Abstract
The study uses Said’s concept of Orientalism and van Dijks concept of socio-cognitive processes to analyze the framing of Pakistani Muslim women in the newsmagazine Time from 1998-2002. A critical discourse analysis of the selected articles of the magazine follows Fairclough’s and van Dijk’s guidelines. It uncovers how in a particular socio-political context, stereotyped images of Pakistani Muslim women were framed to project “superior American” ideals of “tolerance” and “democracy,” as against the “intolerant,” “undemocratic” values of Muslim as “others.” It also argues how in the process of “othering” Pakistan and particularly its youth are framed as intolerant, and source of fear.
Highlights
After 9/11, and to some extent even before 9/11, though less saliently, the discourses on terrorism, in the war against terror, have been of a global battle between “Us” and “them,” as “Us” the West and the “other” as Muslims
According to the framework sketched by van Dijk, a non-Muslim, Westerner media practitioner while framing a Pakistani woman keeps in mind the perceived picture of her, Islam, and his or her own personal opinions
I first carefully examined the Table of Contents for each issue of Time and browsed through every page to ensure that no coverage on Pakistani Muslim women was missed
Summary
After 9/11, and to some extent even before 9/11, though less saliently, the discourses on terrorism, in the war against terror, have been of a global battle between “Us” and “them,” as “Us” the West and the “other” as Muslims. According to the framework sketched by van Dijk (adapted to the researcher’s requirement of the study), a non-Muslim, Westerner (male/female) media practitioner while framing a Pakistani woman keeps in mind the perceived picture of her, Islam, and his or her own personal opinions He or she frames her in that context which is largely biased in the oriental discourse. The analysis is focused on how they are predominantly represented in terms of socio-cultural differences and how the representation of Pakistani cultural norms that deviate from dominant norms and values of the West are demonized and magnified and failings of the West are ignored or mitigated (van Dijk, 1998) It tries to unfold how in the selected articles in overt and covert ways the images of Muslim Pakistani women are framed to disparage the Islamic values against the “superior” the US ideals?. These selections of the frames shape the interpretation of the world (Fahmy, 2004)
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