‘Contraflows’ in de literaire journalistiek? - Een vergelijkende analyse van de aandacht voor niet-westerse schrijvers uit binnen- en buitenland in Franse, Duitse, Nederlandse en Amerikaanse dagbladen, 1955-2005

In contrast to most studies on cultural globalization, this article examines the dynamics of cross-cultural exchange between and within (western) nation-states. Through content analysis, we examine the extent and composition of the newspaper coverage given to literary authors of non-western ethnic origin – both foreign and domestic – in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States between 1955 and 2005. Newspaper attention to ethnic minority authors appears to be related to the size of the ethnic minority population, their language proficiency and educational background and the extent to which key institutions in the national literary field are receptive to ethnic diversity, leading to extensive coverage in the U.S. and limited attention in Germany. Newspapers in countries that hold a central position in the literary world-system (United States) appear to be more strongly focused on domestic ethnic minority authors, whereas newspapers in less central countries cover more foreign authors originating in non-western countries, particularly when they have strong geo-linguistic ties with these countries (France). Finally, our results indicate that U.S. ethnic minority authors first gained recognition within the national literary field, and later on, through the centrality of the United States in the literary world-system, also acquired international literary prestige.