American Muslim Youth Networks
About
A growing number of American Muslim youth aspire to produce and share media. For many of them, this aspiration connects to ongoing politicized struggles around how Muslims and Islam are viewed in Post 9/11 America. As the youth tap new media resources to reshape the communication environment and create new images of what it means to be Muslim in America, they simultaneously confront the chilling effects of various forms of surveillance, which encourage self-censorship. The silencing power of these concerns about surveillance becomes particularly potent in the context of networks that support expression of diverse narratives, free discussion of issues and the formation of loosely defined communities that bypass more controlled organizational structures.
See Sangita Shresthova's By Any Media Necessary chapter, Storytelling and Surveillance, to learn more about this group of young people and their engagement in participatory politics.
Contributed by Sangita Shresthova on 5/10/14
