Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation After 9/11

Evelyn Alsultany explains that a new standard in racial & cultural representations emerged out of the multicultural movement of the 1990s that involves balancing a negative representation with a positive one, what she refers to as “simplified complex representations.” This has meant that if the storyline of a TV drama or film represents an Arab or Muslim as a terrorist, then the storyline also includes a “positive” representation of an Arab, Muslim, Arab American, or Muslim American to offset the potential stereotype. 

Analyzing how TV dramas such as The Practice, 24, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, & Sleeper Cell, news-reporting, & non-profit advertising have represented Arabs, Muslims, Arab Americans, & Muslim Americans during the War on Terror, this book demonstrates how more diverse representations do not in themselves solve the problem of racial stereotyping & how even seemingly positive images can produce meanings that can justify exclusion & inequality.