Monday, November 3, 2008

Muslims and Media Images News versus Views


Title: Muslims and Media Images News versus Views
Author: Ather Farouqui
ISBN: 9780195694956
Binding: Hardback
Date: August 2008
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Number of Pages: 354
Price: 695/-
The massive reach and influence of media commentary on incidents like 9/11, the 2005 terrorist attack on the London underground, the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, and the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, makes discussions on popular representations of Muslim peoples and cultures universally topical and relevant. The situation is particularly complex in India, where Muslims form an intrinsic part of democratic civil society, yet continue to carry the baggage of history, especially Partition.
How do the media view Indian Muslims in an age of global Islamic extremism? How far is jihadi pan-Islamism a part of the popular Indian Muslim consciousness? How are Indian Muslims dealing with media distortions of a delicate, nuanced issue? This volume raises these pertinent questions and seeks answers to them.
The contributors—well-known media commentators, scholars, and activists—focus on the politics of Muslim identity, the portrayal of the community in the media, and its relationship with civil society. They analyse the contours of mass politics—especially prevalent in northern India—based on the stereotyping of Muslims. The essays also discuss the challenges and concerns of a people wrecked by powerful internal churning and debates on identity. In fact, the increasing radicalization in the community in the face of heightened global mistrust and isolation is attributed to some of these tensions. (http://www.oup.co.in/)

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