This exploratory study employed uses and gratifications theory to understand Arab Americans' salient motives for using the internet and whether the internet served as a functional alternative to other media to satisfy Arab Americans' information-seeking and interpersonal needs. Spiral of silence theory also was used to investigate the relationship between Arab Americans' perceptions of U.S. public opinion and their motives for using the internet. Results from an online questionnaire survey (N = 124) indicated that information seeking was the most salient motive for using the internet and that the internet did serve as a functional alternative, with a significant percentage of the internet sources used being foreign based. There was, however, no relationship between Arab Americans' perceptions of U.S. public opinion and their motives for using the internet. The findings are discussed with respect to the use of the internet by members of this marginalized cultural group. doi:10.1111/j. 1083-6101.2008.00413.x Introduction Given the rapid development and diffusion of online communication technologies, with more than a billion internet users worldwide (Internet World Stats, 2008;Nielsen, 2005), computer-mediated communication (CMC) has attracted much attention from communication scholars. Researchers have focused on using CMC to accomplish, for instance, interpersonal communication (e.g., Anderson & Emmers-Sommer, 2006;Arvidsson, 2006;Duthler, 2006;Henderson & Gilding, 2004; Parks & Floyd, 1994; Rabby, 2007;Ramirez, 2007;Rumbough, 2001;Stefanone & Jang, 2007 Tidwell & Walther, 2002;Walther, 1993Walther, , 1994Walther, , 1996Walther, , 1997Walther, Anderson, & Park, 1994;Walther & Burgoon, 1992;Wildermuth, 2001; Wildermuth & VoglBauer, 2007;Wright, 2004), group communication (e.g., Bonito, 2003Flanagin, Park, & Seibold, 2004;Lee, 2006Lee, , 2007aLemus, Seibold, Flanagan, & Metzger, 2004;Peň a, Walther, & Hancock, 2007; Postmes, Spears, & Lea, 2000;Rains, 2005Rains, , 2007Walther, 1997;Walther & Bazarova, 2007;Walther & Bunz, 2005;Walther, Slovacek, & Tidwell, 2001), and organizational communication (e.g., Adams, Roch, & Ayman, 2005;Barnes & Greller, 1994;Chaudhri & Wang, 2007;Kelleher & Miller, 2006;D. C. Perry, Taylor, & Doerfel, 2004;Rains & Young, 2006;Rice & Love, 1987;Shumate & Pike, 2006;Skovholt & Svennevig, 2007;Trevino, Lengel, & Daft, 1987;Turnage, 2007;Valacich, Paranka, George, & Nunamaker, 1993; Waldvogel, 2007). Researchers also have studied how CMC may be used to provide social support (e.g., K. Campbell & Wright, 2002;Christian, 2004;Dutta & Feng, 2007;R. A. Jones, 2005;Ley, 2007;Shaw, Hawkins, McTavish, Pingree, & Gustafson, 2006;Shaw, McTavish, Hawkins, Gustafson, & Pingree, 2000;VanLear, Sheehan, Withers, & Walker, 2005;Wright, 1999Wright, , 2000aWright, , 2000bWright, , 2000cWright, , 2002, create community (e.g., Baym, 1993Baym, , 2000Bird, 1999;Boczkowski, 1999;Bostdorff, 2004;H. Campbell, 2005;Cooks, 2002;Cooks & Aden, 1995;Cooks, Scharrer, & Paredes, 2003;Edley, Hylmö, & Newsom, 2004;Giese,...
In this chapter, critical race and expectancy violation theories are used to deconstruct students' resistance to a female faculty member of color, a Muslim Arab American who wears the traditional Islamic cover. The author provides a narrative of her teaching experience and some techniques she has used to face such resistance.
Using critical textual analysis based on the postcolonial school of thought, this essay analyzed a ten-minute segment, called “Women of the Revolution,” on the ABC news program This Week, anchored at that time by Christiane Amanpour, for its portrayals of Arab and Muslim women. The analysis showed that Arab and Muslim women were portrayed positively only when they fit a “media-darling” trope of Western-educated Arab or Muslim women, or those who looked and acted similar to Western women, especially if they ascribed to a Western view of feminism. Those women also were seen as the exception to the “repressive” culture that characterizes the Arab and Muslim worlds, according to the Orientalist stereotype. The implications of this analysis indicate that, in spite of the visibility and progress of many Arab and Muslim women in their countries and indigenous cultures, they are still framed within old recycled molds in US mainstream media, even if these seem positive at face value.
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