The Muslims Next Door: Transgressive Hybridity in TLC's All-American Muslim

The television series All-American Muslim presented audiences with a group facing widespread negative perceptions in mainstream U.S. society, which defines them in terms of incompatible differences and external threats. The present study examines the content of the series and the para-text including newspaper reviews and commentaries. Using Hall's perspective on representation, the author analyzes the competing frames of American and Muslim in terms of the liminal existence and boundary-defying portrayals of the cast members. The dualities and tensions of the resulting identity portrayals are examined in the context of transgressive hybridity. The broader implications of this particular reality program are examined in the context of political discourse and minority representation.