Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2011, Social Work

The purpose of this study was to explore the identity changes experienced by Arab Muslims residing in Columbus, Ohio, during the Spring of 2011 based on the Arab Muslims' experiences with terrorism-labeling and Arab Muslims' perceptions of terrorism-labeling factors. This study also intended to discover the predictive relationship between the characteristics of participants and changes in their identity. The study was guided by Labeling and Social Identity theories. These theories were also utilized in developing a tenable theoretical Terrorism-Labeling Influence model (TLI) that explained the complex of impact terrorism-labeling on well-being. Two hundred twenty three Arab Muslims were recruited through the largest three Islamic organizations in Columbus, Ohio. Non-probability data collection method (convenience sampling) was utilized. The participants responded to a questionnaire developed by the researcher. The instruments of this study included the Arab Muslims' Experiences with Terrorism-Labeling, Arab Muslims' Perceptions of Terrorism-Labeling, Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, Brief Arab Religious Coping Scale, and a demographic questionnaire. Descriptive and correlation statistics were used to explore the associations between demographic variables and changes in Arab Muslims' ethnic and religious identities. Multiple regression analysis was conducted to answer the research questions. The findings of this study did not support the research hypotheses indicating that there was no correlation between the independent variables, Arab Muslims' experiences with terrorism-labeling (AMETL) and Arab Muslims' perceptions of terrorism-labeling (AMPTL) and Arab Muslims ethnic and religious identities. Limitations, implications, and directions for future research are discussed.

Committee: Denise Bronson PhD (Committee Chair); Maria Julia PhD (Committee Member); Mo-Yee Lee PhD (Committee Member); Korie Edwards PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Academic Guidance Counseling; Adult Education; Behavioral Psychology; Counseling Education; Counseling Psychology; Educational Psychology; Ethnic Studies; Individual and Family Studies; International Relations; Islamic Studies; Multicultural Education; Multimedia Co

MA, Kent State University, 2005, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of History

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Committee: John Stalvey Ph.D. (Other); John Jameson Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; History; Islamic Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2017, Media and Communication

As the fastest growing population in the world and in the U.S., Muslims increasingly draw the attention of many researchers and scholars from diverse disciplines. Biased perceptions of Islam and Muslims that are based on “oriental” views have been fueled by different wars and conflicts involving Islamic countries or nations in different parts of the world. Driven by biased ideologies, perceptions and attitudes, along with political and socioeconomic forces of a capitalist system in the U.S., mass media, and other anti-Islam institutions played a significant role in spreading and perpetuating Islamophobia. This dissertation addresses Islamophobia by reviewing its origins, definitions, and consequences, and investigates its dynamics through the theoretical frameworks of capitalism, hegemony, and agenda setting. By selecting certain topics to dominate daily news stories and talking points, major media outlets can significantly impact the public discourse and perceptions and prioritize these issues on people's minds. In response to the negative media coverage, many Islamic organizations were established to counter such misperceptions and empower the Muslim communities in the U.S. through various methods including the use of social media. This dissertation examines major Islamic organizations' used of social media to communicate their messages, respond to Islamophobic portrayals and actions, support Muslim communities, set the agenda, and connect with local communities and social institutions. A total of 420 social media posts over the course of three months by five major U.S.-based Islamic organizations were gathered and analyzed using quantitative content analysis method. The organizations' Facebook-page-likes networks and Twitter-mentions networks were drawn, analyzed, and graphed to supplement the findings of the main method. The results show that the Islamic organizations adopted different and complementary approaches to promote their values, support th (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Gi Woong Yun Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Lisa Hanasono Ph.D. (Committee Co-Chair); Madeline Duntley Ph.D. (Committee Member); Clayton Rosati Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; Communication; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Middle Eastern Literature; Multicultural Education; Religion; Religious Congregations

Bachelor of Arts, Wittenberg University, 2024, Psychology

This study focuses on the possibility of differing attitudes toward mental health between Buddhists, Muslims, and undergraduate students and how knowledge and framing effects might play a role in these attitudes. Participants were recruited for an online survey containing three distinct measures of mental health literacy, religious coping techniques, and attitudes toward mental health. Four tests found no significant differences in mental health literacy or attitudes between Buddhists and Muslims, and video framing was not found to affect mental health attitudes regardless of the participant's knowledge level, and Muslims tended to incorporate religious coping techniques much more frequently than Buddhists and the undergraduate sample. This study suggests that religious identity and coping preferences may be important to consider for the future of culturally competent therapeutic services.

