Islam In America After 9/11 Analysis

The presence of Islam in America has been both theoretically and tangibly an issue for American society. Multiple scholars trace the issue back towards the enlightenment, referencing the context surrounding the interactions between the eastern and western world as laying the groundwork for interactions to this day. Edward Said famously developed the concept of Orientalism, which he defines as “a manner of regularized (or Orientalized) writing, vision, and study, dominated by imperatives, perspectives, and ideological biases ostensibly suited to the Orient.” Orientalism consists primarily of scholarship in the way intellectuals analyze different kinds of texts and their relationship to history . In his video he also brings up the portrayal of Muslims in mass media as barbaric villains and over sexualized women. This essay will …show more content…
There have obviously been negative portrayals, but shockingly there have also been positive ones. One can find a diverse group of Muslim heroes within comic books. He was able to highlight major characters that were Muslim. Sadly, the authors were not very well at carrying over their diverse portrayal of Muslims towards the villains within those same comics, often portraying them as barbarians . It is not only within media that one can find diverse views of Muslims, but also within some recent scholarly works. For example, in an article regarding the constitutional debate Spellberg looked at how Islam played a role in determining the breadth of religious freedom in America. She was able to show that a portion of the population in America during the Ratification debates would be willing to accept a Muslim President if they were capable of gaining the respect of the American people. Despite the fact that there is an obvious difference in the portrayal of Muslims in American culture after 9/11 when compared to before, there is still the question of where the differences come