The portrayal of Muslims in British mainstream media, particularly newspapers, is a subject of significant academic interest. Previous studies find that British newspapers frequently represent Muslims as a distinct and homogenous group, associating them with terrorist groups and framing them as a cultural threat. Orientalist representations have been observed, depicting Muslims as inherently problematic. Nevertheless, Muslims' own self-representation remains understudied and underexamined. This research analyses the discourse of the Muslim News, the oldest, most enduring English-language newspaper catering to Muslims in the United Kingdom. Using Corpus Analysis and Critical Discourse Analysis, this thesis explores the similarities and differences in the discourses of the Muslim News and British mainstream newspapers from 1998 to 2009. The findings reveal that, while reproducing some narratives observed in mainstream press, the Muslim News (the MN) is introducing new representations that 'pitch' alternative stories about Muslims in the media. While sustaining certain representations, such as the collectivisation of Muslims, the MN challenges mainstream discourse. It highlights Islamophobic attacks that Muslims are subject to, including their negative portrayal in mainstream press, and suggests that these hegemonic representations are part of a 'Muslim penalty'. Furthermore, the MN counters mainstream news by taking Muslims outside the frames of representation that associate them with terrorism, conflict and violence. Sports coverage consistently emerges in the MN as an important space to re-negotiate and reframe mainstream media discourses on Muslims. Sports stories maintain newsworthiness while enabling the MN to diverge from the negative coverage of Muslims in mainstream press and celebrate Muslim champions. Comparing such representations in a newspaper by and for Muslims to those produced by mainstream press further exposes contemporary Orientalist discourses and should be a subject of further study.

In this research, the method of qualitative comparison of discursive, enunciative and imagetic elements is applied in order to verify how the representations of masculinity and femininity are constructed by Printed Media in Curvas Perigosas cartoons from Claudia Magazine. This investigation is based on theoretical presuppositions of Gender and Cultural Studies (SCOTT, 1995; BOURDIEU, 2006; BUTLER, 2008), Multimodality (KRESS e VAN LEEUWEN, 1996) and Theory of Enunciation by Kerbrat Orecchioni (1980). This way, the social representations in discourse are analyzed, focusing on the evaluations made by Maitena, the main character. Two aspects are considered in textual analysis: stereotypes maintenances and manifestations of sexualities. In the evaluation of subjectivities, it is taking into consideration the cartoon s audience that consists of middle-class women and men, who live in urban areas (GOLDEMBERG, 2004). Moreover, it is evaluated gender relations influenced by social processes, taking for granted that the cultural paradigms of gender are reference in our everyday life, shaping our discourses and behaviors. As the textual genres of humor are not largely investigated on the current literature and the differences of terminology can cause misunderstandings, it is proposed that a clear and precise definition of cartoon as a discursive, a humor and a multimodal genre can be relevant. The study of this textual genre has its didactic implications, because it can help teachers and students to be engaged in a process of a new knowledge construction as well as to be aware of the existing inequalities, which are inculcated in their minds and are considered as natural in order to prescribe the behavior of women and men. Since we live in a world full of visual devices and technologies of representation, we should turn possible critical and reflexive experiences that make everyone understand how discourse influences thoughts, feelings and actions. Furthermore, they can reflect upon their identities and socio-cultural contexts. / Utiliza-se, nesta pesquisa, o método de comparação qualitativa de elementos discursivos, enunciativos e imagéticos para se verificar como as representações das feminilidades e das masculinidades são veiculadas pela mídia impressa nos cartuns Curvas Perigosas, na revista Cláudia. Os pressupostos teóricos utilizados para sustentar esta pesquisa associam algumas teorias de gênero (SCOTT, 1995; BOURDIEU, 2006; BUTLER, 2008) à multimodalidade (KRESS e VAN LEEUWEN, 1996) e à enunciação da subjetividade na linguagem com a teoria de Kerbrat-Orecchioni (1980). Dessa forma, analisam-se as representações sociais na linguagem, considerando-se as avaliações feitas pela enunciadora/Maitena cujas temáticas, neste trabalho, são construídas pela manutenção de estereótipos e manifestações de sexualidade. Essa subjetividade é avaliada, a partir do contexto de recepção desses cartuns por mulheres e homens das camadas médias urbanas (GOLDEMBERG, 2004), bem como se avaliam as relações de gênero subordinadas aos processos sociais, considerando-se que os paradigmas culturais de gênero são referenciais que estruturam toda a vida dos indivíduos, determinando seus discursos e suas condutas. Assim, por não haver clareza na literatura existente em relação aos gêneros discursivos humorísticos, e por existirem muitas dificuldades terminológicas e imprecisões lexicais, propõe-se uma definição clara e objetiva do gênero discursivo/humorístico/multimodal cartum, a qual, devido às suas implicações didáticas, pode auxiliar professores/as e alunos/as a participarem da construção de novos conhecimentos bem como a resistirem às desigualdades existentes as quais sempre foram incutidas e tornadas naturais a fim de conformar as condutas de mulheres e homens. Para tanto, já que se vive em um mundo dominado por dispositivos visuais e tecnologias da representação, deve-se possibilitar experiências reflexivas críticas que permitam a todos terem a compreensão de como os discursos influem em seus pensamentos e sentimentos, em suas ações, bem como refletir sobre suas identidades e contextos sócio-históricos.