Committee: Lauren Crane (Advisor); Stephanie Little (Committee Member); Travis Proctor (Committee Member) Subjects: Mental Health; Psychology; Religion

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Mass Communication (Communication)

Media and representation of minorities have long been a focus of attention in communication and social science research. Media representation allowed scholars to move beyond understanding people in the mediated texts as just a portrayal or reflection of the existing reality. It saturated the media stream and established norms and common sense about minorities, cultures, and institutions in modern society. While a great deal of academic research has been conducted on the representations of Arabs and Muslims in Western media and Hollywood, little research which examines the representations of Arabs in Disney animated films were noticed. Therefore, this dissertation centers on the portrayal of Arabs in Disney animated films. It aims to identify the most prominent frames used by Walt Disney to portray Arabs, focusing on whether such films frame Arabs regarding their penchant for violence and terrorism and how they may exhibit sexist images. In addition, it seeks to explore a realization among Disney online audiences of possible negative depictions of Arabs and the story patterns assigned to them. The basis of this research was ten Disney animated films and audiences' opinions and reviews on those films. A mixed-methods convergent parallel design was employed to attain a complementary set of results that would complement one another and, therefore, strengthen the research's overall findings. Specifically, both framing analysis and quantitative textual analysis were used. Framing analysis findings revealed that the behavioral and violence frames were the most prominent frames of Arabs in Disney animation. Also, detailed explanations of Arab images in terms of violence, terrorism, and sexism were offered and discussed. The results on quantitative textual analysis of the IMDb dataset indicated that six main themes emerged, Aladdin, Original Disney, Disney Music, Disney Magic, Entertainment Production, and Animate. Also, the quantitative results illustrated the main concepts (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: M. Laeeq Khan (Advisor) Subjects: Film Studies; Mass Communications; Mass Media

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2021, Psychology

Muslims living in the United States are a growing racially and ethnically diverse group, and many of them experience chronic health conditions. A biopsychosocial-spiritual conceptualization model of health and disease may be particularly relevant to Muslims, given the holistic view of medicine promoted in Islam. Muslims may turn to positive religious coping and/or experience religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles in responding to their chronic illness. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the links between religiousness, religious coping, views of God and suffering, physical health, and psychological well-being among U.S. Muslim adults with a chronic medical condition. Participants completed a battery of questionnaires. Data were collected from an online sample (N= 162) and were consolidated through a series of correlations, a path model, and a structural equation model. Some key findings were as follows: As expected, results revealed positive associations between religiousness, perceived closeness with God, gratitude, patience, trust in God and positive religious coping. Attributing God's intent as kind predicted participants' engagement in positive religious coping, while attributing God's intent as cruel predicted divine struggles. R/s struggles were positively associated with anxiety but not associated with depression (which had a low alpha), in partial support of predictions. Unexpectedly, r/s struggles also showed small positive associations with well-being (particularly social well-being), although these were reduced when religiousness was controlled. In line with predictions, r/s struggles were related to greater physical health problems and viewing one's medical condition as life-threatening. Finally, as expected, perceived discrimination was associated with negative healthcare experiences. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.

Committee: Julie Exline PhD (Committee Chair) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2020, History

In the second half of the twentieth century, millions of Muslims left their countries of origins across Asia and Africa and permanently settled in Europe, Australia, and the Americas. In the United States, a large percentage of the Muslim migrants were in white-collar professions and used the time and resources that status afforded them to build thousands of institutions and organizations that facilitated the continued practice of their religion. This dissertation traces the process by which immigrants from at least eighty countries and hundreds more sects, cultural practices, and degrees of adherence coalesced into a distinct variety of “American” Islam. This structure was built from competing impulses regarding earlier Muslim presence: There was American lineage and legitimacy offered through the threads of antebellum enslaved Muslims, heterodox black American Muslim movements, and earlier Muslim immigrant groups. Yet the community that was wellestablished by the turn of the 21st century grew in part because of a desire to identify itself as a distinct and authentic practice of Islam, setting itself opposite the earlier and heterodox movements. Using organizational records, immigration and census data, oral histories, and intracommunity publications, this work traces the organic development of what is now a robust, modern, and singular practice of an ancient religion. American Islam has distinct, identifying hallmarks shared across the country and also reflects the hundreds of diversities in practice and identity. Threading this across Islamic history, the growth of American Islam is a cogent example of the strong correlation between the success of a Muslim civilization and its local culture and independence.

