In this blog post, I am going to analyze how Malala Yousafzai is affected by media coverage of herself as a schoolgirl in Pakistan from the chapter “The Diary of Gul Makai” in Yousafzai’s memoir I Am Malala co-written with Christina Lamb. The chapter is centred around Yousafzai working with a BBC radio correspondent to document her life as a schoolgirl in the Swat Valley, an area where the Taliban are especially hostile to young girls receiving an education.
Unlike many other girls her age, Malala’s upbringing was unusual, as her father is an educator and school owner (Malala Fund). The liberal upbringing of educating girls, not conventional in Taliban-controlled Pakistan due to longstanding cultural norms, along with a sense of activism in her direct family made it possible for her to be propelled into the spotlight. This begins with “The Diary of Gul Makai,” an expose of Yousafzai’s life as schools for girls are shut down around her, published on BBC Urdu. She is at this point twelve years old and is propelled into using a pseudonym for privacy and protection by Hai Kakar, the BBC reporter. It had a big impact on her life as the diary itself started gaining traction with newspapers who would print extracts (157). The big point to take away from this experience is when Malala presents a strong message to the reader saying that “we [the schoolgirls] were learning how to struggle. And we were learning how powerful we are when we speak” (157). Malala’s identity becomes solidified and she garners her ability to speak as a schoolgirl and directs the message she wants the world to hear.
Her interaction with the media emboldens her to continue her role as an activist for girls education. Following the diary, countless media outlets, both Pakistani and international, requested interviews again and again. Malala wrote “that she enjoyed speaking into the microphone so much her that friends would tease her” (160). On the flipside of things, her interactions with the media made her especially vulnerable because the Taliban were able to pinpoint her and her school as a target— shutting it down and eventually shooting her (9). It is with the moment when she is shot that her identity and interaction with the media comes, together.
Malala has become a media icon and her recovery was the main news throughout the end of 2012. Today, she is still actively campaigning for equal rights and girl’s education as strong as before while also studying at Oxford (“Profile: Malala Yousafzai”). Her early interactions with the diary may have been the spark to cultivate a sense of efficacy that has been carried on through her life.
Works Cited
Makai, Gul. “Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl.” 01-19 2009. Web. Oct 22, 2017 <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7834402.stm>.
“Malala’s Story.” Malala Fund. 2017. Web. October 22, 2017 <https://www.malala.org/malalas-story>.
“Profile: Malala Yousafzai.” BBC News 08-17 2017. Web. Oct 22, 2017 <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23241937>.
Yousafzai, Malala, and Christina Lamb. “The Diary of Gul Makai.” I Am Malala. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013a. 154-164. Print.
—. “Prologue: The Day My World Changed.” I Am Malala. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2013b. 3-9. Print.
I like how the flow of this blog is very smooth to read. Overall it was very well constructed in terms of when to make what reference without it overwhelming the entire post. Each reference he referred to was also properly correlating to what he was talking about and he didn’t make it seem as if he was just sticking in quotes, it was more of it unfolding within the sentence which I liked. His blog gives his title the justification of why or how Malala has been in the face of media and the struggles she has went about because of media but also the message she has gotten across through the same medium.