The Internet, New Media, and Islam: Production of Islamic Knowledge and Construction of Muslim Identity in the Digital Age

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the impact of information and communication technology (ICT) and new media on the production of Islamic knowledge and the construction of Muslim identity in Muslim communities in the Arab world and Western Europe. Today we witness an unprecedented proliferation of ICT and new media in the Arab and Muslim world as well as growing interdependency of various media outlets. This process includes media that morph into each other, messages that migrate across boundaries, and social networks that utilize multiple technologies. The unanticipated assemblages formed by these media contribute simultaneously to preserving traditional cultural norms and religious values while unsettling the existing arrangements and promoting new organizational forms; appealing to a local audience while addressing transnational communities; and asserting conformity with established religious institutions while fueling fragmentation of authority and individualization of faith. Therefore, this dissertation aims to transcend the media-centric logic and to analyze the impact of ICT and new media in the light of the above-mentioned interdependency and hybridization within broader social, cultural and linguistic context. By doing so, it particularly focuses on two separate, yet simultaneously entangled,..