Committee: Peter Mansoor (Advisor); David Steigerwald (Advisor); Paula Baker (Committee Member); Judy Wu (Committee Member); Deborah Dash Moore (Committee Member); Patrice Hamel (Committee Member) Subjects: American History; American Studies; Ethnic Studies; History; Islamic Studies; Religion; Spirituality

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, EDU Teaching and Learning

This study investigated how curriculum can develop students' ability to critically engage with cultural difference, specifically with regard to learning about Islam and Muslims. The significance of this study lies in its synthesis of both academic and practitioner perspectives on this subject. The study built upon several areas of scholarship: critical global education, critical multicultural curriculum, decolonial and decolonizing approaches (countering Eurocentrism), anti-oppressive education, and critical pedagogy (see “Defining Critical Global Curriculum” in Chapter 2). All these approaches were viewed through the lens of Islamophobia as I analyzed curricular practices for teaching critically about Islam and Muslims. The core finding was that teachers countered Islamophobia by pushing their students' boundaries, or their conceptual biases, with regard to Muslim identity, and their own cultural identities. They often did this in ways intended to disrupt conceptualizations of self/Other. Teachers pushed student boundaries of self/Other by countering Eurocentric bias, acknowledging current and past forms of imperialism and oppression, and asking students to reflect on themselves before judging the Other. For many of the teachers in my study, this meant including Palestinian, indigenous, feminist, and other critical perspectives in their curriculum. Teachers acknowledged several key challenges: complicity with Eurocentric narratives, speaking the truth about war and racism, students' internalized racism and Islamophobia, and dilemmas for teaching about women's rights without perpetuating stereotypes about Muslim-majority countries and communities.

Committee: Binaya Subedi (Advisor); Adrian Rodgers (Committee Member); Arati Maleku (Committee Member); Madhumita Dutta (Committee Member) Subjects: Curriculum Development; Education; Educational Theory; Islamic Studies; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Literature; Middle Eastern Studies; Middle School Education; Multicultural Education

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2018, Geography

Each generation of immigrants has its own issues; for example, how to maintain already constructed identities among first generation immigrants and how to construct identities of the second generation of immigrants, who often see themselves as a part of both their parents' and their own world. This thesis examines how Muslim immigrants in a small city maintain and modify some aspects of their religious and cultural identities. I interviewed both first and second generation of Muslim immigrants in Inverness, Scotland. I argue that Muslim immigrants use shared spaces, such as Inverness Masjid as a site where they can renegotiate their Muslim identity. I found that the size of the city does not affect daily Muslim practices and it does not affect their ability to maintain Muslim identity. Additionally, my data supports previous studies in the field that, for both first and second generations of Muslim immigrants, religious identity is more important than their ethnic heritage. Additionally, I argue that the identity of the first generation can be modified by a new place of living and Muslim immigrants, both first and second generations, use specific places in the process of identity change and maintenance.

Committee: Bruce D'Arcus (Advisor); Carl Dahlman (Committee Member); Yelizaveta Skryzhevska (Committee Member) Subjects: Geography

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2017, Political Science

This paper examines the strategies by which the American Muslim community seeks to normalize its presence within mainstream American culture, and assesses how the social and moral customs of liberal society are internalized and operationalized by American Muslims as orthopraxy, or correct practice and conduct. Recent trends by American Muslims toward “inclusivity,” particularly as it requires the prioritization of non-religious, social and/or political understandings of the function and purpose of the hijab, will form the primary focus of this examination. What has become increasingly prevalent is the use of non-religious language pertaining to the hijab, particularly as a religious symbol functioning in and engaging with the public sphere. The central argument will demonstrate exactly how and why the hijab, a key religious symbol, and being a “hijabi,” (an identifier of women who wear the hijab) is being liberalized (and consequently secularized). This liberalization and secularization of the hijab result from the increasing appeal by American Muslim public figures to individualism, autonomy, and other liberal sensibilities over established theological edicts when making sense of why they cover and what it means to cover.

