Podcast Summary: New Books Network – Jasbeer Musthafa Mamalipurath, "TEDified Islam: Postsecular Storytelling in New Media" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2024)

Episode Date: November 21, 2025
Host: Jacqueline Michael
Guest: Dr. Jasbeer Musthafa Mamalipurath (Lecturer, Queen's University Belfast)

Overview

This episode focuses on Dr. Jasbeer Musthafa Mamalipurath’s groundbreaking book, "TEDified Islam: Postsecular Storytelling in New Media," which analyzes the representation and construction of Islam and Muslim identities within the format of TED Talks. The conversation dissects the “postsecular” dynamics of TED as a platform, exploring how both Muslim and non-Muslim speakers and audiences interact with—and reshape—the idea of Islam for a global, primarily Western audience. The episode presents Dr. Mamalipurath’s research journey, methodologies, key findings, and larger implications for media studies and Islamic studies.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Genesis of the Research

• Personal Motivation
  • Dr. Mamalipurath’s initial intent was to study Islamic televangelism in South Asia. He shifted his focus after a deeply personal experience of Islamophobia in Australia, which raised questions:

    “Where do ordinary people in the west learn about Islam and who teaches them? ... Notably, whose Islam do they come to trust?” (04:05)

  • His encounter with TED’s curated series on understanding Islam revealed new, subtle modes of secular storytelling about the faith.

2. Book’s Scope and Methodology

• Holistic Approach

  • Rather than limiting his study to linguistic analysis, Dr. Mamalipurath triangulated his methodology:
    • Discourse analysis of TED talks
    • Interviews with TED speakers
    • Focus groups with Muslim and non-Muslim audience members.

  "I used what I call…Triangulation of Methodology, where I included interviews with the TED speakers and a discourse analysis of TED talks and then audience analysis…both Muslims and non Muslims.” (09:40)

• Positioning in Media Studies

  • His study is the first in-depth examination focused specifically on TED as a secular (but increasingly postsecular) knowledge platform and its impact on Islamic representation.

3. Defining the ‘Postsecular’

• Conceptual Nuance

  • Drawing on Habermas, Mahmood, and Talal Asad, Dr. Mamalipurath re-conceptualizes “postsecular” not as “after” the secular, but as an era of renewed secular interest and engagement with religious discourse:

    "Postsecular…is more of an engagement between secular and the sacred rather than the binary…because that engagement is very complex and power infused." (13:43)

• Secular Translation and Authority

  • He found that TED mediates Islam via secular translation, reframing Islamic concepts in terms legible and appealing to secular-liberal audiences.

4. Narrative and Performative Patterns in TED Talks on Islam

[Key Section: 17:54–22:56]

• “Postsecular Communicative Space”

  • TED talks offer a space where religion is domesticated into secular narratives—emphasizing individual transformation, liberal humanism, and self-realization, often through personal story.

• Three Discursive Strategies Identified:

  1. Negotiating Religious Differences: Ambiguity and interfaith translation blend Islamic concepts into a framework familiar to Western audiences.

  2. Judeo-Christian Anchoring: Islamic ideas justified through parallelisms with Judeo-Christian traditions for legitimacy.

  3. Secular Translation of Islamic Concepts: Stripping terms like “hijab” and “jihad” of theological specificity, instead presenting them as universal, humanistic values:

     "We start seeing Islam that is palatable to Western secular audience...An Islam without its textures of ritual, law, and lived complexity. Precisely, a TEDified Islam or Islam in TED style." (17:54)

5. Storytelling Modes and Exemplars

[Key Section: 25:18–32:50]

• Autobiographical ‘Redemption’ Narratives

  • Speakers like Maajid Nawaz recount personal journeys from extremism to integration in the West, often reinforcing binaries of “good Muslim/bad Muslim.”
  • Critique: These stories may overgeneralize or overshadow reforms happening within Muslim societies themselves.

  “They try to…belittle the transformations that are happening within the Muslim world...So those efforts…have been ignored deliberately by these TED speakers.” (25:18)

• Feminist Storytelling (‘Shahrazad at TED’ Approach)

  • Female speakers (e.g., Alaa Murabit, Dalia Mogahed) use storytelling to challenge both patriarchy within Islam and external misrepresentations by the West.

    • Their narratives tend to be more nuanced, pluralistic, and self-reflexive, moving beyond binary constructions.

    "Female speakers were going beyond this binary because they understand…any form of binary discourse…they are the victims of this binary discourse." (30:49)

6. Audience Reception and Analysis

[Key Section: 32:50–39:59]

• Method

  • Focus groups were conducted separately for Muslim and non-Muslim TED viewers to draw out candid reactions.

• Findings

  • Non-Muslims: Often highly critical of the structural Eurocentrism and Western dominance in TED’s representations of Islam; frequently reference ‘Muslim friends’ as a validating authority.

