Publication: European Journal of Cultural Studies
My first publication from the research came out in th August 2007 issue of The European Journal of Cultural Studies The article focuses on two to the videos presented on the site, one from New York and the other from London. Both of these videos were produced in 2005.
Conclusions
All five participants in New York and in London share much of the same media with the rest of America and Britain. The structure of the news-making task invites participants to reproduce the news as they know it and to reconfigure the dominant narratives to reflect their perceptions of the conflict. In North London, Sarah, Jasmine and Hanan, saw themselves as having a greater compassion for the Iraqi and Afghani victims of the war. Across the Atlantic, Kit and Kat presumed that the imagined, majority audience was unsympathetic to all Muslims, in America and abroad. They used their video to remind their audience that Muslims are like Christians. By asking ‘ how would you feel if a bomb went off in your church’, they suggest that they too are victims of the conflict. However, unlike the girls in London, they did not present the suffering as asymmetrical. Their statement ‘everyone is dealing with the loss of loved ones from war’ along an image of an American casualty seeks to universalize the suffering rather then emphasizing Muslim victims. Also, their statement, ‘as we send away our soldiers we should support them’, illustrate how Kit and Kat replicated the American news narratives; their general critique of the war does not render them immune from reproducing the mainstream discourses. While their voiceover implies support for military action, their discussions during production suggest that they are against the war. This discrepancy is not a sign of their confusion. Rather it illustrates their multiple identities.
There are many factors which may account for the differences in these groups. Certainly, young Muslim living among an ethnic majority in North London is not the same as being a young Muslim minority in suburban New York. They are exposed to varied political environments, national news cultures and Muslim discourses. The videos illustrate that each group had varying presumptions about their majority audiences. However, despite differences, both groups conceived of the news-making process as an opportunity to reveal a story that had been hidden from the masses, and which they had access to by virtue of their membership in the Muslim ummah.
Conclusions
All five participants in New York and in London share much of the same media with the rest of America and Britain. The structure of the news-making task invites participants to reproduce the news as they know it and to reconfigure the dominant narratives to reflect their perceptions of the conflict. In North London, Sarah, Jasmine and Hanan, saw themselves as having a greater compassion for the Iraqi and Afghani victims of the war. Across the Atlantic, Kit and Kat presumed that the imagined, majority audience was unsympathetic to all Muslims, in America and abroad. They used their video to remind their audience that Muslims are like Christians. By asking ‘ how would you feel if a bomb went off in your church’, they suggest that they too are victims of the conflict. However, unlike the girls in London, they did not present the suffering as asymmetrical. Their statement ‘everyone is dealing with the loss of loved ones from war’ along an image of an American casualty seeks to universalize the suffering rather then emphasizing Muslim victims. Also, their statement, ‘as we send away our soldiers we should support them’, illustrate how Kit and Kat replicated the American news narratives; their general critique of the war does not render them immune from reproducing the mainstream discourses. While their voiceover implies support for military action, their discussions during production suggest that they are against the war. This discrepancy is not a sign of their confusion. Rather it illustrates their multiple identities.
There are many factors which may account for the differences in these groups. Certainly, young Muslim living among an ethnic majority in North London is not the same as being a young Muslim minority in suburban New York. They are exposed to varied political environments, national news cultures and Muslim discourses. The videos illustrate that each group had varying presumptions about their majority audiences. However, despite differences, both groups conceived of the news-making process as an opportunity to reveal a story that had been hidden from the masses, and which they had access to by virtue of their membership in the Muslim ummah.
posted by Researcher at Wednesday, October 10, 2007
