RESEARCH REPORTS:
MUSLIM WOMEN IN
DUTCH MEDIA
RESEARCH
A long coat, a floral headscarf, walking in the market with a shopping trolley, captured from a distance with a long lens: it’s the stereotypical image of a Muslim woman in the Dutch media. I’ve been bothered by this for years because all those women I see passing by resemble my mother, my sister, my grandmother.
This frustration marked the beginning of a large, ongoing transmedia project in which I investigate the workings of image banks, archives, and image formation in various forms. What ‘blind spots’ do photographers, editors, and image banks have? What images can be found in our archives, and which ones are missing? Where does it go wrong? But above all, how can it be different?
I initiated this project with my research on ‘Moslima’ in 2020, examining the representation of Muslim women in the imagebank of ANP. Alongside Ewoud Butter, I explored the images of Muslim women in the imagebank and the tags and keywords photographers attach to the photos. I published my research results in the ‘Moslima’ report which received a lot of media attention and struck a chord with journalists, photographers, and editors. The research generated diverse reactions. Some fellow photographers and editors were willing to engage in this conversation, while others showed resistance. I also noticed that (photo) editors did not feel addressed because the research specifically targeted the ANP and photographers. Therefore, I decided to conduct a follow-up study with Ewoud Butter: ‘Moslima in Newspapers.’ In this study, we specifically examine the use of photos of veiled women in three national newspapers: De Telegraaf, De Volkskrant, and NRC. The conclusion was not particularly cheerful. Muslim women are portrayed as crying, fleeing, demonstrating, or oppressed.
I initiated this project with my research on ‘Moslima’ in 2020, examining the representation of Muslim women in the imagebank of ANP. Alongside Ewoud Butter, I explored the images of Muslim women in the imagebank and the tags and keywords photographers attach to the photos. I published my research results in the ‘Moslima’ report which received a lot of media attention and struck a chord with journalists, photographers, and editors. The research generated diverse reactions. Some fellow photographers and editors were willing to engage in this conversation, while others showed resistance. I also noticed that (photo) editors did not feel addressed because the research specifically targeted the ANP and photographers. Therefore, I decided to conduct a follow-up study with Ewoud Butter: ‘Moslima in Newspapers.’ In this study, we specifically examine the use of photos of veiled women in three national newspapers: De Telegraaf, De Volkskrant, and NRC. The conclusion was not particularly cheerful. Muslim women are portrayed as crying, fleeing, demonstrating, or oppressed.
DOWNLOAD ‘MUSLIM WOMEN IN DUTCH NEWSPAPERS’ HERE ︎︎︎
DOWNLOAD ‘MUSLIM WOMEN IN DUTCH NEWSPAPERS’ HERE ︎︎︎
LANGUAGE: DUTCH
RESEARCH REPORTS:
MUSLIM WOMEN IN DUTCH MEDIA
RESEARCHA long coat, a floral headscarf, walking in the market with a shopping trolley, captured from a distance with a long lens: it’s the stereotypical image of a Muslim woman in the Dutch media. I’ve been bothered by this for years because all those women I see passing by resemble my mother, my sister, my grandmother.
This frustration marked the beginning of a large, ongoing transmedia project in which I investigate the workings of image banks, archives, and image formation in various forms. What ‘blind spots’ do photographers, editors, and image banks have? What images can be found in our archives, and which ones are missing? Where does it go wrong? But above all, how can it be different?
I initiated this project with my research on ‘Moslima’ in 2020, examining the representation of Muslim women in the imagebank of ANP. Alongside Ewoud Butter, I explored the images of Muslim women in the imagebank and the tags and keywords photographers attach to the photos. I published my research results in the ‘Moslima’ report which received a lot of media attention and struck a chord with journalists, photographers, and editors.
The research generated diverse reactions. Some fellow photographers and editors were willing to engage in this conversation, while others showed resistance. I also noticed that (photo) editors did not feel addressed because the research specifically targeted the ANP and photographers. Therefore, I decided to conduct a follow-up study with Ewoud Butter: ‘Moslima in Newspapers.’ In this study, we specifically examine the use of photos of veiled women in three national newspapers: De Telegraaf, De Volkskrant, and NRC. The conclusion was not particularly cheerful. Muslim women are portrayed as crying, fleeing, demonstrating, or oppressed.