U.S. Newspaper Representation of Muslim and Arab Women Post 9/11.

This study examines U.S. newspaper representation of Muslim-Arab women post 9/11 with an aim of better understanding how women are portrayed in relation to religion, society, politics and the economy. Through a discourse analysis, I examined local articles from across the nation, in addition to international articles, that examine various aspects of Muslim-Arab women’s lives between 9/11/2001 and 9/11/2005. With the increasing focus on the Muslim world in general, and Muslim women in particular, it is necessary to determine how women are portrayed. Muslim-Arab women have increasingly been on the face covers of magazines and front pages of newspapers since 9/11 and all the events that followed; among the major topics covered were the war in Afghanistan, the U.S.-led Iraqi invasion, as well as the elections in both countries. This project aims to provide a comprehensive examination of the diverse stereotypes used by Western reporters to describe Muslim-Arab women, their appearance, status, roles, obligations,responsibilities and aspirations. The analysis also examines the journalistic practices that contribute to distortion and stereotyping

Mediatization in the Arab World: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of New Media Use

New media (including online and cellular technologies) are being embraced around the world, and younger people have led the way in their adoption. These technologies have spread particularly quickly in the Middle East as a result of innovations in satellite, cellular, and Internet technology. In addition, the Arab Spring was a major milestone for new media adoption in the Middle East and helped define appropriate uses for these technologies. Although they have been used for activism and expression, evidence suggests that these are not (or perhaps are no longer) the primary uses of these technologies among young Arabs. Drawing on the concept of mediatization in an analysis of surveys of American and Arab young people, this study explores cultural influences in recent online and cellular technology use in the Arab world, as well as cultural consequences of the increasing adoption of these technologies. In particular, it identifies and explores similarities and differences among the two groups regarding ownership of devices, online and cellular activities, and frequency of these activities. Findings reiterate the prominence of new media in the Arab world and suggest a continuing influence of traditional values, as well as an increasing influence of Western culture

Social media and protest mobilization: evidence from the Tunisian revolution

This article explores how social media acted as a catalyst for protest mobilization during the Tunisian revolution in late 2010 and early 2011. Using evidence from protests we argue that social media acted as an important resource for popular mobilization against the Ben Ali regime. Drawing on insights from “resource mobilization theory”, we show that social media (1) allowed a “digital elite” to break the national media blackout through brokering information for mainstream media; (2) provided a basis for intergroup collaboration for a large “cycle of protest”; (3) reported event magnitudes that raised the perception of success for potential free riders, and (4) provided additional “emotional mobilization” through depicting the worst atrocities associated with the regime’s response to the protests. These findings are based on background talks with Tunisian bloggers and digital activists and a revealed preference survey conducted among a sample of Tunisian internet users (February–May 2012)

Social media in democratic transitions and consolidations: what can we learn from the case of Tunisia?

© 2018, © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. The aim of this paper is to analyse the use of social media in the stages of uprising, democratic transition and democratic consolidation using the case study of Tunisia. While the impact of social media in uprisings has been widely documented in past research about the MENA region, Tunisia provides new evidence to the use of Internet in the processes of democratisation. Consequently, this research focuses in detail on the benefits but also the pitfalls of social media in transitions and consolidations. Data collection was based on interviews with Tunisian social media activists. The analysis is valuable to social media practitioners and researchers alike

Resilience, Mêtis and Survival: How Egyptian Women Outsmart the Ills of Global Capitalism

In this essay, I examine Egyptian women’s survival tactics to counter the dominant capitalist public sphere. This analysis is based on data from qualitative interviews I conducted with three Egyptian female microclients. I chose phone interviews as an appropriate method for my study, as I was able to hear firsthand from these women about their individual experiences with microloans. These women discussed in detail the dire economic conditions of their individual families. They also explained how they were introduced to microloans, how they applied for loans, the size of their loans, and the overall impact of these loans on their lives and their families’ wellbeing. Additional sources that I relied on in this study included newspaper articles and microlending research, where Egyptian female loan clients were quoted

Reconceptualizing race, sexual assault, and parenting through media.

