Islamophobia, Emotional Politics, and Postcolonial Legacy in Western Media
Framing Fear
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20252124 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ali Salami (0000-0001-5926-6282, University of Tehran, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Islamophobia Studies Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2325-8381 • E-ISSN: 2325-839X |
| Publisher | Pluto Journals (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.13169/islastudj.9.1.0002 |
| OpenAlex | W4414087863 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
This study examines the ways in which Western media use postcolonial discourse and emotional politics to shape and sustain Islamophobia in the post-9/11 era. Through a qualitative analysis of media coverage by major news outlets in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States at four significant points in time (post-9/11, the July 7 London bombing, the kidnapping of German construction workers in Iraq, and the WTC plaza fire), this research investigates the politicization of postcolonial sentiment in the media’s portrayal of Muslims and Middle Eastern immigrants. Drawing on postcolonial theory, affect theory, and media studies, the study identifies three major themes in Western media portrayals of Islam: the terrorist image, the trope of the downtrodden Muslim woman, and the narrative of cultural incompatibility. The findings reveal that Western media continuously uses an emotive politics of fear to propagate Orientalist attitudes and, as a result, exacerbates the foreignization of Muslim communities. This study expands our understanding of how media representation promotes discriminatory practices and highlights the need for more culturally sensitive, nuanced approaches to reporting on Islamic topics
Emotive · Islam · Islamophobia · Middle East · Narrative · Orientalism · Politics · Terrorism · Xenophobia · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence
The Cultural Politics of Emotion
European Others
Covering Islam
Workplace emotions in postcolonial spaces
Al Qaeda, the Islamic State, and the Global Jihadist Movement
Reporting Islam
Framing Islam/Creating Fear
Islamonausea, not Islamophobia’
Multiculturalism, Islam and the clash of civilisations theory
Reporting threats of terrorism
Feminism and feminist movements in the middle east, a preliminary exploration
From the 'Old' to the 'New' Suspect Community
Terror, Terror Everywhere? How Terrorism News Shape Support for Anti‐Muslim Policies as a Function of Perceived Threat Severity and Controllability
The racialization of Muslim veils
Framing
The Exotic in Western Music
From oral histories to visual narratives
Tolerance, Freedom, Justice and Peace
Exclusionary Populism and Islamophobia
Muslims' Representation in Donald Trump's Anti-Muslim-Islam Statement
Global Violence and Indonesian Muslim Politics
Public Concern about Terrorism
Terrorism and the Politics of Fear
Symbolically Muslim
Migrating from terror
Negotiations with whiteness in British Turkish Muslims' encounters with Islamophobia
It's a part of me, I feel naked without it
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |