Center for Women's Studies and Research, University of Tehran
International Journal of Women's Research
2322-3901
2463-2345
2
1
2013
05
01
American Virtual Colonialism and the Islamophobia Politics: Muslim/Iranian Women’s “Hijab” at “YouTube”
5
22
EN
Saeid Reza
Ameli Ranani
Professor, Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran
ssameli@ut.ac.ir
Zohreh
Nosrat Kharazmi
PhD Candidate, American Student,Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran
zkharazmi2@ut.ac.ir
Virtual Colonialism (Ameli, 2011) is reflecting a new trend of colonialism<br />in the virtual space parallel to the physical space. According to Ameli(2007), with<br />the “Dual Spacization” of life,the imperial powers like the United States of America<br />take the advantage of the synchronization and translocality of the virtual space to<br />expand their realm of imperial power through the “attraction” and “persuasion”<br />strategies with the least costs and losses.<br />The present paper analyzes the user-based website “YouTube” exploiting the<br />critical discourse analysis method to examine the strategies through which it represents<br />the Muslim/Iranian women whose identity arehighlighted by Hijab. The<br />results indicate that the Americanization by “YouTube” is implemented in<br />auser-based in a pluralist context. This is while the American discourse including<br />the liberal democracy values and its politics ofIslamophobic and Iranophobic<br />images of Muslims are prevalent in the “YouTube”.<br />The paper depicts how the representation of Muslim woman and her hijab is<br />demonized through the “YouTube” result videos.Furthermore, it shows this<br />demonization is duplicated in the case of the Iranian Muslim women particularly<br />because of the formal American politics of Iranophobia and regime change in Iran.<br />Taking into account the high rank of “YouTube” as the third globally-viewed American<br />website and its discursive advantage in the virtual space, the significance of the<br />present study can be considerable.
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30587.html
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30587_217d9817a2d9096b45f326194709d5da.pdf
Center for Women's Studies and Research, University of Tehran
International Journal of Women's Research
2322-3901
2463-2345
2
1
2013
05
01
Women’s Role in the Islamic Resistance Media in Lebanon
23
36
EN
Naziha
Saleh
PhD in Sociology
nazihasaleh@gmail.com
Lebanon has been considered a sample of Europe in the Middle East, <br />and it is surprising to have an Islamic resistance against Israel in this small modern <br />country. The Islamic Resistance was, at the beginning, portrayed as having a very <br />different ideology from that of the neighboring countries of the Middle East. This <br />Resistance was established on the basis of being a resistance model for the free <br />world, especially the Palestinians; women were the main partners in the resistance <br />especially in the media. Therefore, the resistance established three media forms: <br />radio, television, and newspaper, to work simultaneously with military resistance <br />operations. This could not have been achieved without the Lebanese women’s <br />support. Women in resistance media had a role of sustaining the resistance <br />when no one could help. In this article the focus is on this role after it has being <br />found out that there is not much study done about it, so we chose this topic to <br />highlight the importance of women in this field. In a country like Lebanon, the <br />appearance of veiled women on TV, was an opportunity to show that the veil is not <br />an obstacle to be active. <br />The article goes back to the history of Lebanon and has spoken about the many <br />resistance movements experienced in the Arab world showing the role of women in <br />these movements, with details about the role of women in the Lebanese resistance <br />and its media. Women’s participation in the Islamic resistance was an important <br />step forward in facing the Israeli aggressions against Lebanon to reach victory. <br />Developing a specialized media for the resistance was an important step <br />forward; first, in facing the Israeli as well as international media in which women <br />were the role models, and second, in showing the people of the region with different <br />ideologies the right side of the resistance, therefore winning acceptance and <br />respect for Islam and for Hijab.
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30588.html
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30588_4d206b4c1ed045aba0df7da77c6e8f81.pdf
Center for Women's Studies and Research, University of Tehran
International Journal of Women's Research
2322-3901
2463-2345
2
1
2013
05
01
An Analytical Approach to Female Genital Mutilation in West Africa
37
56
EN
Bahram
Arab Ahmadi
Faculty of World Studies, UT
arabahmadi@ut.ac.ir
Female genital mutilation in different parts of the African continent is<br />considered as one of the vast territory’s social problems. This social problem which<br />is accounted as an old tradition in different countries of the African continent has<br />had so many unpleasant physical and mental effects on urban and rural African<br />women during recent centuries. Throughout recent decades, considerable efforts<br />have been made by United Nations and its dependent organizations and private<br />institutes in order to stop or reduce the young girls circumcision rate in African<br />continent; however, most of the indigenous population insist on this wrong tradition<br />and proclaim that this tradition is a part of their old traditions remaining from their<br />ancestors and its safeguard is quite important for them.<br />In this article, the way this old tradition is conducted and the reasons underlying<br />the action have been studied. Furthermore, the activities taking place by organizations<br />related to United Nations and African politicians in order to confront female genital<br />mutilation in different countries of Western Africa and their reflection in urban and<br />rural regions have been studied through existing documents and witnesses.
