ETD Collection

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/104


Please note: Digitised content is made available at the best possible quality range, taking into consideration file size and the condition of the original item. These restrictions may sometimes affect the quality of the final published item. For queries regarding content of ETD collection please contact IR specialists by email : IR specialists or Tel : 011 717 4652 / 1954

Follow the link below for important information about Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Library Guide about ETD

Browse

Filters

20151

Settings

Author: search.filters.author.Kapelari, LauraSubject: search.filters.subject.Government policy

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    The representation of extremists in Western media
    (2015-08-20) Kapelari, Laura
    As radicalised Muslim converts gain ever greater attention within the War on Terror (WoT) and the media, an investigation into their portrayal and the associated discourses becomes ever more relevant. This study aims to shed more light on the representation of these extremist individuals in the Western media, specifically white converts to Islam who become radicalised, exploring whether there is indeed a difference between the portrayal of female and male extremists, at the same time seeking to reveal any related social or national anxieties. The findings indicate that there is indeed a difference: while women extremists are stripped bare of all political agency, the men, though exposed to rhetoric condemning their treachery as well as often depicted as capitulating to mental illness, remain largely intact as agents. This comes down to men being located in the international sphere, while women are fixed within the domestic equivalent. In terms of the link to social and national anxieties, it becomes evident that not only has the domestic fear surrounding the “homogenous Islamist terrorist enemy” (Samiei 2010, 1149) led to the terrorist (and by extension the white Muslim convert) being equated with the foreigner, but that as a result, terrorism/extremism and immigration have come to be situated within the same framework, where the slippery slopes of counter-terrorism and anti-immigration meld together.