Kübra Gümüşay's Blog <em>ein fremdwoerterbuch</em>: Re-Presenting the “Silent Muslima” in the Public Sphere

Abstract

This study examines how the blog ein fremdwoerterbuch by Turkish-German and Muslim journalist Kubra Gumusay represents the image of Muslim women and Islam in Germany. In her posts, Gumusay complicates the image of Muslim women by denying her own identification with the stereotypical figure of the silent, oppressed Muslima and instead presenting herself as an emancipated female follower of Islam. Moreover, Gumusay expands the discourse on violence beyond the context of aggression in Islam to include gender and racialized violence. She thus reveals the compatibility of Muslim and feminist identities and creates space for Muslim female activism against violence in the public sphere. Additionally, because of the unique genre of the blog and Gumusay’s move from alternative to mainstream media, this study focuses on the two-way production of representations, the idea of the blog as a counterpublic, and the longitudinal development of the blog as Gumusay becomes a public figure.