Local Contexts of Islamism in Popular Media »

Lila Abu-Lughod is professor of anthropology at Columbia University.

After the events of 9/11, media representations of Muslims in the West—never known for their accuracy—became even more stereotypically negative. Few of us realize, however, the profusion of similar sentiments that existed within Arab Muslim media outlets ten or even fifteen years earlier. Lila Abu-Lughod here examines these  images of religious extremism in popular Arab media, focusing most closely on such depictions in Egyptian television shows of the 1990s. Concluding with an exploration of the influence of media on religion itself, Local Contexts of Islamism in Popular Media will add new fuel to current debates in media studies and world politics.

"Local Contexts of Islamism in Popular Media"

-The International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) Annual Lecture, 17 December, 2004 at the Spiegelzaal, Utrecht University