The Media and Its Representation of Islam and Muslim Women - Term Paper Example

?Your The Media and its Representation of Islam and Muslim Women In post 9/11, coverage of Islam and Islamic cultures skyrocketed in western media. From Oprah to The New Yorker and FOX news, Muslim portrayal is increasingly stereotypical and misrepresented. There are growing concerns about such representation among not only Muslim communities, schoalrs and journalists but non-Muslims who know the reality are also apprehensive about the consequences (Munro).Steven Franklin of Columbia Journalism Review attribute such portrayal as, “worn stereotypes, inaccurate references [and] less than informed sources [mean that]…Islamic nations are often portrayed in news as uniformly intolerant and anti-democratic” (qtd. in Munro). Anti-Muslim movement or sentiment in western media in general and American media in particular is an inevitable repercussion of Soviet disintegration. After utilizing Soviet Union as scapegoat for decades, westerners seeking for a new enemy soon found fundamentalist or most frequently used as synonymous to Muslims through their media. This scenario led to the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racist attitude which is continuously reinforced in the minds of general public in west. Media imagery, western ethnocentrism, and American geographic isolation added to American insularity. Moreover, World Trade Centre bombings stamped on the fears and self righteousness of western mind. It led to racial hatred, violence against Muslims, vandalizing mosques, and targeting Muslim businesses. Media contributed profoundly in negative representation of Islam and Muslims. Muslims laws and customs are always not only reported out of context but constantly reinforced through images and text in newspapers, television, and films. Arabs are portrayed as terrorists in particular while Muslims are represented to be fundamentalists (Goren). Media shapes and reshapes the cultural identities and perspectives in people’s mind. Shaheen refers Hollywood as an effective teacher for young minds who are taught from 1896 that Muslims are Arabs and they are insensitive, brutal, fanatics, uncivilized, and greedy. They are only involved in killing and oppressing weak in their society and civilized foreigners (2).Islam is generally perceived as a Middle East phenomenon while Pakistan is also considered in for good measures. However, this is not recent trend because similar negative interpretations and representations tainted media reports about Iran and Lebanon in past as well (Goren). When esteemed international news magazine, such as Newsweek’s reporting a cover story on the rise of “militant Islam” without noticing other dimensions of the faith under-discussion, it registers as a persistent image in viewer and readers. It is highly unlikely to find articles and reports in mainstream media on Islamic art, poetry, philosophy, or architecture. There is little or no acknowledgment of the diversity of Muslim culture all over the world. Muslims may have their roots in Middle East, Bosnian Muslims are white, Indonesian and Malaysians are Orientals, and Senegalese and Sudanese or Africans are blacks. Initially, “Muslim fundamentalist” were either “Shiite” geographically residing in Iran, Lebanon, or Pakistan with some exceptions in other areas. Today the fear is beyond boundaries, it belongs to religion. A Pakistani news paper “The News” observes in its editorial that western media counters Islam in a terrified, unaware, and aggressive manner. Rather than representing Islam in derogatory manner, they should dig in-depth and try to understand the diverse history and tradition which will give them the opportunity to learn and appreciate countless positive aspects of Islam and Muslim culture (qtd. in Goren). Ahmed explains the role of western media in prevailing and upholding negative image of Islam and attributes it as, “The evil demon: the media as master” (qtd. in Bennett 9).Edward Said also explore this media discrimination extensively in his book ,Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. He attributes anti-Muslimism as an acceptable form of racism and argues, “Malicious generalizations about Islam have become the last acceptable form of denigration of foreign culture” (p.xii). Taking Oklahoma City Bombings in 1995 as example, media not only immediately accused Muslims for the incident but also reported at least one Muslim’s detainment. However, as the incident unfolded and investigations proceeded, actual preparatory happened