Abstract
Using critical textual analysis based on the postcolonial school of thought, this essay analyzed a ten-minute segment, called “Women of the Revolution,” on the ABC news program This Week, anchored at that time by Christiane Amanpour, for its portrayals of Arab and Muslim women. The analysis showed that Arab and Muslim women were portrayed positively only when they fit a “media-darling” trope of Western-educated Arab or Muslim women, or those who looked and acted similar to Western women, especially if they ascribed to a Western view of feminism. Those women also were seen as the exception to the “repressive” culture that characterizes the Arab and Muslim worlds, according to the Orientalist stereotype. The implications of this analysis indicate that, in spite of the visibility and progress of many Arab and Muslim women in their countries and indigenous cultures, they are still framed within old recycled molds in US mainstream media, even if these seem positive at face value.
Highlights
Using critical textual analysis based on the postcolonial school of thought, this essay analyzed a ten-minute segment, called “Women of the Revolution,” on the ABC news program This Week, anchored at that time by Christiane Amanpour, for its portrayals of Arab and Muslim women
That short conversation made me think about what an Arab Muslim woman, who wears the hijab, as I do, represented to the Americans whom she worked
An image of the “media darling” usually is of either those Arab or Muslim women who were Western-educated/influenced or those who looked and acted similar to Western women, especially if they ascribed to a Western view of feminism that was not rooted necessarily in their indigenous cultures
Summary
Hoping for a new media trope of representing Arab and Muslim women seemed possible during the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions or uprisings, because the www.plutojournals.com/asq/. The three media darlings discussed above (Ali, Manji, and Eltahawy) are natives of North America or were naturalized and educated there; presumably, they were “empowered” by Western democracy to speak against a violent “Other” that needs reform This line of thinking can be linked to the ideology of “American exceptionalism”: the belief that the United States is a unique country in history, culture and, most important, values. According to Stabile and Kumar (2005: 771), “Yet until Afghan women proved rhetorically useful, their tragic circumstances merited little coverage in the mainstream media.” This unique story of Malala can be linked to both American exceptionalism through the rescue narrative and to US neoliberal policies (discussed further in the analysis section below). The following section will focus on one particular example or case study of a US media program that exhibits this focus on Arab and/or Muslim media darlings to illustrate such media framing of Arab/Muslim “exceptional women.”
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
