IMAGES OF THE WEST AS PORTRAYED IN THE POLITICAL CARTOONS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM BASED ARAB MEDIA

Ali  A.R. AWAD

The research is divided into five chapters (plus an introduction and a conclusion) as follows:

INTRODUCTION: In which the work is introduced, the problem is identified, and the need for the research is presented.

CHAPTER ONE : The image of the Arab in the West (from the old sources up to the present time).

CHAPTER TWO : The Arab view of the West, The development and the changing approach in viewing the World from pre-Islamic Arabia including the contemporary schools of thought in the Arab world.

CHAPTER THREE : Political cartoons as a medium of communication, their influence and role in opinion changing and image making.

CHAPTER FOUR : UK-Based Arab owned Mass Media.

A survey of the newspaper and the magazines published in the United Kingdom and owned by Arab personalities, companies, governments and political parties. That includes the 38 daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly publications. This chapter studies the attitudes and presentations of the Arab media in a definite period of time, in regard to the West. (from  Dec. 1978 till March 1991).

CHAPTER FIVE : The Case Study :

The image of the West in the Arab-owned press through political cartoons (four London-based daily newspaper). The findings of the field work, categorizing and analyzing  the main features and elements of the image.

CONCLUSION : Room for Improvement. Recommendations for better understanding, presentation and improvement in the Arab-West International relations and presentations.

The major, original, part of the thesis has been devoted to surveying the Britain-based Arab press, as well as an analysis of the coverage of some of these papers and magazines of the West, using the political cartoon as indicators of the public perceptions of the West. The research also makes an attempt to trace the main outline of the historical development of perceptions of the west in the Arab mind.