A critical discourse analysis of the representation of Islamists on Facebook pages in post-revolution Tunisia

Abstract

Before the Tunisian Revolution of 14th January 2011, it had been assumed that Tunisians form a homogenous community in which all citizens are united around common cultural values and principles. Yet, after the Revolution and especially with the Islamist party “Ennahdha” in power, it has been explored that this 'idealistic' image of homogeneity has proved to be a utopian idea, an idea that was rather constructed by the former manipulative system of dictatorship. Instead, the Post-Revolution era has been characterized mainly by the striking division within the Tunisian society. This division consists in the existence of two polarized groups, namely Secularists/Liberals and Islamists/Conservatives. Motivated by the newly acquired freedom of speech, these two groups who used to co-exist in a “supposedly” peaceful atmosphere in the Pre-Revolution period have turned to voice their views about each other not only in broadcast settings but also in virtual social media spaces like “Facebook”. These views seem to reveal the conflicting relationship of the two groups. Adopting Fairclough's research methodology in CDA and Van Dijk's Socio-cognitive approach to discourse, the present paper seeks to explore the ways in which the Secularists represent their Islamist rivals on their Facebook pages resorting to a number of Secular intellectuals’ posts on Islamists as evidence.