Work

Streaming video and diasporic worldmaking: Race, ethnicity, and religion in the Anglophone West

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Given the continual and savvy recognition by the state and the media industries of social and cultural difference, how should we approach breakthroughs in media representation? This article addresses this question by examining how Muslimness in Western television entertainment is being reimagined in the context of new industrial logics and techno-cultural possibilities enabled by streaming video services. Focusing on Ms Marvel (Disney+), Ramy (Hulu), Man Like Mobeen (BBC/Netflix) and We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4/Peacock), we analyze how media industry professionals are capitalizing on long-standing networks of trans-Atlantic television production and distribution, social media influence and the dynamics of creator cultures, and media industries’ quest for ‘diverse’ programming to engage in a worldmaking exercise that repositions Muslims and Muslimness in Western contexts defined by post-9/11 Islamophobia and resurgent xenophobia.

Source: European Journal of Cultural Studies

DOI: 10.1177/13675494251348359

Authors: Aswin Punathambekar, Julia Giese, Diwas Bisht, Sim Gill

Institutions: University of Pennsylvania, Loughborough University, University of Salford

Language: English

Topic: Media Discourse and Social Analysis

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,650

Funder: British Academy