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University of Göttingen, Germany The editors, Dale F. Eickelman and Jon W. Anderson, are anthropologists and experts on the Middle East. In their introductory article "Redefining Muslim Publics" they emphasize that the new media have brought about significant changes in communicative structures, which in turn have created a new and expanding public sphere. New ideas about political, religious, economic, social and cultural issues entered public discourses. The number of producers, recipients and interpreters increased because of growing mass education. As a result of these new communication structures traditional structures are eroding. On the basis of these premises, the examples discussed in this book show both the diversity and common trends in the use and influence of the new media. In addition, they take into consideration the discourse of civil society. In the article "The New Media, Civic Pluralism, and the Struggle for Political Reform" August R. Norton discusses the rise and fall of the Egyptian repressive Press Law 93, describing the creation of an informal network with a strong political influence by means of the new media. He shows how reform could take place in an authoritarian political system, and highlights the real locus of power in Egypt. In his article "Communication and Control in the Middle East: Publication and Its Discontents," Dale F. Eickelman discusses another aspect of the role of the new media. He focuses on the question of state control in authoritarian systems in the Middle East. He asserts that "older" media like press, radio and TV can be controlled by the state and transmit state propaganda about political and religious values. Other media like cassettes, videos, photocopies, internet and e-mail have become a free forum for new and diverse religious, political and social ideas. Thus, the emerging pluralism was capable of influencing policy and religion of the states in the Middle East. In "The Internet and Islam’s New Interpreters," Jon W. Anderson emphasizes that the speed and flexibility of the Internet allow the expression of alternative ideas, projects, and interpretations in alternative networks, as in non-Muslim societies. In addition, on-line communities developed, where new interpreters and authorities in the sphere of religious discourses could take part in public space. In the author's view, if these authors were to take responsibility for their interpretations, this could be an important step towards a civil society. In Lebanon political and moral censorship is less strong than in other Arab states, as Yves Gonzalez-Quijano notes in "The Birth of a Media Ecosystem: Lebanon in the Internet Age." The content of on-line publications is not subject to state control. Anonymity allows free expression of opinion and open debates on taboo topics are possible. The author comes to the conclusion that the case illustrates the participation of a region in the new age of communication and information in a positive way. For African-American Muslims there is no experience of Islam in a context of comprehensive institutional orthodoxies. As Gregory Starrett demonstrates in his article "Muslim Identities and the Great Chain of Buying," access to and use of information from the media has become an instrument for the creation of a local Muslim community, with its own body of knowledge and interpretative traditions. Thus for the group of African-American Muslims, which is analyzed here, Muslim identity is universal, natural and independent of culture and place. Walter Armbrust’s article "Bourgeois Leisure and Egyptian Media Fantasies" discusses Egyptian media comments about going to the beach. In itself beach-going, a popular leisure activity, is not a political issue, but the association with modernity lends it some political implications. Such leisure activities can be openly discussed in the media. They form ‘liminal zones,’ which cannot be completely controlled. In "From Piety to Romance: Islam-Oriented Texts in Bangladesh," Maimuna Huq analyzes the popularization of Islamic literature in Bangladesh. There, Islam influences the living conditions of the individual, and is an integral part of national identity. Since the people have few opportunities to interact directly with traditional religious specialists and authorities, Islamic literature has acquired an increasing readership. Besides older literary genres such as mas'ala texts and biographies, new literary genres of Islamic literature have appeared. An analysis of content and reception of one of these genres, which the author calls "booklets," demonstrate that these constitute the conventional base of the Islamic discourse. Islamic novels with their authentic characters as opposed to propagandistic literature, attract a big audience. The reader can identify with the ordinary individual characters. Islamic novels represent an attempt to extend and redefine the boundaries of the Islamic imagination. In addition, the fictional form frees the author from explicitly stating his aims and political motives. The new media in Indonesia promote participation and identification, exclude minorities and encourage a public culture which, as Robert W. Hefner notes ("Civic Pluralism Denied? The New Media and Jihadi Violence in Indonesia"), is far from democratic. The Indonesian state institutions have failed to direct and confirm civil trends in society, and did not defend civic pluralism. Thus a radical Islamic political movement could emerge under the Suharto regime. By means of the new media, the Alevi and Kurdish minorities in Turkey gained public attention and acceptance. In the case of the Alevis, the main focus of M. Hakan Yavuz’ article "Media Identities for Alevis and Kurds in Turkey," the globalization of their local identity was the result of a reinterpretation of oral traditions and a process of setting local figures in a universalist context and standardizing secular words. On the one hand a simplified cultural construct was projected to the outside world, while on the other hand conflict and competition were rife among different ethnic, linguistic and educated Alevi groups. Since the prohibition of Kurdish publications in Turkey, Kurdish identity began to crystallize around language. The ensuing competition between Zaza-speaking Alevis, Sorani-speaking Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Kurds in Turkey had the effect of causing the Alevis to define their identity on the basis of the Zaza language rather than on their Kurdish ethnicity. In conclusion, all these cases demonstrate how the complex religious, political and social contexts within the new media operate. Their role and function are not the same for all types of media. The effect of a message depends on context, medium, author and purpose. Its language, the kind of information it contains, and the way it is structured depend on those whom they address. Thus the question of who receives and interprets the information, and in what context, should also be taken into consideration. Only a detailed and in-depth analysis of the real complex structures in which the media are embedded can adequately define these functions. Of course one cannot deny that certain common trends exist in the development of the communicative structure throughout the Muslim world. Still, as the articles of this volume show, the Muslim world cannot be seen as a monolithic continuum. One misses a more detailed view as to the essential differences which distinguish the new media in the Muslim world from those elsewhere. In spite of such minor points of criticism, the work makes an interesting and useful contribution to our understanding of recent trends in the modern Islamic world. ● |
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This book is a
collection of essays focusing on different issues concerning the media in
the Muslim world with reference to its historical, religious, political,
economic and social contexts especially in the aftermath of September 11th,
2001. 