A Case Study of the New York Times
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The Representation of Muslim Women in American Print Media: A Case Study of The New York Times September 11, 2000 -September Il, 2002 By Heather McCafferty Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University, Montreal August, 2005 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfiilment of the requirements of the degree ofM.A. in Islamic Studies Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24894-2 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-24894-2 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada Abshad Author: Heather Ann McCafferty Title: The Representation ofMuslim Women in AJl1erican Print Media: A Case Study of The New York Times September Il, 2000 - September Il, 2002 Department: Institute of Islamic Studies Degree: Master of Arts This thesis is an examination ofrepresentations ofMuslim womel1 in the American print media. l focus on one particular publication, The New York Times within a time frame surrounding the events of September Il, 2001. Articles were selected from this publication that feH within the time period of September Il,2000 to September Il,2002. ln selecting articles, 1 chose those based on their inclusion of any discussion that clearly identified those discussed as Muslim women, through the use of the words "Muslim" or "Islamic" in their descriptions. The case study was carried out by reading through each daily edition of The New York Times in order to identify any articles that feU within my criteria. 1 also used an online database containing abstracts of the publication to verify that no article of relevance was overlooked. 1 then devised 5 categories within which to analyze the representations of Muslim women that were found within these articles, "Veil", "Biographical", "Women's Issues", "Politics" and "Muslims in the West". The main goal of this thesis is to determine how Muslim women are represented within this particular publication and to analyze whether the events of September Il, 2001 had any effect on how Muslim women were portrayed in The New York Times articles. Acknowledgements 1 wish to thank aU of my friends and family for their generous support throughout my studies and through the completion of this thesis. 1 thank my family for their continued support of my educational goals and for always being there. 1 wish to thank Professor Michelle Hartman for aU ofher support and encouragement as my advisor and professor. Professor Hartman' s courses inspired me in so many ways and as an advisor she was always available to offer advice, support, encouragement and a great deal of patience. 1 thank my wonderful friend Sara Mogilski for aIl of her support and her friendship the past two years. Thank you for always being there to listen. 1 thank Salwa Ferahian for all of her kindness, support and constant words of encouragement since my arrivaI at the Institute three years ago. 1 thank Jacob, Erin, Walter, Sheema, Amer and Mark for their friendship and for making those fIfSt two years on Aylmer Street so memorable. Thank you to my co-workers at McLennan circulation where 1 spend most of my dayeveryday, for keeping me in high spirits. FinaIly 1 wish to thank aIl of my professors at the Institute of Islamic Studies for a rewarding three years and 1 thank the Institute for their financial support during my studies. résumé auteur: Heather Ann McCafferty titre; La représentation des femmes musulmanes dans des médias amériçains d'impression: Une étude de cas le New York Times Il Septembre, 2000 - Il Septembre, 2002 département: Institut d'études islamiques degré: Maîtrise en arts Cette thèse est un examen des représentations des femmes musulmanes dans les médias américains d'impression. Je me concentre sur une publication particulière, le New York Times dans une tranche de temps entourant les événements Il septembre, 2001. Des articles ont été choisis parmi cette publication qui a fait partie de la période de temps Il septembre, 2000 - Il septembre, 2002. En choisissant des articles, j'ai choisi ceux basés sur leur inclusion de n'importe quelle discussion qui a clairement identifié ceux discutés en tant que femmes musulmanes, par l'utilisation des mots "musulmans" ou "islamique" dans leurs descriptions. L'étude de cas a été effectuée en lisant par chacun l'édition quotidienne du New York Times afin d'identifier tous les articles qui ont fait partie de mes critères. J'ai également employé une base de données en ligne contenant des résumés de la publication pour vérifier qu'aucun article d'importance n'a été négligé. J'ai alors conçu 5 catégories dans lesquelles pour analyser les représentations des femmes musulmanes qui ont été trouvées dans ces articles, issues d"'voile", "biographiques", des "de femmes", de l"'politique" et des "musulmans dans l'ouesf'. Le but principal de cette thèse est de déterminer comment des femmes musulmanes sont représentées dans cette publication particulière et pour analyser si les événements Il septembre, 2001 ont eu n'importe quel effet sur la façon dont des femmes musulmanes ont été dépeintes dans les articles de New York Times. Table of Contents Chapter 1 1 Introduction! Muslims in the American Media 1 Definition ofMediaIPrint Media in Relation to this Study 7 Focus of Case Study 10 The New York Times as a Case Study 10 Methodology 15 Islam and the Media - Existing Works 16 The Use of Stereotypes 17 Muslim Women in the Media 24 Framework for Analysis 30 Chapter2 33 Categories for Analysis 33 Veil 34 Biographical 35 Women' s Issues 35 Politics 36 Muslims in the West 37 September 2000 to September 10, 2001 38 Chapter3 64 September Il,2001- September Il, 2002 64 Chapter4 100 Conclusion 100 Appendix 104 Bibliography 112 1 Chapter 1 - Introductionl Muslims in the American Media Introduction Since the late 1970s, a few major events have brought increased media coverage ofIs1aID. and Muslims in the American press. The Iranian hostage incident in 1979, the OPEC-related rise in oil priees, the Gulf War and the events of September Il,2001 each made an impact on the American media representations ofIslam and Muslims. In this thesis 1 am concemed with the media's interpretations of the mostrecentofthese events, the attacks that occurred in the United States on September Il,2001. This particular incident had a significant effect in the U.S. as it occurred so suddenly and took so many lives as a result. In media coverage of this event and its aftermath, specifie references were made to Islam and Muslims even before the perpetrators were identified and the coverage only intensified when the authorities announced that their suspects were Arab Muslims. The immediate reaction of the press following the attack that focused the blame on Islam even before any official statement had been released points to sorne pre-existing sentiment of suspicion among the public that made it so easy for such accusations to be accepted as fact. Here 1 refer to existing stereotypes of Islam and Muslims that were already widely used in the American media, in television, cinema and the daily press. This is one of the elements that will be examined throughout this thesis. With this increased media coverage of Muslims, Muslim women soon became a major focus of media attention. This came as the result of the American occupation of Afghanistan following the attacks and the media's fixation on the liberation ofthat nation's women. Mghan women became potent symbols in the media of militant Islam and the press overwhelmed the public with endless images of the burka-clad Mghan 2 woman. The result was that the occupation appeared increasingly in the press to be more of a women' s liberation campaign then a military retaliation for the September Il th attacks as was its true intention. In analyzing the media representations that resulted from the events of September Il,2001, it is these images ofMuslim women that 1 was particularly interested in because such an emphasis was placed on the American military liberating the women from the oppressive conditions that had been placed on their lives for so many years.