Committee: Renee Heberle Ph.D. (Advisor); Ovamir Anjum Ph.D. (Committee Member); Samuel Nelson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Islamic Studies; Political Science; Religion; Womens Studies

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2017, Psychology

Despite the positive outcomes associated with religion and spirituality (r/s), religion and spirituality can also be sources of struggle. Several studies have found such r/s struggles to be linked with greater levels of distress, while others have found them to be associated with growth-related outcomes. The author proposes that growth from struggles is a prominent experience in Islamic spirituality, referred to as spiritual jihad. The main hypothesis of this work was that incorporating a spiritual jihad mindset would result in greater well-being-related outcomes and buffer against the experience of r/s struggles. The project included two samples of U.S. Muslims: an online sample (N= 280) and a community sample (N= 74). The project provided preliminary evidence of reliability and validity for a new measure of spiritual jihad mindset. Results revealed Islamic religiousness and perceived closeness with God predicted greater endorsement of a spiritual jihad mindset among participants from both samples. A spiritual jihad mindset was positively associated with greater levels of positive religious coping (both samples), spiritual and post-traumatic growth (both samples), and virtuous behaviors (MTurk sample), and negatively associated with depression and anxiety (MTurk sample), and certain vices (MTurk sample).

Committee: Julie Exline PhD (Committee Chair); Brooke Macnamara PhD (Committee Member); Sandra Russ PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Bachelor of Arts, Ohio University, 2017, Classics and World Religions

This paper focuses on the diverse portrayals of halal in the public media. Specifically, this thesis seeks to explain how foodie social media provides an alternative narrative about Islam, as opposed to more traditional sources of media (i.e. newspaper and television) that seldom mention halal. The analysis of this paper determines that there is ample crossover between foodie culture and Muslim identity. These overlaps along with the ample sources of halal media contribute to providing a more dynamic and complex depiction of Muslims than is available in the mainstream political coverage of Islam. Therefore, among foodies, at least, Islam represents a positive, creative cultural force.

Committee: Loren Lybarger (Advisor) Subjects: Religion

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2017, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures

Because of the strong emotions and sudden ruptures caused by death in a community, expressive culture relating to death offers special contexts to study ethnic culture, social structures, and inequality. This dissertation analyzes death-related folklore, specifically, talks and practices about death, the deceased, funerals, and lethal supernatural powers in an ethnic Hui (Chinese Muslim) village in China. Analysis is based on my ethnographic fieldwork conducted from Summer 2014 to Summer 2015 in a Hui village located in Shandong Province. Using a folkloristic approach, I conduct qualitative study by analyzing folk narratives and beliefs in their spatiotemporal specificities. I interpret “death” as a power that produces specific social spaces shaping how different social agents interact. I argue that death related genres of expressive culture form social spaces where different social norm and hierarchies are highlighted and become susceptible to challenges. In these spaces, tensions between social groups are more open to discussion, and various social actors are mobilized to interact in order to confirm or contest, stabilize or liquidize certain social structure, be it of a family, a neighborhood, a community, a religious institute, or an ethnic group. The dissertation is divided into four chapters plus an introduction and a conclusion. Chapter 1 contextualizes one man's death in the village. Each aspect of this man's death is used to lead a discussion of one relevant methodological or theoretical concern. Chapter 2 discusses two funerals during which conflicts arise. I focus on intensive negotiations between mosque clergies and families of the deceased, arguing that conflict helps disclose tensions between the religious and mundane and consequently unsettles religious hierarchies. Chapter 3 addresses laymen's critiques of religious men and even of the “symbol of Islam,” the village mosque. I suggest that religious space for many laymen in the village is most cl (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sabra Webber (Advisor); Dorothy Noyes (Committee Member); Mark Bender (Committee Member); Morgan Liu (Committee Member) Subjects: Asian Studies; Comparative; Cultural Anthropology; Ethnic Studies; Folklore; Religion

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1986, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Literature

Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.), Xavier University, 2016, Psychology

As the Muslim convert population continues to grow in the U.S., it is important for psychologists to have ways of assessing their spirituality and religiosity. While there are measures of conversion to Islam, none have been empirically validated with a U.S. convert population. The purpose of the current study was to validate an assessment measure (Lakhdar et al., 2007) previously developed with French converts, with a U.S. convert sample. The present study did not find strong evidence for the eight-factor solution that was found in the original study (Lakhdar et al., 2007). However, support for two of the original factors was established (telic and autic sympathy). Additionally, the measure demonstrated good temporal stability and three subscales (telic, conformist, and autic sympathy) were significantly correlated with validated measures of Islamic beliefs and behavioral practices. While some psychometric validity for the measure was established, the scale will likely require further revisions before being considered a valid measure of conversion to Islam for the U.S. convert population.

