MUSLIMS IN BRAZILIAN AND SPANISH NEWSPAPER HEADLINES BEFORE 9/11 2001 – A PSYCHOSOCIAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Although nations in the Iberian realm of cultural influence have recently acquired institutional features of modernity, they have maintained specific views of collective mobilization regarding what it is assumed to be a reasonable representation, contact and interaction with Muslims. We compared data collected in 2001 – before 9/11 – from Brazilian and Spanish broadsheet headlines. Drawing upon intergroup relation’s psychosocial literature, we focused on the debate around the reporting of “Muslims in action” and “Muslims in interaction with westerners”. We concluded that the newspapers’ simplified representation of the Arab/Muslim as incompetent, archaic and undemocratic served to construct a contrast with an ideal western self, in order to ultimately justify and reify traditional models of interaction, maintaining unchanged intercultural conflict and resentment. 96 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:Table Normal; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Times New Roman;} Although nations in the Iberian realm of cultural influence have recently acquired institutional features of modernity, they have maintained specific views of collective mobilization regarding what it is assumed to be a reasonable representation, contact and interaction with Muslims. We compared data collected in 2001 – before 9/11 – from Brazilian and Spanish broadsheet headlines. Drawing upon intergroup relation’s psychosocial literature, we focused on the debate around the reporting of “Muslims in action” and “Muslims in interaction with westerners”. We concluded that the newspapers’ simplified representation of the Arab/Muslim as incompetent, archaic and undemocratic served to construct a contrast with an ideal western self, in order to ultimately justify and reify traditional models of interaction, maintaining unchanged intercultural conflict and resentment.