Islam Dot Com (0230600352) EL-NAWAWY

This book analyzes the discourses and deliberations in the discussion forums of three of the most visited Islamic websites. In doing so, it explores the potential impact of the Islamic public sphere, and the re-configuration of the ‘virtual umma’ (Islamic community) online, on the creation of multiple identities and resistances, which manifest themselves through various Islamic sites, producing varying degrees of consensus, divergence, and negotiation in multiple contexts and across different discourses. The book also investigates the extent to which these Islamic websites have provided a venue for Muslims to freely engage in vibrant deliberations and constructive discussions among themselves, as well as with ‘Others’, i.e., non-Muslims, about various political, economic, religious and social issues.

Mohammed el-Nawawy is a Knight-Crane endowed chair in the School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte. He teaches international communication, mass communication, media globalization and Middle Eastern media courses. His research interests are focused on the new media in the Middle East, particularly satellite channels and the Internet, and their impact on the Arab public sphere. He is also interested in issues of public diplomacy and ways of initiating effective dialogue between the Middle East and the West. He is the author and co-author of three books: Al-Jazeera: The story of the network that is rattling governments and redefining modern journalism; Al-Jazeera: How the free Arab news network scooped the world and changed the Middle East; and The Israeli-Egyptian peace process in the reporting of Western journalists. He has also published in several national and foreign journals in the international communication field. He is the founding editor of the Journal of Middle East Media and a board member on the Arab-U.S. Association for Communication Educators. Dr. el-Nawawy has professional journalistic experience in the United States and the Middle East. He was born and raised in Egypt, where he got his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in mass communication at the American University in Cairo. He has a doctorate degree in journalism from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Sahar Khamis is Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Maryland, College Park in the United States. She is an expert on Arab and Middle Eastern media in addition to being the former Head of the Mass Communication and Information Science Department in Qatar University. Dr. Khamis holds a PhD in Mass Media and Cultural Studies from the University of Manchester in England. She also authored chapters in the books Women and Media in the Middle East: Power Through Self-Expression, edited by Naomi Sakr (2004) and New Media and the New Middle East, edited by Philip Seib (2007). She has several publications in both international and regional academic journals and conferences in both English and Arabic and is the recipient of a number of prestigious academic and professional awards. She is an editorial board member of the journals, including: Media, War & Conflict, Journal of Middle East Media, Journal of Arab and Muslim Media Research, and Advances in the History of Rhetoric. Her areas of teaching and research interest are public relations, advertising, public opinion, audience research, mass media campaigns, gender and media studies, women's media images and portrayals, mass media and national development, ethnographic media Studies, as well as international and intercultural communication. Beside her university teaching experience in a number of prestigious universities, including the University of Maryland, the American University in Cairo, University of Manchester, Cairo University, Ain Shams University, and Qatar University, she has worked in prominent international media organizations, such as The Wall Street Journal and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) and leading Arab media, such as Al-Ahram and Al-Wafd.

"Islam dot com provides an account of the virtual Muslim public sphere characterized by unprecedented conceptual and empirical richness. By transcending a narrow focus on the Internet as a space of radical foment and by drawing on a unique combination of English and Arabic source sites, Nawawy and Khamis show that contestation and deliberation over religious authority and Muslim identity constitute the heart of Islam online. Compelling and vital reading." --Peter Mandaville, PhD, Associate Professor of Government & Politics, Co-Director, Center for Global Studies, George Mason University

"Islamic websites have become a primary vehicle for thinking about Islam in public, and Islam dot com tackles the central issue of how they shape mainstream Muslim thought. Nawawy and Khamis’s approach persuasively suggests how to think about “electronic” Islam for years to come." --Dale F. Eickelman, co-editor of New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Public Sphere (2002)

“As the use of the internet rapidly spreads in Arab and Muslim countries, the expanding Islamic discourse and changing notions of Islamic identity are increasingly important issues that have not been sufficiently captured. Professors el-Nawawy and Khamis provide an important window into this discourse as it appears on three of the most popular Islamic web sites. Both the rich description and the thoughtful analysis help fill a large gap in this emerging literature.” --Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat professor for Peace and Development, University of Maryland, Senior Fellow. The Brookings Institution

“Those interested in international communication, and specifically communication in the Arab world, have been blessed with a wealth of new information via academic journal articles and books in the past few years. Mohammed el-Nawawy (co-author of a well known book about Al Jazeera) and Sahar Khamis are offering new insight about Arab- and Islamic-world communication in this book by examining discourse on Islamic-oriented web sites. Several studies have examined mass media discourse in the Middle East, but this is the first study I know of that ambitiously examines discourse via new media. Indeed, the authors, both U.S.-based academics with Arab-world roots, are especially well qualified to undertake this research.This examination of what is being discussed in cyberspace among those following Islam reveals a fascinating view of how new media are being used in the Arab/Islamic world.” --Douglas A. Boyd, University of Kentucky

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