Thesis
Religious identity and its relevance in interpreting media portrayals of Muslims
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2006
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/530
Abstract
This study examines how interpretive communities of fundamentalist Christians use media interpretations of Islam. The analysis focused on the way in which the text becomes relevant to the viewers and what role their identities as fundamentalist Christians play in their interpretations of media texts. Three research questions are asked: (1) What are the discursive strategies through which meanings are made relevant? (2) How do fundamentalist Christians position themselves in relation to Islam through their interpretations? (3) How are fundamentalist Christian identities relevant to interpretations of the media text? Four groups of fundamentalist Christians viewed a documentary about Islam in their own homes. Their conversations were recorded and analyzed for emergent themes. The analysis identified six themes ("the violence that's required in the Koran," "the works versus faith dichotomy," "too close to the truth," "Mohammed is revered as a god," "Islam really does make women very secondary," and "no witnesses") and two discourses (comparison to Christianity and comparison to other false religions) that answered the three research questions. In addition, this study poses that participants use polysemic resistive readings to interpret the documentary so that it fits into their worldview.
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Details
- Title
- Religious identity and its relevance in interpreting media portrayals of Muslims
- Creators
- Jill Anne Fagan
- Contributors
- Jolanta Drzewiecka (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Edward R. Murrow College of Communication
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; Pullman, Wash. :
- Identifiers
- 99900524809301842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis