Mahmoud Eid

A New-Look for Muslim Women in the Canadian Media: CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie

The coverage of Muslim women in Western media has long been using Orientalist stereotypes and portrayals of Muslims as outsiders. Even though racist stereotypes exist in Canada, Canadian legislation and the media are attempting to portray an idealistic form of multiculturalism. Recently, Canadian mainstream media have refrained from stereotypical representations of Muslims, especially women, and shifted toward non-Orientalist representations. CBCs Little Mosque on the Prairie (LMP), a satirical Canadian comedy sitcom, is one of the first such instances. LMP criticizes and refutes negative stereotypes, portraying Muslims as ordinary Canadians with problems and lifestyles that are shared across Canada. A qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the first seasons eight episodes investigates how Muslim women have been portrayed in LMP, drawing on Luhmanns (1987) theory on representation of society, Millars (1793) observations about women in society, Halls (1997) Other, Saids (1978) Orientalism, Kristevas (1991) theories on foreigners, and Bhabhas (1994) Third Space. Findings demonstrate that Muslim women on CBC are not oppressed or stereotyped; instead, they participate normally in Canadian culture and the workplace and are not considered outsiders. Muslim women in Canada exist in Third Spaces that allow Canadian and Islamic practices to merge, resulting in a uniquely Canadian artifact like LMP.

Perceptions about Muslims in Western Societies

In today’s world we rely heavily on the media for knowledge and information about people, cultures, and actions around the globe.1 However, most often we fail to acknowledge the media’s influence and become desensitized to their tendencies of stereotyping and framing. The conceptual media frames structure public perceptions in society (Gofman, 1974).2 The mainstream media continue to be a major source of information about Islam and Muslims for Western audiences (Eid & Khan, 2011). Muslims worldwide represent around one-quarter of the global population. One-fifth of the world’s Muslim population inhabits countries where Islam is not the majority religion, including Western societies where Islam is the principal minority faith, and Muslims are the fastest growing religious groups. While this belief system involves a myriad of practices within the general scope of its tradition, Islam is also misunderstood and misrepresented in various contexts.

Imagining the Other

The relationship of “Judeo-Christian” and Muslim civilizations is like that of amnesic siblings: both have trouble remembering the Self’s kinship with the Other. Memories of their shared Abrahamic parentage appear to be lost in a foggy haze; yet, they persist in an old sibling rivalry. Ironically, each imagines the Other to be alien in values, even though Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share a fundamentally core vision about humanity’s relationship with God and about the necessity of universal ethics to order human relationships (e.g., Arkoun, 2006; Armstrong, 1994; Chandler, 2007; Gopin, 2009; Volf, 2011). There are significant differences between the Abrahamic traditions in theology and ritual practice; however, no other three religions “form so intimate a narrative relationship as do the successive revelations of monotheism” telling “a single continuous story” (Neuser, Chilton & Graham, 2002, p. viii) that runs from the Old Testament to the New Testament and from the Bible to the Qur’an.

Cyber-Terrorism and Ethical Journalism: A Need for Rationalism

Terrorism has been a constant threat in traditional and contemporary societies. Recently, it has been converged with new media technology and cyberspace, resulting in the modern tactic, cyber-terrorism, which has become most effective in achieving terrorist goals. Among the countless cyber-terrorist cases and scenarios of only this last decade, the paper discusses four cyber-terrorism cases that represent the most recent severe cyber-terrorist attacks on infrastructure and network systems-Internet Black Tigers, MafiaBoy, Solo, and Irhabi 007. Regardless of the nature of actors and their motivations, cyber-terrorists hit very aggressively causing serious damages. Cyber-terrorists are rational actors who use the most advanced technology; hence, the critical need for the use of counter-threat swords by actors on the other side. Given that terrorist goals are mostly dependent on the medias reactions, journalistic practices are significant and need to be most effective. A major tool that can help journalists in their anti-and counter-terrorist strategies with cyber-terrorists is rationalism, merged with the expected socially responsible conduct. Rational behaviour, founded in game theory, along with major journalistic ethical principles are fundamental components of effective media decision-making during times of terrorism.

Public Policy and Muslims in Western Societies: Security and Integration

The multicultural nature of some Western societies allows people the opportunity to interact and connect with cultures from around the world. Thus, it is possible for them to learn about different ways of life and become increasingly aware of the immense diversity that characterizes their nations’ identities. While cultural mixing is celebrated, it is also a cause for unrest among some individuals and communities due to misunderstandings and discrimination of ethnic and religious minorities.

