Entextualizing History through Archives: Representation of Muslim Identity in Post 9/11 Documentaries
Entextualizing History through Archives: Representation of Muslim Identity in Post 9/11 Documentaries

Summary/Abstract: Representation of Muslims in media post the Sept 11 attacks in the US largely focused on themes of terrorism and extremism. Such homogenized representation was particularly problematic in non-fiction media such as news and documentaries which use archival footage to create ‘reality’. The consequent cir-culation of these images across the globe is one of the many examples throughwhich Muslim representation has been constructed through stock footage andsourced media images in media post the 9/11 attacks. In this paper, I examinestock images in documentary films in the form of archives to examine the rep-resentation of Muslim identity in the post 9/11 world. Using Malitsky’s frame-work of entextualization to analyze archival material in post 9/11 documentaries,I argue how stock images create a power differential between the East and theWest (Said, 1979) reinstating imperial domination. Therefore, this paper intendsto examine the use of archives that have been entextualized and re-present his-tory to shape representation of Muslims across spatial and temporal differencesthrough documentary films. To do so, I critically examine two post 9/11 documentaries – Secret Pakistan (2011) and Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror(2021) – to study how these films position the role of Pakistan as an Islamic na-tion in the Global War on Terror.

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