  • Muslims: Expressed a mix of appreciation for innovative storytelling and concern over theological dilution and inaccuracies. They welcomed visibility but did not see TED Talks as substitutes for traditional sources of Islamic knowledge.

    “It is kind of, you know, attraction, repulsion, kind of going hand in hand…a more complex scene rather than a binary of acceptance versus rejection.” (38:42)

7. TED Speakers as ‘Postsecular Micro-Intellectuals’

[Key Section: 40:42–49:41]

• Authority Realigned

  • TED speakers are not traditionally trained Islamic scholars, yet become spokespersons for Islam due to media fluency, personal charisma, and compelling biographies.

  • This shift reflects a “neoliberal madrasa”—authoritativeness grounded in personal storytelling and performativity rather than formal religious credentials.

    “The authority of scriptures is surpassed by the authority of speaker, sincerity, and stories.” (63:36)

• Impact on Knowledge Production

  • Highlights a broader trend: secular, capitalist infrastructures now frequently mediate and repackage Islamic knowledge for global audiences, shaping both content and legitimacy.

8. Power, Mediation, and the 'Invisible Hand' of Platforms

[Key Section: 54:43–63:36]

• Power Structures in Knowledge Platforms

  • TED’s inclusivity is conditional, shaped by liberal-secular criteria. Not all forms of Islam—and certainly not all speakers (especially traditional, non-English-speaking Islamic scholars)—are granted access.

    “Islam is welcomed…on TED, but under specific terms. And these terms are set by liberal and secular worldviews…that in itself is a demonstration of power.” (63:36)

• Commodification and Marketability

  • TED “packages” Islam for global consumption, prioritizing narratives that are emotionally persuasive, optimistic, and free of political or jurisprudential complexity.

    "TED’s narrative packaging of Islam is often polished and carefully curated and emotionally persuasive...it produces what I call, you know, Ted-friendly Islam or feel good Islam. In other words, an Islam that is sometimes stripped of its messiness…and repackaged as a series of secular liberal values and personal discoveries." (63:36)

9. Implications for Scholarship and Broader Society

[Key Section: 54:43–62:46]

• For Scholars and Students

  • Urges critical awareness of how media platforms mediate, filter, and authorize religious knowledge.

  • Encourages moving beyond simplistic binaries (good/bad Muslim, secular/sacred) and investigating which stories about Islam are celebrated, muted, or erased in public discourse.

    "If the only Islam that is considered respectable is an Islam that has been sanitized and secularized or liberalized for Western conceptions, then happens to the Muslims who don't or who cannot perform that version of faith?" (54:43)

• Media as a Site of Religious Authority

  • Media does not merely reflect society: it actively shapes religious belonging, identities, and boundaries.

10. Future Research Directions

• Current Project
  • Investigating “misinformation, race, ethnicity, and religiosity” in diasporic contexts, focusing on how migrants experience and mitigate disinformation in the global North.

    “At the moment I'm doing research on misinformation and…disinformation. And I'm trying to sort of understand it from a diasporic kind of perspective.” (70:56)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the dilemma of representation:

  "Representations matter and that misrepresentation is not accidental and that telling new stories about Islam is important, even when it occurs under complicated conditions." — Dr. Jasbeer Mamalipurath (04:05)

• On discursive authority:

  "TED speakers become the source of knowledge not because of their traditional Islamic scholarship…but because they embody some form of a biography, some form of a story." (17:54)

• On conditional inclusion:

  “TED may claim to be inclusive and egal and…welcoming, but their inclusion is conditional…In essence, what is happening…becomes also a question of sovereignty…Who gets to define Islam in modernity and who is allowed to speak on its behalf?" (63:36)

• On what’s lost in translation:

  “[TED produces]…an Islam without religion. It’s a sacred stripped of its theological meaning.” — Paraphrased by Jacqueline Michael (24:21)

Suggested Timestamps for Key Segments

• Bio & Origins of Research: 04:05–09:11
• Methodology Discussion: 09:40–12:38
• Defining Postsecularity: 13:43–17:19
• TED Talks’ Discursive Strategies: 17:54–22:56
• Autobiographical vs. Feminist Storytelling: 25:18–32:50
• Audience Focus Group Findings: 32:50–39:59
• TED Speakers as New Authorities: 40:42–49:41
• Power, Mediation, TED as Gatekeeper: 54:43–63:36
• Future Research: 70:56–73:32
• Closing Reflections: 73:32–End

Final Reflections

The episode unpacks how TED Talks act as a unique, postsecular space that translates Islam for global audiences under distinctly secular, liberal conditions—amplifying certain voices while marginalizing others. Dr. Mamalipurath urges scholars and listeners to critically examine the power, authority, and selectivity of platforms like TED, challenging assumptions about neutrality and inclusivity in digital media.

Recommended for:
Scholars of Islamic studies, media, communications, digital humanities, and anyone interested in the intersection of technology, religion, and the politics of representation.