Committee: John Barrett Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Dalia Diab Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jennifer Gibson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Islamic Studies; Psychological Tests; Psychology; Religion; Spirituality

Ph.D., Antioch University, 2015, Leadership and Change

This study addresses the research question “How Do I Inspire Personal and Social Change Through My Theater Practice?” I implement the theory and practice of H.E.A.T., a fusion theater system, combining use of theater arts as healing practice, educational asset, activist tool, and an art form. I research different ways that theater can affect change, focusing specifically on the use of history in performance. I dramatically interpret a period of history where performance and poetry contributed to change. I utilize qualitative methods including performance ethnography, auto ethnography, arts-based research, and historical research. I describe the fieldwork in conflict zones in the Middle East, which led to the scripting of a full-length play, and the presentation of the play, which included discussion groups and audience participation through post-show events. The dissertation is a bricolage, combining scholarly chapters, performative writing, and scripted theater. The work explores ways of employing theater as a change agent by using history as an inspiration. In the city of Cordoba, Spain, in the 10th and 11th century Muslims and Jews lived in a state of relative peace. Looking at medieval Cordoba I explore the Judeo-Arabic poetry of the time, asking: Can what happened in Cordoba be a model for performance and peacebuilding? Based on historical research, the Judeo-Arabic poetry of ancient Al-Andalusia, and the theory of performative peacebuilding, the dramatically scripted section of the dissertation will take place in two realms: Present-day conflict zones in the Middle East; and medieval Cordoba where two ancient characters convey a story of coexistence through poetic expression. In three decades of working as a theater artist, I have come to believe that my work must be dedicated to facilitating change. The sacred and ancient art of theater needs to be meaningful to 21st-century life so that we can use it to awaken, heal, educate and repair the world. This disser (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carolyn Kenny Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Holloway Ph.D. (Committee Member); D. Soyini Madison Ph.D. (Committee Member); Dara Culhane Ph.D. (Committee Member); Magdelena Kazubowski-Houston Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: Aesthetics; Islamic Studies; Judaic Studies; Medieval History; Medieval Literature; Middle Eastern History; Middle Eastern Literature; Middle Eastern Studies; Performing Arts; Psychology; Psychotherapy; Theater; Theater Studies

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2015, History

This dissertation examines the Muslim community of Dobruca, an Ottoman territory granted to Romania in 1878, and its transformation from a majority under Ottoman rule into a minority under Romanian administration. It focuses in particular on the collective identity of this community and how it changed from the start of the Ottoman reform era (Tanzimat) in 1839 to the outbreak of World War I in 1914. This dissertation constitutes, in fact, the study of the transition from Ottoman subjecthood to Romanian citizenship as experienced by the Muslim community of Dobruca. It constitutes an assessment of long-term patterns of collective identity formation and development in both imperial and post-imperial settings. The main argument of the dissertation is that during this period three crucial factors altered the sense of collective belonging of Dobrucan Muslims: a) state policies; b) the reaction of the Muslims to these policies; and c) the influence of transnational networks from the wider Turkic world on the Muslim community as a whole. Taken together, all these factors contributed fully to the community's intellectual development and overall modernization, especially since they brought about new patterns of identification and belonging among Muslims. Teachers, religious leaders, journalists, and political activists among the region's Muslims proved to be essential in this process due to their power of example and capacity of mobilizing fellow coreligionists. During the Ottoman period, Muslims asserted their imperial identity at the expense of religious, ethnic, and local sub-identities whenever community projects were at stake. In contrast, during the Romanian period they emphasized their national identity, even if for a similar purpose. Displays of loyalty were part of a well-thought-out strategy to attract the benevolence of state officials, and in the process, Muslims became active agents in the making of state policies of the empire and of the nation-state, (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Carter Findley (Advisor); Jane Hathaway (Committee Co-Chair); Theodora Dragostinova (Committee Member); Scott Levi (Committee Member); Richard Pogge (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2014, Sociology

