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Othering Muslims: The Depiction of Islamists in the series Ad-Dā`iyah and Duniyaa Jadidah
Abstract
This paper explores the ways in which specific configurations of Muslim identity are constructed against Islamist characters in two Egyptian television series Ad-Dā`iyah (The Islamic Preacher) airing in 2013 and Duniyaa Jadidah (A New World) airing in 2015. Two examples of recent Egyptian drama, the series revolve around the issue of representation (religious and political) in the highly fluid socio-religious-political landscape of the contemporary Egyptian context. Both series address the question of who speaks for Islam in Egypt, specifically, and the larger global Ummah. This question is explored against the backdrop of the uprisings in 2011, the election and removal of Mohammad Morsi, and the current leadership of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Specifically, I will trace how Islamist characters and agendas are othered in these series in order to configure an Egyptian Muslim identity that reflects the authoritarian political narrative, where the government also emerges as a protector of Islam. Both series utilize the platform of religious television programs to put forward a particular narrative that is distanced from any ideology that is deemed “Islamist.” The definition of Islamism in the dramas are colored by the governmental narrative and can be seen in the mutually consistent depictions of the Islamist characters and their singular agendas—to control the religious narrative and to establishing a caliphate in the place of the current government. The main characters of both series are juxtaposed with Islamist characters who challenge the Muslim identity propagated by both in the religious television programs that they host. In both series, the image of the “moderate” Muslim is constructed around the highly contentious religious and political discourse in Egypt from 2011 to the present. Moreover, the two series illustrate the way in which religious programming (and discourse) is employed in the service of political and social aims and are not politically neutral spaces. In my discussion, I will argue that religious and political discourse are intimately interwoven in Ad-Dā`iyah and Duniyaa Jadidah and that Egyptian Muslim identity is configured against the image of the Islamist in these two series
Discipline
Media Arts
Geographic Area
None
Sub Area
Cultural Studies