to be an American white supremacist. Rana Kabbani reveals in the introduction of her book in 1994 that she failed to recognize any of her own comments in the interview conducted by Vanity Fair reporter and published as ‘catalogue of horrors of Islam’(qtd. in Bennett 9).Kabbani (1989) also states, “Western culture remains permeated with anti-Islamic reference. Today’s media coverage carries echoes’, she continues ‘of medieval polemic’” (qtd. in Bennett 9). Bhikhu Parekh identifies the how media coverage of Rushdie affair created the orthodoxy among Muslims that associated Muslim identity and solidarity with supporting the fatwa and those who were against killing him couldn’t even dissociate themselves, let alone condemning the fatwa(qtd. in Bennett 9).Edward Said (1981) argues, “The canonical orthodox coverage of Islam that we find in the academy, in the government, and in the media is all interrelated and has been more diffused, has seemed more persuasive and influential, in the West than any other ‘coverage’ or interpretation”(qtd. in Falah 303).Said emphasized that this coverage is far from truth or accuracy and is only “tangentially” associated with the authentic knowledge of Islam. From such coverage, only a particular image of Islam and a particular approach for understanding Islamic worlds has emerged (qtd. in Falah 303). Besides Said, several authors observed and highlighted this persistent demonization of Islam by western particularly American media. Jack Shaheen (2001) reported numerous instances of stereotyping of Arabs and Muslims in films and television. He observes that Arab and Muslims representation in media is much like Jews portrayal by Nazis in pre-World War II period (Qtd in. Falah 303).Karen Armstrong associated this negative imagery to the time of medieval Christian Crusades, it was the time when Islam was represented as “the enemy of civilization” (pp.179-180 qtd. in Falah 303).Moreover, Ghareeb (1983) explains past and present negative imagery of Muslims and Islam as most of American population has superficial and ephemeral exposure to Muslim history and culture throughout their educational experience. This limited exposure often confirms and reinforce erroneous stereotypes of Muslims and Islam (qtd. in Falah 303).Chami (2003) argues that average American has little or erroneous knowledge of Muslims and Islamic culture because of selective and seldom biased information media feeds the general public on (qtd. in Falah 303).Van Dijk (1991) regards it as “elite racism” that explains the pervasiveness of such stereotypes in societal, corporate, and cultural institutions like press and government which needs to be analyzed (qtd. in Falah 303). West and Islam conflict is not new; it can be easily traced back to the early days of Islam when Islam and Christianity were involved in crusades and in Ottoman and Moorish control in Europe. Islam’s widespread acceptance and increasing Muslim rule was intolerable for western elite. Therefore, besides battles with Muslims, they started maligning Islam and spread negative imagery and words about Islam. The war of words was to ensure that westerners may not convert to Islam and remain confused (Hassan qtd. in Akel).In today’s world, it is quite easy to connect the dots. With little or no understanding of Islam and its history, west found another enemy, a new demon which substituted the Red menace of the Cold War, and it is radical Islam (Agha qtd in Akel) Role and image of Muslim women is narrowly constructed and represented in United States’ media. Falah analyses the situation in print media that builds on recent scholarship of this kind of stereotyping in mainstream press (300).Moreover, Zubrigg found stereotypical imagery of Saudi women in academic and popular literature as erotic, exotic, and oppressed “other”( qtd. in Falah 300).In the same way, Wilkins(1997) observes, “In an analysis of 230 pres photos that mainstream reportage is rife with orientalized stereotypes of Muslim women as the passive emblems of “collectivistic” traditional society, and hence as the antithesis of Western individualism”(qtd. in Falah 300).Moreover, Bullock (1999) confronts the inclination of representing headscarf or Hijab as a symbol of oppression and explains various reasons for Muslim women choosing to cover themselves (qtd. in Falah 300). In post-September 11period, media developed and directed public sentiments negatively and attribute Arabs and Muslims as terrorists rather than individuals who committed that. Sensationalized media representation stirred strong