Given the constant increase in the share of Europe’s population made up of individuals with immigrant origin, understanding political engagement and attitudes among the migrant population becomes crucial for the stability of European regimes. This paper integrates theories of political participation with literature on immigrant incorporation to examine factors that shape trust in institutions among immigrants in Western Europe. Results of analyses using cross-national survey data from the European Social Survey and country-level indicators of quality of governance show that among immigrants trust in institutions is positively associated with the difference in quality of governance between the residence country and the country of origin, but the magnitude of these effects varies between the foreign-born and second generation migrants. Additionally, controlling for quality of governance, having former colony origin has a negative effect on trust. Surprisingly, adherence to Islam has a positive effect of political trust above and beyond other individual- or country-level factors. This striking finding may be partially due to selection dynamics, which could operate differently for migrants from different religious-cultural backgrounds. By improving the understanding of factors shaping levels of political trust, this research has practical implications for immigration and diversity-management policies in Western Europe.

Committee: Craig Jenkins (Advisor); Edward Crenshaw (Committee Member); Vincent Roscigno (Committee Member) Subjects: Political Science; Sociology

Master of Arts, University of Toledo, 2010, French (Foreign Language)

La France a connu une histoire d'immigration et se trouve au carrefour des cultures divergentes. L'etat francais accueillit des coutumes, des traditions et des religions des immigres tout en tenant aux piliers republicains de fraternite, egalite et liberte. Tout individu est egal devant cet etat laic qui protege le droit commun. Neanmoins, au centre de ce croisement existe un equilibre difficile a achever. Les deracines se balancent entre deux cultures substantives de l'histoire de colonisation, de decolonisation et des guerres inherentes. Quelque soit la methode d'assimiler ou d'integrer, ses bienvenues subissent des epreuves incessantes malgre l'epoque malgre le pays d'origine. Donc, ce document tente a tracer, qualifier et adresser l'histoire et l'etat des immigres en France tout en etudiant le film, Inch'Allah Dimanche, qui sert d'analyse de l'immigration francaise dans le regroupement familial de 1974.

Committee: Dr. Ruth Hottell (Committee Chair) Subjects: African History; Cultural Anthropology; Demographics; European History; Geography; History; International Relations; Minority and Ethnic Groups; Multicultural Education; Religion; Sociology; Womens Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2009, Mass Communication (Communication)

This is an ethnographic study exploring media consumption patterns of youth belonging to a distinct Muslim community in New Delhi. This study looked at how global and Indian media, which have emerged as a powerful force of social change in India since 1991, redefined the isolation of Muslims in the segregated Jamia Enclave. After 1991 India liberalized its economy, and Indian audiences were then able to receive multiple Indian language and global satellite channels in addition to the single state broadcaster available previously. The Muslim researcher approached the field from the perspective of an insider and employed participant observation and immersion in daily activities of the community to understand how media have been integrated into the lives of Muslim youth. The aim was to understand the way mediated interactions influenced the construction of the identity of Muslim youth born and raised in the age of globalized media and liberalized Indian economy. The study explored their self-perceptions as members of their Islamic community, as Indians, and as gendered individuals. The findings challenge essentialist constructs of identity that define Muslims as isolationists and resistant to processes of modernization. However, the youth of Jamia youth did not share the same ideological attachment to their community that was expressed by members of the older generations. The youth also gave greater credence to their national identity, as opposed to their Islamic religious and cultural identity. Unlike their mothers, young Muslim women followed examples presented in the media promoting new ambitions and careers outside their community. Among these young women, it was consumerism rather than feminist motives that acted as inspiration for careers outside Jamia. Yet their desires created anxieties among Muslim men. The ambition expressed by Muslim youth to move out of their seclusion and be part of the wider Indian society was propelled by a rising consumerism in India (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Drew McDaniel PhD (Committee Chair); Karen Riggs PhD (Committee Member); Ron Hunt PhD (Committee Member); Haley Duschinski PhD (Committee Member); Ben Bates PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication; Cultural Anthropology; Mass Media