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E gypt, I slamists, and the Internet: The Case of the M uslim Brotherhood and Its Rhetoric of Dialectics in I khwanweb
Author(s) -
Bardhan Soumia
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
digest of middle east studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.225
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1949-3606
pISSN - 1060-4367
DOI - 10.1111/dome.12049
Subject(s) - rhetoric , ideology , dialectic , authoritarianism , political science , function (biology) , politics , sociology , law , philosophy , epistemology , democracy , linguistics , biology , evolutionary biology
This essay offers an ideological analysis of the rhetoric of the I slamist E gyptian Muslim B rotherhood ( MB ) in its official E nglish‐language Web site, I khwanweb, between 2005 and 2010 — years preceding the E gyptian uprising of J anuary 2011. The purpose was to examine the ideology manifest in the rhetoric and uncover the instrumental function the rhetoric served. Analysis brought forth a post‐Islamist ideology manifest through a rhetoric of dialectics. The instrumental function of the E gyptian MB 's rhetoric in Ikhwanweb was to alter W estern societies' monolithic understanding of I slamism — radical, undemocratic, inflexible. The cyber‐rhetoric was also used as a means to disapprove certain W estern agents' support for authoritarian regimes. During M ubarak's rule, I khwanweb was used as a communicative medium to demonstrate to the W est the E gyptian MB 's need to be valued — respected regardless of ideological differences, understood rather than essentialized, stereotyped, and prejudged, and supported as a pragmatic, political entity within E gypt.