North American Muslim Satire on YouTube: Combatting or Reinforcing Stereotypes?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on interviews with a racially diverse group of 10 college students and the textual analysis of two episodes of a 2016 web series, Guess Who’s Muslim, produced by Canadian Muslims shown on the YouTube channel West Dawn Media, this paper illustrates how humor can be used to challenge Islamophobic/Orientalist myths and invite viewers to reflect upon commonly held Orientalist/Islamophobic notions that are largely taken for granted in Western nations where Muslims are a minority. Kumar’s five discursive frames of how Islam is articulated by the “primary definers’“ and “secondary definers” of U.S. media are discussed, illustrating how GWM attempts to counter them. While noting that the internet provides a space for alternative media representations of Muslims, created by Muslims themselves, the interview data reveal that the use of humor is not unproblematic and, for certain people, may teach or reinforce the very stereotypes the show aims to combat.