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Heard but not Seen: The Inclusion and Participation of Women in Islamic Satellite TV
Abstract
Huda TV is a English-language Islamic channel broadcasting from Cairo, Egypt. Headquartered in Saudi Arabia and constituted by a culturally diverse staff, the channel is a hybrid institution that consciously aims to present an accessible and cosmopolitan vision of Sunni Islam. Yet, the channel is also defined by conceptions of Islamic theology and law that emerge from Saudi Arabia’s independent Islamic sphere. Among the more notable expressions of this legal framework is the virtual prohibition of women appearing on screen at Huda TV. Drawing on participant-observation fieldwork conducted during the channel’s inaugural year of broadcast in 2005-2006, this paper examines how the exclusively male space of Huda TV engaged both the visual absence and aural participation of women in its programming. This research references field notes and program documents collected during the author’s time as an employee at the channel. While women did not appear on screen, they frequently interacted with the channel through live call-in programs, and women’s voices were strategically included in programs and other promotional content. For instance, the majority of callers on Huda TV’s live flagship program on Islamic law, Ask Huda, were women. The channel’s slogan and other promotional content were read by a British Muslim woman. The significance of women’s absence on screen and the potential means for their inclusion were also discussed and considered by channel staff in reference to other programs. This paper provides a unique perspective on how a male environment deals with issues of gender through the potentially powerful platform of Anglophone satellite TV. It offers novel insights into the complex discourses of gender in contemporary Islamism and contributes to research on similarly gendered spaces in Islamic movements. By considering the interaction of gendered public and private spheres in satellite television, this paper also identifies unique elements of global media and their relationship to religious expression.
Discipline
Media Arts
Geographic Area
Egypt
Islamic World
North America
Saudi Arabia
Sub Area
None