Patahol Wasli, Mohamad Muhidin bin;
(2020)
Malaysian Muslims' Critical Engagement with the Imam Muda Islamic Reality TV Show as informal Islamic Education.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
In 2010, Malaysia introduced an Islamic reality television show in search of Young Imams, entitled Imam Muda (IM), which aired on the Astro Oasis TV network. IM draws on Islamic content knowledge in a South-East Asian cultural context. The show raises hermeneutical and educational questions related to the representation of Muslim identities and practices in the modern world, due to the possibility of inauthentic viewer interpretations. This thesis argues that the show’s Islamic contents may function as a form of informal Islamic Education. Yet, not enough consideration has been made of Imam Muda’s impact on the spiritual judgmental rationality of its target audience — Malaysian Muslims — whose views are in themselves diverse due to different Islamic educational experiences. Spiritual judgmental rationality reveals the possibility of a transcendental understanding of the self in communication with the TV show and the religion of Islam. Therefore, this thesis seeks to examine Malaysian Muslims’ engagement with Imam Muda, season three, in an informal setting, using qualitative data collection methods such as participant observations, focus group discussions and viewing reflections. The participants’ reactions are described based on their responses to the manifested contents, and their reflections are thematised according to data gained from semi-structured discussions. The viewing reflections assist in explaining the behaviours recorded in the observations. The study suggests that under-labouring the framework of Islamic Critical Realism could be fruitful to better understand the nature of Islamic reality TV as a function of informal Islamic Education. More specifically, the findings suggest that Islamic reality TV can serve an educational function by providing beneficial entertainment via an informal learning experience. This learning takes place when participants critically engage with the content. The thesis also makes a novel contribution to knowledge by refining spiritual judgmental rationality in the Islamic Critical Realist framework through variation theory and transcendental realism, to understand the dialectical interplay between young Imams’ representations in Islamic reality television shows, and the interpretations of Malaysian Muslim viewers.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Malaysian Muslims' Critical Engagement with the Imam Muda Islamic Reality TV Show as informal Islamic Education |
| Event: | University College London |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| Keywords: | Islamic Education, Islamic reality TV, Islamic critical realism, Islamic communication model, Informal education, Media education, Media literacy, Critical engagement, Judgmental rationality, Imam Muda/Young Imam, Malaysian Muslims, Reality TV |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Education > UCL Institute of Education > IOE - Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10105151 |
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