Religion and Popular culture section – May 30

A. Brenda Anderson and Franz Volker Griefenhagen, Luther College at the University of Regina

The Fantastical Muslim: Media and DigitaI Imaginings and Interventions

The creation and recreation of what we call the “fantastical Muslim” in Canadian media is set in conversation with, on the one hand, Muslim interventions in media, and, on the other hand,

interviews with Canadian Muslims. Our focus is on the Canadian prairies with the aim of delineating the contours of specifically prairie Muslim history and experiences within the wider

Canadian imaginary of prairie community. Specific examples include recent media and government representations of Muslims in relation to immigration in Saskatchewan and Alberta, the

prairie situated sit com, “Little Mosque on the Prairie,” and preliminary data from interviews of Muslims in the prairie provinces focussing on their online

behaviours in relation to diversity

and intra and interreligious dialogue.