the language choices, turns of phrase, positioning and framing that speakers use to present themselves and construct their stories. The research is conducted through a social-constructionist lens, acknowledging that reality and identity are constructed through an individual’s interaction with society and culture and that learning and self-development occur in relation to others as a collaborative process.
I identify 6 major themes in my analysis pertaining to belonging and community, volunteering and transformative learning, navigating participation and responsibility, identity work, transparency and accessibility, and community radio as implicit political action. Through my interpretation of these accounts of lived experience and a critical examination of relevant selected literature, I extrapolate the societal implications of these kinds of grassroots organisations, the significance of their existence, and their potential in improving representation, dismantling hegemonic structures and cultivating societal wellbeing.
|
|---|