Re-Imagining the Other

The Other is not inherently alien to the Self, but is often imagined as such. Whereas Western and Muslim societies have had intermittent clashes for over a millennium, there is overwhelming evidence of them engaging productively with each other for most of this time. However, this knowledge is overshadowed by the dominant discourses that accentuate conflict. The news media are the major vehicles disseminating such discourses (e.g., Hafez, 2000; Karim, 2003; Perigoe & Eid, 2014; Poole, 2002), but other cultural forms such as children’s toys, bedtime stories, educational materials, paintings, songs, plays, novels, film, television entertainment programs, and computer games also play a significant role (e.g., Karim, 2003; 2012; Shaheen, 2009). Some voices in Western and Muslim societies have sought to revive memories of long-standing collaboration, but the dominant discourses in both emphasize the adversarial aspects of the relationship with the Other. This has tended to encourage forms of thinking that promote terrorism and war, both of which have seen an intensification in the twenty-first century. Richard Bulliet urges for “a fundamental reconsideration … of the long-term sibling relationship” between Christians and Muslims; without a reappraisal, the future of their relations “will be thorny and unpredictable, haunted by dashed hopes and missed opportunities” (2004, p. 133). Given the scale of death, destruction, and expense resulting from Western-Muslim conflicts, it is imperative that the Other be re-imagined in the broader context of the mutually beneficial intersections that have occurred in the long term.

Ethics, Decision-Making, and Risk Communication in the Era of Terroredia: The Case of ISIL

Terrorism today is one of the most frequent global severe stress situations. The advanced and widespread new media and information technologies as well as modern tactics of terrorism make the public of any nation in exposure, directly and indirectly, to uncertain potential acts of terrorism. The relationship between terrorists and media personnel has grown widely influential, and has been described recently by the term terroredia, in which the public is the main target of both terrorism and the media. Both responsibility and rationality are fundamental weights for the effectiveness of risk communication during times of terrorism. This paper critically analyzes how policymakers in several Western countries have communicated to the public, through the media, the risk of terrorist attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant ISIL against their individuals and societies. The study uncovers that rationality and responsibility are lacking in Western media decision-making regarding the risk of ISILs potential activities.

Public Policy and the Clash of Ignorance

Due to the contemporary social and political climate in the world, it is more important than ever to acknowledge and investigate both Eastern and Western contributions to civilization. This may allow for the creation of insight and enlightenment that can instigate building bridges of appreciation and understanding among people of various cultures and ideologies (AbuSulayman, 2011). It may be possible to reduce conflict between “the East” and “the West” by acknowledging the ways in which these two entities have interacted in the past. Rather than the focus on the grim realities of current conflict and destruction, it is suggested that a reflective process take place, striving to pay homage to the individually unique legacies of both Islam and Christianity. There is vast evidence that demonstrates the ways in which people of various religious backgrounds have worked together to share knowledge and further the development of humanity throughout history (Morgan, 2007). This process can encourage humans to understand critically the true elements of interaction. In this, we must ignore a history of ignorance that forgets, misunderstands, suppresses, and rewrites the truths of our existence.

Comunicación y empoderamiento ciudadano en salud: un caso de investigación-acción en la Venezuela polarizada

An action-research project was implemented in Venezuela from 2009-2013 to empower social activists and patients in their fight against breast cancer (BC). The project was implemented in a context of high political and social polarization of the so-called “Bolivarian revolution”. Based on an ecological perspective of health activism and communication, that encompasses the interpersonal, group and social levels, a series of activities were celebrated to develop the advocacy capabilities of citizens, especially women, expand the collaborative networks among different stakeholders, and promote a consensual view between social and institutional actors about a national response to fight BC. A horizontal and participatory communication allowed that the voice of usually marginalized actors was heard in the process of shaping health care policy. CITE AS: Nahon-Serfaty, I., Eid, M. (2015). Comunicacion y empoderamiento ciudadano en salud: un caso de investigacion-accion en la Venezuela polarizada. Iberoamerican Journal of Development Studies, 4 (2): 5-23

The evil of terrorism: diagnosis and countermeasures

peacebuilding needs to engage in creating and sustaining counter hegemonic alliances of marginalized groups to promote an alternative project of ‘social emancipation.’ They argue that social emancipation is a more felicitous term than the widely used terminology of empowerment of civil society, given that it is more comprehensive. In analyzing neoliberalism as the present context for peacebuilding, both the World Bank and World Trade Organization were referenced in some of the chapters. However, no reference was made to the role of the International Monetary Fund with its structural adjustment programs and the Bank of International Settlements with its solid and secretive support of the present world (dis)order, nor was reference made to the neoliberalist underpinning of the unjust, unsustainable, and, therefore, unstable international monetary system itself. Given that this system as glue binds together the monetary, financial, economic, and commercial systems, peace research on neoliberalism should also include the international monetary dimension and, optimally, consider the pros and cons of a carbon-based international monetary system. In addition, I would have liked to see the effect of global warming on peacebuilding as one of the core ideas in the book. Often major environmental damage has been done in civil wars and restoring and improving the social, economic, and environmental conditions should be combined with the requirements of avoiding a climate catastrophe. Often intra and international violence originates in conflicts over water or other natural resources, which will only increase as these resources become scarcer and contaminated due to the increase of global warming. Nonetheless, this well-organized and coherent book is an important resource for peace educators, proposing a transformational shift in peace research and policy by switching the focus from elites and their security interests to civil society and its social justice movement as the foundation of enduring peacebuilding.