The reconstruction of Arab women role in media: a critical discourse analysis

Arab women and the patriarchal culture are two things that cannot be separated. The influence of globalization and the rate of information and the Arab Spring revolution have such a profound impact on the identity of Arab women. The issue of discrimination and emancipation as a manifestation of the effort to re-actualize the identity of Arab women is widely reported in the media that we can see its progress day by day. This study shows how the media represents the identity of Arab women in Midan Al-Jazeera, Al-Ittihad, and mawdoo3 which contain problems in the social life of Arab women. As for the social reality of Arab society, women are positioned as individuals who can begin to actualize themselves. The data were analyzed by combining the concept of critical discourse analysis approach by Norman Fairclough and Teun A. Van Dijk who divided the analysis into three dimensions: text (micro), practical discourse (meso), and sociocultural (macro). The results show that the articles in Arab Media represent the re-actualization of Arab female identity using a specific discursive strategy in each of the articles. Through the texts in the article, Arab women are represented as free individuals, regardless of the role of wife and mother, and to have an active contribution to the social and autonomous sphere. It is under the conservative Arab government agenda toward a more moderate country in the twenty-first century.

Introduction

This special issue engages the historical and contemporary heterogeneity of the Gulf, which was a transcultural space long before the discovery of oil. Over the past two decades, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have actively begun to harness the media’s power, while at the same time grassroots productions—online, through social media and in regional festivals—reframe assumptions about film and visual media. With resident expatriate population comprising up to 90 percent of the population in Gulf states, film and visual media complicate conventional frameworks derived from area studies, such as ‘Arab media’, ‘Middle Eastern and North African cinema’, or ‘South Asian film’. These articles also unsettle the modernist divisions of media into distinct categories, such as broadcast television and theatrical exhibition, and consider forms that move between professional and nonprofessional media, and between private and semi-public spaces, including the transmedia spaces of theme parks and shooting locations. Articles examine the subjects of early photography in Kuwait, the role of Oman TV as a broadcaster of Indian films into Pakistan, representations of disability and gender in Kuwaiti musalsalat, tribal uses of social media, and videos produced by South Asian and Southeast Asian expatriates, including second-generation expatriates.

Coronavirus in the Arab Media: A Transitivity Analysis of Aljazeera Arabic Website

The present paper approaches the topic of the current study eclectically by adopting critical discourse analysis(CDA), systemic functional linguistics(SFL) and corpus linguistics to show how the present crisis of coronavirus(covid19) is presented in the Arab media, a report in Al-Jazeera as a case study. Through the application of CDA and SFL, the researcher would be able to figure out the ideology and attitudes adopted by this TV channel . Mainly, the concern of the study is to illustrate what types of verb processes are utilized in the report in order to give an account of the way the novel corona pandemic as a participant is introduced and described and what roles are assigned to it. After carrying out an analysis , it is concluded that to reflect the influential and powerful effect that the disease brought about, the writer of the report opted for investing the frequent use of the type of material process verbs to demonstrate actions and events in which Coronavirus is the major actor or agent. Besides, the report`s discourse structures are intentionally selected not to convey the writer`s sentimental attitudes but to inform and emotionally involve the reader in the text interactions .

Pengenalan Huruf Arab Berbasis Analogi Benda melalui Media ABATA bagi Anak Tunagrahita

Intellectually disabled children have difficulty understanding abstract things such as Arabic letters. An appropriate learning media that can help them learn is significantly needed. In addition, some Intellectually disabled children can only pronounce Arabic letters but do not know the shape of the Arabic letters. In this context, ABATA media associates and equates Arabic letters with surrounding objects in their form and pronunciation so that intellectually disabled children can know the form and pronunciation of Arabic letters. This research aims to describe the ABATA media and its effectiveness. This research uses narrative review by gathering data from various sources, analyzing and designing the media. ABATA media is designed based on visual media and adopts the analogy method by equating the form of objects with Arabic letters, and the pronunciation of Arabic letters is the same as the initial syllable of objects. Based on the search for various literature sources conducted by the researchers, ABATA media is predicted to be adequate for mentally disabled children in introducing Arabic letters. This is because the visual media and analogy methods that are the basis for developing the ABATA media have proven effective and acceptable to intellectually disabled children. Therefore, ABATA media is believed to make it easier to introduce the shape and pronunciation of Arabic letters. Keywords: Arabic letters, visual media, analogy, intellectual disability. Abstrak: Anak tunagrahita mengalami kesulitan dalam memahami hal yang bersifat abstrak, seperti huruf Arab sehingga diperlukan media yang dapat mengonkretkan hal tersebut. Selain itu, terdapat anak tunagrahita yang hanya mampu melafalkan huruf Arab namun tidak mengetahui bentuk huruf Arab tersebut. Dalam konteks ini, media ABATA mengaitkan dan menyamakan huruf Arab dengan benda-benda sekitar dalam bentuk dan pengucapannya agar anak tunagrahita mampu mengetahui bentuk sekaligus pelafalan huruf Arab. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan media ABATA dan keefektifannya secara konseptual. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode narrative review dengan mencari berbagai sumber, menganalisis, dan kemudian mendesain media. Media ABATA dirancang berbasis media bergambar dan mengadopsi metode analogi dengan menyamakan bentuk benda dengan bentuk huruf Arab. Adapun pelafalan huruf Arab disamakan dengan suku awal benda. Berdasarkan penelusuran berbagai literatur yang telah dilakukan oleh peneliti, media ABATA diprediksikan efektif untuk diterapkan kepada anak tunagrahita dalam mengenalkan huruf Arab. Hal ini didasarkan pada kenyataan bahwa media bergambar dan metode analogi yang menjadi basis pengembangan media ABATA ini terbukti efektif dan mampu diterima oleh anak tunagrahita. Oleh karena itu, media ABATA diyakini mampu mempermudah dalam pengenalan bentuk sekaligus pelafalan huruf Arab. Kata kunci: huruf Arab, media bergambar, analogi, tunagrahita

