165. Name: Lauren Ann Williams Title: Another ‘Other’: Redefining Feminism on Al Jazeera Institution: University of Texas at Austin Country: United States Date: 2014 Language: English Abstract: Women and women’s issues receive a great deal of attention on Al Jazeera English, increasing the visibility of feminist ideologies in transnational media. This study seeks to discover how and why Al Jazeera undertakes such promotion and what links it possesses to the larger sociopolitical environment of the Middle East. In pursuit of these goals, the study examines the journalistic content, unconscious style, and linguistic structures used in articles about women on the Al Jazeera English website. In circumstances of revolution and change, Al Jazeera invokes women to highlight their active agency and demonstrate their social power. Where such change is not possible, articles employ more reserved and passive techniques to convey this stagnancy. Women from less developed areas are also highlighted more often in positions of power and influence. The study finds that Al Jazeera’s attention to women plays a role in a larger movement to develop an ideological culture base without roots in the United States or Europe. By building a feminism tied to local women, Al Jazeera provides an alternative to the widespread systems of cultural imperialism and stalwart traditionalism.
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