Master's Thesis
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FACULTY OF ARTS AND EDUCATION MASTER’S THESIS Programme of study: MLIMAS Autumn and Spring semester, 2017 Open Author: Charlotte Bryan (Author‘s signature) Supervisor: Brita Strand Rangness Thesis title: ―The Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban‖: A Comparison of Narratives between Articles in U.K and U.S News Websites with I Am Malala Keywords: Narrative, Malala Yousafzai, No. of pages: 112 identity, ideology, hero, semiotics, + appendices/other: 26 postcolonial feminism Stavanger, 12th May 2017 date/year 2 Abstract This is presented in I Am Malala in a section called ―A note on the Malala Fund‖ at the end of the book. In this section the intention of the narrative in I Am Malala is written in a short passage presented as a note from Malala who wrote that her purpose for writing I Am Malala. My goal in writing this book was to raise my voice on behalf of the millions of girls around the world who are being denied their right to go to school and realise their potential. I hope my story will inspire girls to raise their voice and embrace the power within themselves, but my mission does not end there. My mission, our mission, demands that we act decisively to educate girls and empower them to change their lives and communities. That is why I have set up the Malala Fund. (Lamb, Yousafzai 2014) This statement confirms that I Am Malala is constructed to further her ambition in sharing her story to empower the voiceless and help the Malala Fund aid children‘s access to an education. Being that Malala has been presented in both news media and I Am Malala to have achieved so much so early in life, alongside this statement of her ambitions for the book, a light is then shone towards the potential a narrative surrounding her story possesses to influence change across the globe. One may speculate the media have repeatedly materialised stories surrounding Malala due to the story‘s ability to be a highly impactful reflection on cultural and political climates of today. The specific elements within each climate may be reflected in a presentation of a narrative covering Malala‘s story are what this thesis intends to discover. 3 Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank my tutor, Brita Strand Rangnes, her enthusiasm and guidance inspired me to keep going and strive for better. Secondly, I would also like my Mum, Dad and my little brother Fraser for believing in me all the way and for always being there. Lastly, I would to thank Gunnar Gravdal for his continuous support since the beginning. Without your kind support there would be no thesis. 4 Contents MASTER’S THESIS ............................................................................................................ 1 Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 2 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 3 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 6 2. Background and Theory .................................................................................. 12 2.1 Narrative .............................................................................................................................. 12 3. Pakistan ................................................................................................................................ 19 3.1 Historical Context .............................................................................................................. 19 3.2 Pakistan and Education ..................................................................................................... 24 4. Tools for Analysis ............................................................................................... 26 4.1 Role of the Media ................................................................................................................. 26 4.2 Semiotics Studies ................................................................................................................. 30 4.3 Feminist Criticism ............................................................................................................... 34 4.4 Postcolonial Feminist Criticism.......................................................................................... 38 4.5 Representation in New Media ............................................................................................ 41 4.6 Academic Works and Malala: counter narratives, rhetoric and newspapers ............... 44 5. I Am Malala ........................................................................................................... 46 4.1 Monomyth ............................................................................................................................ 47 4.2 Breaking Conventions ......................................................................................................... 52 4.3 Narratives Foreshadowed ................................................................................................... 59 5. News Media Analysis ......................................................................................... 66 5.1 Approach: The UN Speech ................................................................................................. 66 5.2. The Guardian........................................................................................................................ 67 5.2.1 Malala Day and Public Figures: the Guardian .............................................................. 70 5.2.2 Representation of Malala‘s Voice ................................................................................. 72 5.2.3 The Guardian‘s Narrative ............................................................................................. 79 7. The Daily Mail ...................................................................................................................... 82 6.1 'Only my weakness, fear and hopelessness died': Pakistani schoolgirl who survived Taliban gunman's assassination attempt condemns extremists in UN address ............................. 85 6.2 Speech, Courage, Solidarity and Defiance ........................................................................ 92 8. The New York Times: The Lede Blog ................................................................................. 96 8.1 ―Malala Yousafzai, Girl Shot by Taliban, Makes Appeal at U.N‖.................................... 97 8.2 ―White men saving brown women from brown men‖ ..................................................... 100 5 8.3 Malala and Public Figures: the Lede ............................................................................... 102 9. Fox News ............................................................................................................................ 105 9.1 UNESCO ......................................................................................................................... 110 10. Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 114 Bibliography .................................................................................................................. 117 Extended Bibliography .............................................................................................. 123 Images ............................................................................................................................................. 124 Appendix A ........................................................................................................................ 126 Appendix B ........................................................................................................................ 138 6 1 Introduction News media has been known to appropriate stories to persuade social conceptions of a particular group, individual or circumstance. This thesis is a study of how narratives that present Malala Yousafzai in news media echo or transform Malala‘s identity, story and beliefs according to the aim of their practice. The main topic of this study is the construction of narrative, and the investigation will follow the literary practices that enable narratives to present Malala Yousafzai‘s story. More so, news media‘s role in the appropriation of stories to marginalise identities has undergone study for decades. In doing so, the narratives constructed in news media has the power to assist in shaping social perceptions that reinforce or break hierarchies within society. Now19-years old Malala Yousafzai‘s story has been greatly covered by the media across the globe. The study of narratives that present Malala‘s story in the media stirs issues of ideology and identity in both the West and Pakistan. In the current climate this issue has made me curious as to whether her story in Western media, in particular Britain and the US, has been appropriated causing an affect that reinforces, changes or even breaks social concepts in the narratives that present her. Malala is not the type of person whose story is covered consistently or greatly in the history of news media. I want to study why the media have presented narratives surrounding Malala‘s story. Begin that, this thesis is a study of narratives that surround (one person); MalalaYousafzai who was born in the rural village of Mingora in Swat Valley, North