Routledge Handbook on Arab Media, Noureddine Miladi and Noha Mellor (eds) (2021)

Review of: Routledge Handbook on Arab Media, Noureddine Miladi and Noha Mellor (eds) (2021) London: Routledge, 528 pp., ISBN 978-0-42942-708-4, e-book, ISBN 978-1-13838-548-1, h/bk, £190

The virus of the ‘others’? Corona and discursive othering in Arab media

The spread of fear of the coronavirus and related insecurities around the pandemic have fuelled nationalist and increased exclusionary tendencies in countries all over the world. In North America, for instance, anti-Asian racism increased when former US President Donald Trump dubbed the virus the ‘Chinese virus’. A nationalist agenda has been strengthened in many places, including the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region; and hateful narratives blaming ‘others’ for the pandemic, legitimizing a retreat to the protection of national borders and policies, are being spread in different media outlets. This article comparatively investigates processes of othering with regard to COVID-19 in four MENA countries – Egypt, Iraq, Oman and Yemen – and asks, who is held responsible for the coronavirus crisis in different countries? How is othering revealed in media coverage related to COVID-19? What (in)sensitive language can be identified? The study looks at mass media coverage at the peak of the global lockdown during the spring of 2020. The media analysis reveals a strong emphasis on mostly national identities as articulated lines of demarcation in all four cases. A homogenizing and demonizing othering was detected in particular in the cases of Yemen and Egypt, but also Iraq, when blame was attributed to political adversaries. The Omani case was characterized by a more subtle othering that focused strongly on the importance of citizenship.

Pengembangan Kamus Bergambar Bahasa Arab untuk Siswa Kelas I, II, III Madrasah Ibtidaiyah

Dalam pembelajaran Bahasa Arab, kamus merupakan hal yang penting untuk membantu siswa memahami makna kosakata. Pemahaman kosakata tidak hanya tergantung pada terjemahan secara langsung akan tetapi membutuhkan pengilustrasian gambar agar pemahaman siswa semakin mudah, khususnya siswa yang baru mengenal Bahasa Arab. Media bantu berupa kamus diharap dapat membantu siswa mampu belajar secara mandiri. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk: (1) Mengembangkan kamus bergambar Bahasa Arab untuk Siswa kelas I, II, III Madrasah Ibtidaiyah dan, (2) Mendeskripsikan kelayakan produk pengembangan kamus bergambar Bahasa Arab Untuk siswa kelas I, II, III Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Sunan Kalijogo. Metode pengembangan yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah mengacu pada model model R&D menurut Borg and Gall. Subjek uji coba produk dalam penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas I, II, III Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Sunan Kalijogo Malang. Jenis data dalam penelitian ini adalah data kuantitatif dan kualitatif. Sumber data yang diperoleh peneliti adalah (1) ahli media, (2) ahli materi, (3) guru pengajar Bahasa Arabdan (4) siswa kelas I, II, III Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Sunan Kalijogo Malang. Hasil penelitian ini adalah: (1) kamus Bergambar Bahasa Arab yang berjudul “Kamus Bergambar Bahasa Arab untuk Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Kelas I, II, III” terdiri dari 23 bab yang telah di kelompokkan menurut tema dan juga kelas, serta kamus ini dilengkapi dengan kata mutiara yang memotivasi siswa dalam belajar dan (2) kelayakan kamus bergambar Bahasa Arab untuk Kelas I, II, III Madrasah Ibtidaiyah ini dinyatakan valid atau layak dengan rata – rata persentase sebesar 86,35% dari ahli media, ahli materi, guru, dan siswa. Dari hasil penelitian ini, dapat dikemukakan beberapa saran, yaitu: (1) siswa, diharapkan dapat menjadikan Kamus Bergambar Bahasa Arab ini sebagai alat bantu dalam memudahkan memahami kosakata – kosakata Bahasa Arab. (2) guru Bahasa Arab agar memanfaatkan kamus bergambar Bahasa Arab ini sebagai media untuk meningkatkan motivasi belajar siswa, dan media bantu ajar di dalam kelas, (3) peneliti dan pengembang media lainnya, hendaknya media ini bisa diteliti kekurangannya, diperbaiki, ditambah, dan dikembangkan yang lebih baik lagi, dan (4) mahasiswa Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa Arab, hasil penelitian ini dapat dijadikan bahan kajian untuk penelitian selanjutnya serta dapat dikembangkan dengan lebih baik lagi.