The year 2020 highlighted racial inequity through the Black Lives Matter Movement, an imbalance of domestic responsibilities and gendered labor as parents lost their access to childcare, and rampant sexual assault in Egypt, exposed via a feminist social media movement. This panel addresses three very different cases of reinvention in or through media that occured in and since the year 2020. Our first panelist examines the reconceptualization of racism by analyzing two comics-related texts. Our second presenter explores the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on reconceptualizing how parents view and interact with video games. Our final presenter analyzes the ways in which Egyptian women’s cyberactivism is forcing a reimagining of sexual harassment views in Egypt. Re-Conceptualizing Racism and Redemption Gabriel A. Cruz, PhD University of North Carolina at Greensboro Within the broad social discourse related to the issue of racism, particularly since the murders of George Floyd, Brianna Taylor, and Ahmad Aubrey in 2020, conceptualizations of what a racist person looks like and how they behave have ranged from domestic terrorists clad in bullet proof armor to metropolitan police officers and white women in places of business harassing people of color. Alongside this conceptualization of how racism can manifest other important questions must be considered: what do we as a society do with racists? Do we rehabilitate or shun them? And whose responsibility is it to do this labor? This project considers these questions and how they are addressed within the very different yet poignant texts: Marvel’s “ The Falcon and The Winter Soldier” and Bitter Root Vol.1 \u27\u27 produced by Image comics. Specifically, this project engages in a comparative, intersectional analysis of the ideologies present within the respective narratives and how they conceptualize what it means to be a racist in the form of Captain John Walker (TFATWS) and the racist humans-turned-monsters, the Jinoo (Bitter Root). The project considers themes of rejection and redemption and concludes with considerations for productive messages within the texts. How the COVID-19 pandemic reconceptualized parenting and play Kristina Bell, PhD High Point University The COVID-19 pandemic with its lockdowns and stay-at-home orders caused more people to turn to gameplay as entertainment. Consumer spending on video games in the United States increased by 10 billion in 2020 (NPD Group Report, 2021). The pandemic also increased parental responsibilities; many parents lost child care and were working from home while simultaneously caring for their children. This presentation explores how the COVID-19 pandemic affected parents and their relationship to video games. I include analysis of interviews from gamer parents who I interviewed twice; first in 2017 and then in 2021. I discuss how the pandemic changed their preferences and attitudes about gaming, and the various internal and external pressures that affected their ability to game. This research applies Sharma’s (2014) theory of power-chronography to explore the participants’ entangled relationship between labor and time. It is also informed by the work of cyberfeminist understandings of technology (Cockburn, 1992; Wajcman, 2009), which explores who has access to technology and the various gatekeepers that limit/permit technological use and mastery. Reimagining how sexual harassment is perceived in Egypt with women’s amplified cyberactivism Nahed Eltantawy, PhD. High Point University For decades, Egypt has remained one of the main MENA countries, where gender-based violence has plagued the country as a social and legal problem (Sadek 2016). According to a 2015 study, 7.8 million Egyptian women are annual victims of all forms of violence by a male partner, relative or strangers in public places (UNFPA website). A UN 2013 study found that over 99.3 percent of all Egyptian females surveyed admitted to experiencing some form of sexual harassment in their lifetime (El Deeb 2013). Yet, Egyptian women’s active participation in the Arab uprisings of 2011, has encouraged many women, who once accepted such assault and abuse with shame and self-blame, to find their voice and face to their abusers (Eltantawy 2017; Ibrahim 2019). Today, a growing number of feminist activists rely on social media to fight gender-based violence. In this study, I conduct a discourse analysis of the social media accounts of Egyptian feminist activist group, Assault Police, between July 1st - December 1st, 2020. Assault Police was created in July 2020 to expose the sexual assault crimes of 21-year-old Egyptian, Ahmed Bassam Zaki. Assault Police has since then exposed other cases of violence against Egyptian women, leading to widespread national and international media attention, and encouraging many victims to share their stories. The study will analyze social media discourses relating to Assault Police, in order to get a deeper understanding of Egyptian women’s cyberactivism and how it is forcing a reconceptualization of sexual harassment views in Egypt