The many faces of Muslim women in Canada: A re-constructed image in CBC's "Little Mosque on the Prairie"

Abstract

This thesis examines the representation of Muslim women in Canadian media, specifically in CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie ( LMOTP) which represents women in non-Orientalist, realistic portrayals. This thesis traces Luhmann's (1987) theory on representation of society, Millar's (1793) observations about women in society and Hall's (1997) "Other"; and combines them with Said's (1978) Orienralism, Kristeva's (1991) theories on foreigners and Bhabha's (1994) Third Space to study the representation of Muslim women in LMOTP. A qualitative and quantitative content analysis of the first eight episodes investigates how the image of the Muslim woman has been (re)constructed on CBC. This thesis finds that Muslim women in LMOTP are not oppressed or stereotyped; they participate in Canadian culture and the workplace; and they are not considered outsiders. These characters portray Muslim women in Canada who exist in Third Spaces which allow Canadian and Islamic practices to merge resulting in uniquely Canadian artifacts like LMOTP.