(Re-)Framing the Arab/Muslim
Mediating Orientalism in Contemporary Arab American Life Writing
Author(s)
Schmidt, Silke
Collection
Knowledge Unlatched (KU)Number
100561Language
EnglishAbstract
Media depictions of Arabs and Muslims continue to be framed by images of camels, belly dancers, and dagger-wearing terrorists. But do only Hollywood movies and TV news have the power to frame public discourse? This interdisciplinary study transfers media framing theory to literary studies to show how life writing (re-)frames Orientalist stereotypes. The innovative analysis of the post-9/11 autobiographies 'West of Kabul, East of New York', 'Letters from Cairo', and 'Howling in Mesopotamia' makes a powerful claim to approach literature based on a theory of production and reception, thus enhancing the multi-disciplinary potential of framing theory.
Keywords
Anthropology; Orientalism; Framing; Life Writing; Media; 9/11; Postcolonialism; Culture; Postcolonial Studies; Cultural Studies; Media Studies; America; Arab Americans; Arabs; Autobiography; Iraq; Memoir; United StatesDOI
10.14361/transcript.9783839429150ISBN
9783839429150Publisher
transcript VerlagPublisher website
https://www.transcript-verlag.de/Publication date and place
Bielefeld, Germany, 2014Grantor
Imprint
transcript VerlagSeries
Edition Kulturwissenschaft,Classification
National liberation and independence