Page - 114 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/02

114 | Sakina Loukili www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/2, 107–131 In the next part of this article, I will move on to my own analysis of DENK and NIDA in relation to media, primarily using the concept of social media as “third spaces”. Then, I will dive more deeply into the role of media in rela- tion to the two parties, focusing on two dimensions: (1) mainstream media in relation to framing, and (2) social media platforms functioning as “third spaces”. Social Media as “Third Spaces” One way Muslims in a minority context respond to feeling excluded, misrep- resented, or underrepresented is by using popular social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, or Instagram as alternative spaces with- in the public sphere.33 Pennington refers to new media as “third spaces” that can serve as sanctuaries for individuals who elsewhere may experience so- cial exclusion and marginalization, and as locations where they “do not have to fight to make themselves seen, heard, or understood”.34 These sanctuar- ies are online places where the complexities around identity can be appreci- ated rather than problematized, and identities are allowed to be “messy”.35 In addition, third spaces are sites where hegemonic and normative ways of seeing the world are challenged. Attributed originally to critical theorist Homi K. Bhabha, third spaces are imagined as cultural spaces where the hy- bridity of cultures is acknowledged, defying ethnocentric impositions, and where the voices of minorities can be heard.36 Stewart Hoover and Nabil Echchaibi have related the concept of third spaces to digital religion, which is characterized by a sense of “in-betweenness” and is fluidly bounded.37 It is important to keep in mind for DENK and NIDA that not only are the political leaders of these parties younger than the politicians of other parties, their constituency is relatively young as well. For the majority of their supporters, social media is often already a natural part of their daily lives. Their digital media literacy shapes their political engagement, which 33 Brouwer 2004; 2006. 34 Pennington 2018, 620–621. “Third space” here refers to social surroundings separate from the two usual social environments of people: the home and the workplace. 35 Although it is important to note that these online spaces have also made a surge in cyber- hate possible. For research on Islamophobia in online spaces, see for example Awan 2016. 36 Bhabha 1996. 37 Hoover/Echchaibi 2014.