Hijabi vloggers: Muslim women’s self expression and identity articulation on YouTube

The hijab is often cited as a manifestation of Islam’s patriarchy. The advent of mobile technology and social media platforms gave an antidote to this problem. Particularly, vlogging trend among Muslim women lets them disrupt problematic narratives about themselves, speak in their own voices to a global audience and demonstrate their agency. However, the women’s focus on fashion puts them at the mercy of cultural and profit-driven norms. Their use of YouTube also means the vloggers are unconsciously conforming to prevailing trends. This research applies a feminist CDA to illuminate ideologies that shape the women’s articulation of their identities in relation to their ethno-religious communities. The small stories approach of interviews with Muslim women vloggers unearthed this trend’s liberative qualities and pitfalls. Since digital self-representation among marginalized identities like Muslim women is new, this research calls for further research into the utility of digital platforms as tools for identity articulation.