The Role of Mass Media in Shaping Identity Construction

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The University of Leeds
Institute of Communication Studies

"The Role of Mass Media in Shaping Identity Construction Among British Muslim Diasporas after 9/11"

By

Mohamed Ben Moussa

Supervisor

Dr. Myria Georgiou

MA Dissertation

Submitted in Accordance with the Requirements for the degree of MA in Communication Studies

September 2004

Acknowledgement

A number of people contributed to the completion of this work. I would like to thank above all Dr. Myria Georgiou who supervised this research and patiently followed it up from conception to the final draft. I would like to thank also my wife who provided me with invaluable remarks and proofread this research with her habitual care and patience. I also owe acknowledgement to all those who were kind enough to sacrifice part of their time to sit to long interviews and share with me some of their most intimate experiences and memories.

Table of Content

Introduction. 5

1- Literature Review.. 8

2.1 Muslim identity: a background. 9

2.2 Muslim identity and mass media. 10

2.3. Understanding identity. 12

2.4 Mass media and identity construction. 13

2.5 Investigating Audiences. 15

2- Methodology. 17

3- Discussion & Analysis. 20

3.1 Muslim Diasporas and media consumption. 21

3.2 Mass media consumption and identity construction. 25

3.3 The role of religious and community institutions in identity construction: the mosque as an example 27

3.4 The representation of Muslims and its impact on diasporic Muslim’s identity construction. 28

Conclusion. 35

References: 38

Appendices 42

Introduction

The 9/11 terrorist attacks were undoubtedly one of the most mediated events in history. They targeted the heart of a major western megalopolis that is a global economic, cultural and media centre. Images of destruction, shock and suffering were displayed on TV screens and newspapers’ front pages for a very long time. One of the major consequences of this media coverage is that it brought Muslims and Islam to the fore in western societies. Akbar (2001) aptly maintains that ‘the terrible and tragic events of September 11 have opened a Pandora’s box of questions about Islam’. In Britain, for instance, many issues such as religious fundamentalism, ‘Islamic’ terrorism and the assimilation of Muslim minorities in society have gained unprecedented attention in mass media after these attacks.

Mercer (cited in Hall, 1992: 275) argues that ‘identity only becomes an issue when it is in crisis’. Indeed, as the media and popular attention to Muslims and Islam- related issues raised dramatically in western countries, in general, diasporic Muslims have started to feel increasingly caught between their allegiance to their cultural and ethnic background and origins, on the one hand, and the need to dissociate themselves from fundamentalist groups that invoke a radical religious discourse to justify terrorist acts, on the other. Paradoxically, this situation has also pushed many members of the Muslim diasporas in the West to react defensively as well as defiantly by proclaiming in various forms their adherence to their religious background. This situation begs a couple of questions mainly with regard to the way British Muslims regard themselves as a minority and perceive their identity in the light of the media coverage after 9/11.

This dissertation will attempt to investigate the following question: what role do mass media play in shaping identity construction among British Muslims after 9/11? For the purpose of this research work, two hypotheses are put forward. Firstly, mass media, both local and transnational, play a prominent part in diasporic Muslims’ daily life and, thus, affect somehow the way the latter construct their identity. Secondly, despite their importance, mass media do not determine the way diasporic Muslims perceive their identity since the relationship between the media and audiences/readers is dynamic and interactive rather than one of cause and effect.

The paper is divided into three main parts, namely literature review, methodology and discussion and analysis. The literature review part will try to explore key issues underpinning the question of identity construction among British Muslims, mainly by reviewing and discussing some of the main writings on the subject. In addition, it will try to shed light on the primary communication forms that shape diasporic Muslim’s experience and the best way to approach the interaction between audiences and the media. The methodology part will present the method adopted to generate data for the research, namely in–depth interviewing, and the rationale behind the choice of the method and the category of informants. As to the third part, it will attempt to present and discuss the main findings generated by the research data. It will analyse them in the light of the main concepts and theories discussed in the literature review part in order to answer the research question.