Postsecular Influencers: Perceptions About TED Speakers on Islam

By exploring the concepts and the reasoning behind topics such as authority, ideological standpoints, construction of branding, and self-representation, this chapter sheds light on the producers’ (TED speakers on Islam) as well as the audience’s understanding of various dimensions of the ‘new spokespersons of Islam’ visible in TED Talks. Existing studies argue that the arrival of new media discourse on Islam has produced new types of spokespersons of Islam, leading to fundamental changes in the methods of knowledge production and dissemination of Islam. Using these theoretical arguments as a point of departure, this chapter explores the features of the authority embodied by the TED speakers on Islam. This chapter conceptualises the identity of TED speakers on Islam by introducing the concept of—“postsecular influencers”.