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30589.html
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30589_92ccff08cb10acd5cec215096c3b672f.pdf
Center for Women's Studies and Research, University of Tehran
International Journal of Women's Research
2322-3901
2463-2345
2
1
2013
05
01
The Representation of Muslim Women in Non-Islamic Media: A Critical Discourse Analysis Study on Guardian
57
78
EN
Sajad
Kabgani
MA in TEFL, Shiraz University, Department of Foreign Languages and Linguistics
sajad_kabgani64@yahoo.com
Providing analytical and social tools, critical discourse analysis (henceforth<br />CDA) can be used to unravel the hidden ideologiesas well as biases in the webs<br />of discursive practices involved in texts. In this paper, the van Leeuwen’s (1996)<br />CDA framework is used to analyze an article from a British broadsheet newspaper,<br />the Guardian. To have a more detailed analysis, eleven elements are chosen from<br />the comprehensive framework of van Leeuwen. The focus of the study is on<br />the representation of Muslim women in non-Islamic media, and the reason for<br />which this British newspaper is used is that usually European countries have been<br />accused of undemocratic behavior towards other ethnics and nationalities, and<br />the reflection of this behavior is more observable in their media. Besides Muslim<br />women, the representation of three other social actors has been analyzed so that<br />a more comprehensive assessment can be achieved. The findings of this study<br />indicate that Muslim women are depicted as active actors of Muslim community,<br />remarkably determined in their beliefs, and as independent individuals who are<br />in search of the resurrection of women’s identity. Although the Guardian author’s<br />total depiction of Muslim women is a positive one, she finally concludes that the<br />prevalence of the lack of critical thinking among them is the clearest drawback of<br />all Muslim women. This last statement shows that although western media by the<br />means of strategic tools try to depict minorities positively, in adopting such strategies<br />they are not completely neutral.
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30590.html
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30590_db53e77c6544ebf3ff43df9bea58efe6.pdf
Center for Women's Studies and Research, University of Tehran
International Journal of Women's Research
2322-3901
2463-2345
2
1
2013
05
01
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Setting the American Dream’s Homeownerships Standard of Living and its Costs
79
94
EN
Heshmat sadat
Moinifar
Prof, FWS,UT
hmoinifar2@ut.ac.ir
Rayeheh
Ali tavoli
MA Student, American Studies
rayehehstar@yahoo.com
This article discusses how the Extreme Makeover: HomeEditionUS<br />television reality program, which focuses on rebuilding houses for those in need,<br />sets unrealistic boundaries for the American Dream’s standard of living of<br />low-income homeowners in the United States. Passing through economic hardship<br />in the past several years, it is important to study how this program can meet the<br />real expectations of the deserved families and viewers in a way that it doesnot<br />lead to more economic pressure for the selected family who is having their<br />house reconstructed. Based on Gerbner’s Cultivation theory, the media shapes<br />the peoples’ reality and view on the world around them and in this case,<br />it shapes the expectations of an American dream home. This article analyzes<br />how homeownership has become an American Dream and how the low-income<br />families participating in Extreme Makeover: HomeEdition had struggled to become<br />homeowners. It will do so by looking at five examples of families who have faced<br />difficulty in maintaining the lavish homes that have been rebuilt for them by<br />Extreme Makeover reality program team, with the use of a multidisciplinary frame<br />and discourse analysis methodology. Hencit will describe how this program has set<br />boundaries and raised expectations for the target families and viewers according<br />to the Cultivation theory.
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30591.html
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30591_c75ebb8a8809be83daede1d1404dc0ad.pdf
Center for Women's Studies and Research, University of Tehran
International Journal of Women's Research
2322-3901
2463-2345
2
1
2013
05
01
Representation of Latinos in Hollywood: Masculinity in Iñárritu’s Films
59
110
EN
Mohammad Ali
Mousavi
Prof., American Studies
mamousavi2@ut.ac.ir
samar
Sadeghi
MA Student, American Studies
samar_sadeghi@yahoo.com
This paper studies the image of Latinos in the United States of America<br />through the Hollywood films production by the well-known Mexican director,Alejandro<br />Gonz?lez I??rritu. Using content analysis of the Latinos characters in the three<br />films directed by him and in collaboration with screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga, the<br />present paper examines the masculinity frame to see whether the Latinos are<br />portrayed positively or negatively in Hollywood movies. Semiotics in films and the<br />Character theory are used as the theoretical framework. The reason for choosing<br />this director is to control the research for the racializationthat might exist if we pick<br />a non-Latino director. The hypothesis is that the portrayal of the main characters is<br />a violent masculinity and a negative one. Regardless of the intentional or<br />unintentional reasons behind it, the effect of such portrayal on the overall picture<br />of Latinos is a negative one in the sense that according to the representation<br />theory, using Goffman Character and Christian Metz’s Semiotics theories, people<br />tend to accept something that is repeated enough for them as the reality and<br />therefore act upon it.
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30592.html
https://ijwr.ut.ac.ir/article_30592_3cde4149ec82729c4ca6bae72ed8c181.pdf