This webinar in the series “De-Westernising Media Literacy: Perspectives on Pedagogies, Practices and Theories of Media Education” will highlight media literacy issues in three Arabic-speaking countries: the United Arabic Emirates, Iran, and Morocco.
Media Literacy in the Arabic Region
15:00–16:00 p.m. CET (“Scandinavian time”), see time zone map
No pre-registration. The link to the webinar room will be available below on the webinar day.
Participants are kindly asked to keep their microphones closed and leave their questions to the chat. Selected questions are answered after each presentation.
Programme
Welcome (Maarit Jaakkola, Nordicom) (5 min)
Maha Bashri: Media Literacy Competencies in the United Arabic Emirates (10 min + Q & A), slides
Ali Reza Bastani: Implementing a Media Literacy Programme in Iran (10 min + Q & A)
Fouad Boulaid and Mohamed Mliless: Media Literacy in Arabic and French Textbooks: A Case Study from Morocco (10 min + Q & A), slides
News and announcements, wrap-up (5 min)
Speakers
Maha Bashri is Associate Professor of Communication at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU). She completed her doctorate at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, University of South Carolina. Before joining UAEU, she was Associate Professor of Communication at Bradley University in Illinois, USA. With research interests in the areas of political communication, the politics of technology, and digital literacy and citizenship, she has published research on the intersection of mobilization and new media as it pertains to the Sudan context. Maha’s current research is focused on evaluating representations of Sudanese women in global media after the December 2018 Revolution. In addition to exploring new communication technologies, her research explores applications of network analysis to the study of mobilization and social movements on social network sites (SNS’s). Her latest research examines the role and impact of Black social journalists on civil rights issues and mobilization of audiences on Twitter. She has published with Information, Communication &Society, The Atlantic Journal of Communication, as well as African Journalism Studies. Maha recently co-edited a book titled Minority Women and the Media: Challenging Representations and Articulating New Voices (Rowman & Littlefield, 2020).
Ali Reza Bastani is the Founder of the Association of Iran Media Literacy (AIMEL), the first NGO in media literacy in Iran. He started his career 35 years ago when he completed his teacher’s training college, and then I performed as a teacher at the state high schools. Thereafter, he worked at the ministry of foreign affairs, the Meteorological organization, Ministry of Guidance, Tehran International school, international cultural center affiliated to Tehran municipality, and then he founded the Association of Iran Media Literacy (AIMEL). For thirty years, he has written the sport news in Azadi weekly, and he was invited to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (I.R.I.B) as a sport program presenter and later the political news anchorman, and has also been an editorial board member of the NOAVARAN newspaper. He has also taught public relations and journalism at the Jame Scientific university for 15 years. In addition, he has been teaching Kyokushin Karate for many years.
Fouad Boulaid is a researcher working at the Faculty of Letter and Humanities, Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, Dhar el Mahraz, in Fes, Morocco. Together with Mohamed Mliles, they have conducted a case study of media literacy in Morocco.
Mohamed Mliless holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Moulay Ismail University, Meknes, Morocco. He authored and coauthoref many scientific articles and books on social and environmental issues. Currently, he is a member of the Jurnal Arbiter, University Andalas (Indonesia), a member of the International Ecolinguistics Association (IEA) and the Acta Scientific Open International Library (India). He is a reviewer for many international journals including the International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology (IJSA) and the African Journal of Political Science and International Relations (AJPSIR), the Journal of Language and Literature, the International journal of Environmental protection and Policy (IJEPP), the Journal of Education Teaching and Social Studies (JETSS), and the Journal of Sustainability in Environment (JSE).
Webinar Recording
Further Readings
Bashri, H., & Ahmeed, S. (eds.) (2020). Minority Women and Western Media: Challenging Representations and Articulating New Voices. Rowman & Littlefield.
Hamdy, N., & Auter, P. (2022). Mass Communication in the Modern Arab World: Ongoing Agents of Change Following the Arab Spring. Rowman & Littlefield.
