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Narrating the Revolution(s): Al Jazeera, Tunisia, Egypt
Abstract
This paper analyzes the al-Jazeera Arabic channel’s use of montages (i.e., discrete series of images and short video sequences set to music) as narrative objects that were deployed to create visual and aural narratives for transnational political action over the course of the recent revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Building on Bourdieu’s theory of language and symbolic power, this paper will argue that al-Jazeera’s juxtaposition of montages from the Tunisian revolution with similarly structured montages of the Egyptian revolution before the resignation of Mubarak created powerful suggestions of transnational parallels between Tunisia and Egypt. It is for this reason that the title of this paper interrogates whether we must treat these events as separate instances or, rather, as manifestations of one broader political movement. What are the narratives of transnational solidarity, in the post-Arab nationalist age, that emerge from these media images? These montages invariably concluded with the al-Jazeera icon accompanied by its “continuous coverage” slogan (al-taghtiya al-mustamira) and thus underscore the channel’s self-aware proclamation of its role, first, in selecting and deploying the iconic images of these events as they took place and, second, in broadcasting - and thus participating in - the revolution(s) across the world. This paper will conclude by investigating this dimension of the al-Jazeera channel, providing a brief history of the channel’s formation and its relationship to the Qatari state, and attempt to push beyond the channel’s celebratory rhetoric to interrogate the complex implications of this uniquely transnational media network’s relationship to traditional state politics in the region.
Discipline
Media Arts
Geographic Area
All Middle East
Sub Area
19th-21st Centuries