[Reader-list] First Posting_Journalism in madrasas and madrasas in journalism

[mohd arshad]

To Sarai Reader List,



Hi all,



Myself Arshad Amanullah.



 I'm based in New Delhi and am with the department of visual documentation
of Kabir, a communication initiative to promote and popularize the Right to
Information Act, 2005.



I completed the masters degree in the discipline of mass communication from
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi in 2005.I have co-directed a couple of
documentary films about call centers as a lucrative career option for the
young generation



Before coming to Jamia in 2000, I graduated from *Jamia Salafia,* an apex
madrasa of the Ahl-e-Hadees sect of muslims (known for its non-adherence to
any of the conventional schools of the muslim jurisprudence and a bit
adamant towards a more puritanical interpretation of Islam and monotheism)
situated in Varanasi. In the last phase of my stay in the madrasa which
lasted for nine years, I developed my interests in the media affairs,
particularly with reference to muslim issues and took to the writing.
Considering two of my Urdu papers saleable commodity, my publishers printed
them into book form (so it's not my fault!).One of them deals with the
relationship between media and muslims in the post-independence India (*Media
Aur Musalman: Azadi Ke Baad*).The part of the book which discusses Urdu
media, contains a few paragraphs on the journals brought out by madrasas. In
an interview with me, *Maulana Sultan Ahmad Islaahi*, an Aligarh based noted
Muslim scholar, termed the sort of journalism practiced in those magazines
as *backdoor journalism (Oqbi Darwaaze Ki Sahaafat).*It's from that time I
had *the madrasa journalism* in my mind as a theme to be explored in detail
applying appropriate research tools of media studies. Now I am doing it as
an independent fellow of Sarai.



The madrasa journals are the portals to the minds of the madrasa folk. What
they think of the contemporary trends among the Indian muslims, of the
current affairs and of the mainstream media? Apart from the thematic
concerns, I will also analyze their political economy and the technology in
use to bring them out.



For the study, earlier I decided to select three Urdu magazines, each from
the three main sects will be selected: Ahl-e-Hadees (*Mohaddis*, Varanasi),
Deobandis (*Tarjuman-e-Darul Uloom*) and Barelvis (*Ashrafiya*).But after
going through different journals, I discovered variations in the approach to
the same issue and to the printing technology among the publications of the
madrasas of the same sects. So, now I will take two or three journals
representing the whole range of a particular sect .The reference  period of
the study will be taken from 2000 to 2004.This analysis will put the study
at the confluence of qualitative as well as quantitative methods. Apart from
the contents of the selected magazines, the interviews of their editors,
women madrasa graduates and other concerned people will be another primary
source of the research.



The first posting will be an introduction to the history and current
scenario of the madrasa journals in India. Each of the next three postings
will deal with the detailed content analysis of the journals of the three
main sects of the Indian muslims. The sixth of the series will throw light
on the wall magazines brought out by the madrasa students. In the final
report, I will sum up my findings with a reference to the conceptual and
methodological issues which I will have come across during my research.



Arshad Amanullah.





--
arshad amanullah
35,masihgarh,
jamia nagar
new delhi-25.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/attachments/20060120/e59b5145/attachment.html