The discursive portrayals of Indonesian Muslims and Islam in the American press: A corpus-assisted discourse analysis

Abstract

Numerous studies across disciplines on how western media portray Muslims have been conducted in different geopolitical and cultural contexts. However, we still lack research into media constructions of Muslims from a particular country, including Indonesia, which is the most populous Muslim nation. This study aims to analyse the linguistic representation of Indonesian Muslims and Islam in two corpora of American newspapers published in two different five-year periods (2002-2006 and 2012-2016) by using corpus-assisted discourse analysis framework. Keyword, collocation and concordance analyses were employed to reveal dominant discourses of Indonesian Muslims. It was also enriched by critical discourse studies’ commitment to analysing social and political contexts. Some of the findings corroborate and reinforce the results of previous studies on media depictions of Muslims in general, in that the dominant discourses around Islam and Muslims are related to terrorism, fundamentalism, conflict and violence. However, this study also brings forward additional information, including a shift in the discourse. Dominant discourses around Indonesian Muslims in the American newspapers have witnessed a slight change over the 15 year-period from terrorism and extremism to radicalism only. What might be highlighted is that there are extremely few positive media portrayals of either Muslims in general or Indonesian Muslims.

Why do we need a sociocognitive-CDA in hate speech studies? A corpus-based systematic review

“…Hate speech can even involve high-position officials of a country, ranging from the president (Chua and Labiste, 2020) and members of parliament (Sakki and Pettersson, 2018). In addition, social actors also come from separatist groups (Chiluwa, 2018), social media (Siapera and Viejo-Otero, 2021; Fajri, 2019; Merrill and Åkerlund, 2018), and political parties (Burke et al, 2020). Some actors come from religious groups, as shown by Burke et al (2020).…”

“…In previous research, for instance, we can see such a tendency in the studies of Fajri (2019), Boulahnane (2019), Đorđević (2019), Merrill and Åkerlund (2018), and Musolff (2017). The researchers were compelling in demonstrating the analysis of texts based on the corpus of data but seemed weak in linking the analysis of the texts with the sociocultural analysis.…”

“…Since the incident known as "9/11" with President George Bush's War on Terror (WOT) announcement, the image of Muslims has been closely linked to terrorism. That is why the study of hate speech also targets the issue of terrorism, as can be observed in the studies of Fajri (2019), Heath-Kelly and Jarvis (2017), Allen (2017), Sharifi et al (2017), Poole et al (2020), Kaján (2017), (Sponholz, 2016), and so on. In his study, Fajri (2019) reveals the dominant discourse around Muslims in Indonesia, which is associated with terrorism, fundamentalism, conflict, and violence, constructed by American newspapers.…”

“…That is why the study of hate speech also targets the issue of terrorism, as can be observed in the studies of Fajri (2019), Heath-Kelly and Jarvis (2017), Allen (2017), Sharifi et al (2017), Poole et al (2020), Kaján (2017), (Sponholz, 2016), and so on. In his study, Fajri (2019) reveals the dominant discourse around Muslims in Indonesia, which is associated with terrorism, fundamentalism, conflict, and violence, constructed by American newspapers. At the same time, this study also shows a shift in the construction of Muslim groups in the past 15 years, from terrorism and extremism to radicalism.…”

Performing Covid-19: Trump’s Shift of Rhetoric During the Coronavirus Crisis in the Usa

“…Mass media play a significant part in shaping a society through media discourse: media messages are employed to construct discourse and give it momentum. This function of governmental and nongovernmental mass media has been studied extensively (see, for example, (Fajri, 2018;Fajri, 2019;Kirniawan & Utami, 2017;Ononye, 2017;Ononye & Nwachukwu, 2019;Sofyan & Zifana, 2019)). These studies have resulted in the conclusion that power and social interest are pursued through meanings embedded in media texts.…”