The Era of Global Communication as Perceived by Muslims

Abstract

Modern times had not yet finished disrupting life in the Muslim world when a new era arrived, the era of globalization. Technological innovations, especially in the field of communication, are expected exercise a profound cultural impact. From this perspective, Muslims are not the initiators but the victims of change. Their value system is being profoundly affected and many Muslim governments feel threatened by Western hegemony. Some have chosen isolation and have tried the impossible, that is to say the complete closing of their frontiers to the products of Western media (Iran, Saudi Arabia), while others select, censor and adapt these products to conform to their own tastes. However, nearly all Muslim communities are trying to disseminate their own cultures and to carve out a place for themselves in the immense world market of films and television programmes by appropriating the new technologies of communication. Thus can one affirm that a homogenization of cultures will take place? This article concentrates on the new tools of communication and concludes that the use that we make of these tools can effectively allow for both the preservation of one particular culture and its participation in a universal culture.