Streaming video and diasporic worldmaking: Race, ethnicity, and religion in the Anglophone West

Given the continual and savvy recognition by the state and the media industries of social and cultural difference, how should we approach breakthroughs in media representation? This article addresses this question by examining how Muslimness in Western television entertainment is being reimagined in the context of new industrial logics and techno-cultural possibilities enabled by streaming video services. Focusing on Ms Marvel (Disney+), Ramy (Hulu), Man Like Mobeen (BBC/Netflix) and We Are Lady Parts (Channel 4/Peacock), we analyze how media industry professionals are capitalizing on long-standing networks of trans-Atlantic television production and distribution, social media influence and the dynamics of creator cultures, and media industries’ quest for ‘diverse’ programming to engage in a worldmaking exercise that repositions Muslims and Muslimness in Western contexts defined by post-9/11 Islamophobia and resurgent xenophobia.