Fourth International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

Media has a pervasive and relentless impact on people in creating fear for Muslims and of Muslims. This research investigates the experiences of a group of fourteen veiled Muslim women from six countries studying in four Western Australian universities. It considers racism around being visible Muslims and how they respond to media (mis)representation of their culture and their identities against the backdrop of Islamophobia. The research employs the methodology of critical ethnography drawing on key theoretical ideas of ‘nomadic subjectivity’ (Braidotti, 2011), identity and agency from the tradition of post-structuralism and post-colonial theory. The research employed focus group discussions where the arts-based method, i.e. drawing was used in phase one of the data collection and phase two semi-structured interviews and participant observations were used. This paper highlights the risks of media which creates an image of dangerously divisive stereotypes. These stereotypes and generalisations magnify differences and disregard the fear felt by the Muslims. The stories conveyed through drawings and semi-structured interviews reveal increasing stigmatisation of Muslim women and their depiction as backward, helpless victims of their culture. The analysis shows that mass media is playing an essential role in reinforcing the social reproduction of a stereotyped image and thus misinforming communities and creating and perpetuating an Islamophobic perception.