Reclaiming the Progressive Image of Pakistani Women: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Web Blog “Humans of New York”

The portrayal of Muslim women in Western media has often been biased and stereotypical, leading to negative and generalized views. In the case of Pakistani Muslim women, it is crucial to encourage indigenous voices and movements to represent a more nuanced perspective. Critical Discourse Analysis is a useful tool to examine the linguistic categories used in media representation. In this study, Stanton's 'Humans of New York' blog was analyzed through Van Leeuwen's model to explore the image of Pakistani women constructed by the text. The analysis revealed that the blog portrays Pakistani women as progressive, educated, and independent, breaking the patriarchal shackles through education and awareness. This representation offers a broader perspective that is usually lacking in mainstream media, and hence contributes to improving the image of Pakistani women. It is essential to critically examine how social actors are represented, categorized, nominated, and assigned unique identities or functions in any discourse to construct their identity. By doing so, we can better understand the ways in which media representation can impact societal attitudes and work towards a more accurate and nuanced portrayal of diverse communities.