Emerging Muslim Identity in India's Globalized
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Emerging Muslim Identity in India’s Globalized and Mediated Society: An Ethnographic Investigation of the Halting Modernities of the Muslim Youth of Jamia Enclave, New Delhi A dissertation presented to the faculty of the Scripps College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Tabassum Khan June 2009 © 2009 Tabassum Khan. All Rights Reserved. This dissertation titled Emerging Muslim Identity in India’s Globalized and Mediated Society: An Ethnographic Investigation of the Halting Modernities of the Muslim Youth of Jamia Enclave, New Delhi by TABASSUM KHAN has been approved for the School of Media Arts and Studies and the Scripps College of Communication by Drew McDaniel Professor of Media Arts and Studies Gregory J. Shepherd Dean, Scripps College of Communication ii ABSTRACT KHAN, TABASSUM , Ph.D., June 2009, Mass Communication Emerging Muslim Identity in India’s Globalized and Mediated Society: An Ethnographic Investigation of the Halting Modernities of the Muslim Youth of Jamia Enclave, New Delhi (276 pp.) Director of Dissertation: Drew McDaniel This is an ethnographic study exploring media consumption patterns of youth belonging to a distinct Muslim community in New Delhi. This study looked at how global and Indian media, which have emerged as a powerful force of social change in India since 1991, redefined the isolation of Muslims in the segregated Jamia Enclave. After 1991 India liberalized its economy, and Indian audiences were then able to receive multiple Indian language and global satellite channels in addition to the single state broadcaster available previously. The Muslim researcher approached the field from the perspective of an insider and employed participant observation and immersion in daily activities of the community to understand how media have been integrated into the lives of Muslim youth. The aim was to understand the way mediated interactions influenced the construction of the identity of Muslim youth born and raised in the age of globalized media and liberalized Indian economy. The study explored their self-perceptions as members of their Islamic community, as Indians, and as gendered individuals. The findings challenge essentialist constructs of identity that define Muslims as isolationists and resistant to processes of modernization. However, the youth of Jamia youth did not share the same ideological attachment to their community that was iii expressed by members of the older generations. The youth also gave greater credence to their national identity, as opposed to their Islamic religious and cultural identity. Unlike their mothers, young Muslim women followed examples presented in the media promoting new ambitions and careers outside their community. Among these young women, it was consumerism rather than feminist motives that acted as inspiration for careers outside Jamia. Yet their desires created anxieties among Muslim men. The ambition expressed by Muslim youth to move out of their seclusion and be part of the wider Indian society was propelled by a rising consumerism in Indian society. Muslim youth had internalized media’s emphasis on materialism and it shaped their emergent identity. Even so, while these youths sought new identities they did not really leave their community behind. These experiences call for a fresh perspective on postcolonial identities in globalized mediated societies. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Drew McDaniel Professor of Media Arts and Studies iv I dedicate this work to my parents and to aspiring scholars, Sana and Samreen. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I sincerely thank Professor Drew McDaniel for demanding the best and for never accepting anything short of that. I thank him for his guidance and support in this complex journey of translating others’ voices and finding my own. I could not have completed the dissertation without the discipline and integrity that he had instilled in me. I truly appreciate Dr. Haley Duschinski’s enthusiasm for the project, and I thank her and Dr. Joseph Angelis for helping me access and navigate a large body of literature. I appreciate Professor Karen Riggs for her critical and incisive reading. The project greatly benefitted from her inputs. I thank Dr. Benjamin R. Bates for seeing through some of the difficulties of defining texts and audiences and for always being available to offer his support and advice. I cannot thank Professor Hunt enough. The project germinated in the early morning class in the winter quarter when Professor Hunt introduced his students to ideas of power, citizenship, rights and responsibilities. I have never enjoyed cold winter mornings more than the ones I spent in his class. I would also like to thank my informers who gave me their time and shared their life experiences with me. This project could not have materialized if I did not have the privilege of their friendship. I also thank Baig Saab, Professor Shahid and Professor Mushirul Hasan for their support. And I remember Quratullain Hyder. Her mourning of the death of an aesthete Muslim community has reverberated with me for a long time. Last but not least, I thank my friends in Athens, Ohio. This was such a wonderful journey because of them. Thank you Lori Sargent, Carolina Sempertegui, Behlul Poonawala, Eva Naripea, and Stephanie Young for the peace and happiness that you have brought into my life. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication ........................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. vi Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Economic Liberalization and Social Change in India .................................................... 5 Evolution of Indian Media and Transformation of Indian Society ................................. 8 Video Boom .............................................................................................................. 10 Open Skies and Liberalized Economy ...................................................................... 11 Characteristics of Media Content .............................................................................. 15 Media Research in India: Addressing Gaps in Scholarship .......................................... 17 Personal Compulsions to Address Gaps in Scholarship ........................................... 18 The Socio-Economic Determinants of Indian Muslim Identity ................................ 19 Summary ....................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 2: Identity in Mediated Societies: The Question of Islamic Identity in Indian society ............................................................................................................................... 25 Modernity, Media, and Identity .................................................................................... 25 The Project of Islamic Identity ..................................................................................... 27 Identity of Indian Muslims ........................................................................................ 29 Identity, Media studies, Indian Media, and Media Research ........................................ 33 Representations of Muslim Identity in Indian Media ................................................... 38 Gender, Media, Globalization and Minorities .............................................................. 41 vii Conclusion and Rationale for Ethnographic Research ................................................. 44 Chapter 3: An Ethnographic Approach: Negotiating as Insider/Outsider ........................ 47 Methodology: Rationale for Ethnographic Approach .................................................. 48 Ethnography and Identity Construction .................................................................... 49 Pitfalls of ethnographic approach ............................................................................. 51 Approaching the Site and Recruiting Informants ......................................................... 51 Negotiating Fieldwork Constraints and Establishing Ethnographer’s Routine ............ 55 Nature of Interactions and the Recording of Data ........................................................ 59 Analyzing the Data ....................................................................................................... 63 Presentation of Findings ........................................................................................... 65 Reflections on Field Experiences ................................................................................. 66 Chapter 4: Redefining Apna Mahol: How Media Narratives Reconstruct Community, Ideology and Daily Life of Muslim Youth in their Segregated Enclave .......................... 70 Segregated Community of Jamia: The Genesis ............................................................ 71 Segregated Enclave and the Global City .................................................................. 80 Segregated Enclave and Globalizing Media Narratives ..........................................