anti-Muslim/Islam rhetoric from political right (Cainkar 4). Muslims in western communities reported numerous incidents of discrimination, investigations, and property abduction (Shirazi 15). With unfolding “war against terrorism,” Islam continued to be represented with suspicion and hostility. Veil was considered to be associated with Islam and oppression rather than individual choice (Shirazi 15).Bailey and Gilane observed that after September 11, veil or Hijab became synonymous to the cultural and religious differences between west and Islam which were reinforced to be unbridgeable, fearful, and foreign(8). Stereotypical images and generalization about Islam and Muslims in media raise countless questions associated with the faith and people in the mind of non-Muslims. During a long-held conflict between “West” and “Islam”, western media has strongly influenced and altered the minds of non-Muslims through prejudice and exploitation of Islamic traditional and ideology, especially when it comes to women, their oppression, and Hijab. Biased representation give rise to misconception, such as, women wearing Hijab must be forced to wear it, she must be bald underneath, they sleep with Hijab, and terrorist links are common. Another perception is that Hijab is not religious, but cultural which is associated with Pre-Islamic Era and symbolizes oppression or women’s restricted role in society. Islamic Hijab is, in fact, religious not traditional or cultural; it represents Muslim women’s poise and equality. The actual example of Pre-Islamic Hijab is that of Taliban who restrict women’s activity and constrict their rights and roles. Media utilizes such examples to misrepresent the whole Islamic culture and tradition and ignores the vast majority of Muslims (Goren).It is noticeable to study Taliban history, their birth and support by American funding during conflict with Soviet Union. Goren refers to two Muslims women who had no idea that such incidents had any associations with Islam or its teachings. Such representations, they say, opened our minds and inspired us to learn more about real teachings of Islam. Women rights, such as education, right to marry, freedom of speech, and selecting life partner is usually represented to be restricted which is far from the genuine Islamic teachings and even practices in Muslims societies. Images with bombings, terrorist activities, and women treatment, such as, mutilated nose or ear, killed for honor, and stoning of women are such horrible images which influence not only non-Muslim but also leaves Muslims minds shocked and questioning their reliability. Furthermore, Muslim women face difficulty in getting education in multicultural environment; face harassment from other racial groups, even policies in some countries forbade them to use Hijab. The situation is no doubt, bleak and western societies should get the facts straight in order to avoid another form of racial discrimination. Work Cited Akel, Bassil. “Islam and the western media.”Islamfortoday.com.Islamfortoday, n.d.Web. 11 Feb.2011. Bailey, David and Gilane Tawadros, eds.Veiling, representation, and contemporary art. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2003.Print. Bennett, Clinton. Muslims and modernity: an introduction to the issues and debates. New York, London: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data, 2005.Print. Cainkar, Louis. “The impact of the September 11 attacks and their aftermath on Arabs and Muslims communities in the United States.”GSC Quarterly 13(Summer-Fall 2004) http://programs.ssrc.org/gsc/publication/quarterly13/cainkar.pdf. Falah, Ghazi-Walid. “The visual representation of Muslims/Arab women in daily newspapers in United States.”Geographies of Muslim women: gender, religion, and space. Ed. Falah, Ghazi-Walid. New York: The Guilford Press, 2005.300-303.Print. Goren, Derya. “Muslims portray on western media: Islam and the west –looking back on history.” free-books-online.org.Free Books Online, 2006.Web.12 Feb.2011. Munro, Maro. “Sensationalism veils: the portrayal of Muslim women in western news media.”International.gc.ca. Centre for Intercultural Learning, n.d.Web.11 Feb.2011. Shirazi, Faegheh. “Introduction.”Muslim women in war and crisis: representation and reality. Eds. Shirazi, Faegheh. New York: University of Texas Press, 2010.15-20.Print. Said, Edward.”Covering Islam: how the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of the world. Revised edition. New York: Vintage Books, 1997.Print. Shaheen, Jack. Reel Bad Arabs. New York: Olive Branch Press, 2001.Print. Read More