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Reincarnations of Neo-Orientalism: Islam and its Representations in Post-9/11 Literature

Gupta, Priyadarshini
http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0774-8313
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1502146148540323

Abstract Details

2017, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, English (Arts and Sciences).
This dissertation analyzes the responses to the clash of civilizations between Islam and the West through literary narratives. Using texts that discuss “strangers” and “natives” in post-9/11 literature, it critiques, while adding new insights, to the debate of the paradigmatic concept of Neo- Orientalism. Neo-Orientalism, a derogatory way of describing incarnations to Orientalist thinking after 9/11, reinforces Islam as a subculture in modern societies. In the war of ideas between the putative East and the so- called West, Neo-Orientalism revives the legacy of American and European colonialism on Asian and African countries through relentless attacks on Islamic identity and integrity. It shows how xenophobia, racial discrimination, and violence against Muslims is rationalized in Western societies. In my research, I discuss how post-9/11 narratives on Islam are addressing the estrangement of the Muslim world by either reiterating Oriental representations of Islam as a demonic culture or by adapting to the demands of Neo-Orientalism by embracing Islam in an Islamophobic world. Building on critical texts such as Sara Ahmed’s Strange Encounters: Embodied Others in Post-Coloniality, Hannah Arendt’s On Revolution, and Arjun Appadurai’s Fear of Small Numbers, I argue that global literatures with Muslim protagonists are not only reinforcing the need for Western hegemony on the Muslim world, but also, at times, reliving Oriental descriptions of the Muslim Other as perpetrators of terror and fear. In my research, I read and critically engage with writers Michel Houellebecq, Submission (2015); Mohsin Hamid, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013); Leila Aboulela, Minaret (2004), and Karan Mahajan, The Association of Small Bombs (2016). Based on my research and analysis I conclude with the suggestion that despite the continuous protests against of Muslim protagonists against ethnic profiling in immigrant literature, they are trapped in the binary of Islam and the West with miniscule or no possibility of a peaceful existence.
Ghirmai Negash (Advisor)
138 p.
Ethnic Studies; Islamic Studies; Literature
Islam

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Gupta, P. (2017). Reincarnations of Neo-Orientalism: Islam and its Representations in Post-9/11 Literature [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1502146148540323

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Gupta, Priyadarshini. Reincarnations of Neo-Orientalism: Islam and its Representations in Post-9/11 Literature . 2017. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1502146148540323.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Gupta, Priyadarshini. "Reincarnations of Neo-Orientalism: Islam and its Representations in Post-9/11 Literature ." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1502146148540323

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1502146148540323
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© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.