TeamArab:al‐Jazeeraand the flagging of everydayArabism during the 2008BeijingOlympics

Abstract

AbstractThe linking of living rooms across state borders byal‐Jazeera and other pan‐Arab satellite television channels has prompted claims that a ‘newArabism’ that undermines state nationalism is emerging. Until now, analysts have mostly focused on the ‘hot’Arabism in the news coverage of politicised events such as theIsrael–Palestine conflict. This article offers a new dimension by suggesting that as important to satellite television's construction and reproduction ofArab identity is the everyday discourse found in less overtly political programmes such as sport. To demonstrate this, it offers an analysis of al‐Jazeera's coverage of the 2008BeijingOlympics showing how the broadcasts address viewers as a commonArab audience who are simultaneously encouraged to be nationalistic towards their separate nation‐states within a given ‘Arab arena’ of states with whom they should primarily compete. This suggests that new Arabism should in fact be considered a ‘supranationalism’, not a revived Arab nationalism as it simultaneously promotes Arab and state identities in tandem. Finally, it aims to expand our understanding of ‘everyday nationalism’ by adaptingMichaelBillig's theory and methodology of ‘banal nationalism’ inBritish newspapers to facilitate the study of sport on supranational Arab identity on satellite television.