Digital media and identity construction: Exploring the discourse of Pakistani vloggers

Abstract

Negative framing of the image of Muslims, especially after 9/11, has caused numerous Muslim communities to become apprehensive about the way their identity is presented in the mass media. One such community being affected by negative representations based on Islamophobia and other gender‐related stereotypes is Pakistan. As a result, these misunderstandings are being addressed through the construction of alternative and contrasting online identities by Pakistani vloggers through digital media. This paper excavates the diversified constructions of vloggers’ online identities using two theoretical approaches to explaining identity construction: micro‐hegemonies and the investment model. Nineteen Pakistani vloggers were purposively selected for the study, who were observed over a period of two years using online observations, interviews, and email conversations, adopting a digital ethnographic approach. The investigation found that the vloggers choose to portray their religious practices, Pakistani identity, and local culture and norms while simultaneously utilizing Western norms to indicate their modernity. Moreover, they regularly emphasize that they are normal, regular human beings. Hence, the paper contributes to understanding how Pakistanis present a complex, hybrid identity which counters the dominant narratives in the media.

Genre Analysis of a Pakistani Footwear Brand Website: An Investigation of Content and Structure

“…The trend of e-commerce businesses has gained momentum over the past few decades, and so does the interest of researchers in marketing and presentation of their products on online platforms earned significance. Keeping in view the context of Pakistani purchasing perspectives; Farrukh and Shehzad (Farrukh & Shehzad, 2019) reaffirm that it has become vital to establish a reliable image of commercial enterprises online. It is done by establishing credentials so that customers can rely on services provided by the brand.…”

“…These transmissions led to the formulation of a new discourse community for the user's genre of websites, which vary in their content and structure according to the targeted audience they address. Similarly, over the years, Pakistan's popularity of internet shopping has grown significantly (Farrukh & Shehzad, 2019), but there has been limited investigation in the genre to assist future improvements in the structure and content of such websites to make them more convenient for shopping. In this article, a Pakistani shoe-wear brand is under investigation by employing Bhatia's model for genre analysis to explore the strategic alignment of all the components to fulfill the needs of its customers.…”