Among the most contentious yet prevalent media narratives today seem to be those concerning religion, particularly Islam. As this has come to widely inform public discourse on the subject, media and religion have proven uniquely interconnected in an age where secularism has been touted as the standard. Professor Abusharif’s course examines this relationship between media and religion as well as its evolution across various genres and platforms, such as the news, film, music, social media, and even comics. From practices to protests, we deconstructed the methods and motives behind the use of faith for the purpose of media content and vice versa. We additionally examined how this relationship is both an effect and an agent of globalization. Interactively as a class, we conducted case studies of major media stories that largely came to inform or represent these religious narratives, such as post-9/11 culture and Western politicization of religion. We also assessed the media’s representation of events such as the Chapel Hill murders and South Carolina church shootings from historical, theoretical, sociopolitical, and ethical perspectives. The course’s approach to popular culture as a medium of analysis for social discrimination proved particularly valuable in my similar approach to my research.

The course demonstrated to me the idiosyncrasies of the relationship between media and social constructs, such as a religion, or in my case, race. As a result, I was able to detect and dissect racial themes in various media forms that may not necessarily have overt racial tones as we did for religious themes in the course. I also improved upon the critical skills I would need to collect and analyze media examples, specifically as it relates to popular culture, and effectively relate it back to American racial discourses. Additionally, I was able to apply the theoretical foundations established in this course to other media-oriented ideas that arose in my research. For example, we often discussed what, or rather who, denotes the ‘elite culture.’ We learned that as consumption rather than creation informs cultural hegemonic power, the consumers are who dictate what the elite culture is, regardless if they are the ones actually creating it. In terms of the American mainstream, we found this to be the suburban white, which proved crucial in outlining Negrophilia as a theoretical framework.

Though I have yet to complete any major assignments in the course, I hope to use both as an opportunity to further my understanding of representations of minorities in popular culture. For our individual presentation, for example, I have chosen to analyze the film Valentino’s Ghost, which examines the ways in which U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East has influenced the media's portrayal of Muslims and Arabs. As for our final project, my partner and I have chosen to look at the relationship between Islam and hip hop in America. I hope both assignments will enable me to draw meaningful parallels to my own research.