Writing Back to “Culture Talk”: Reinvention of Muslim Identity in The Road from Damascus
A couple of decades before 9/11, after the collapse of USSR, Islam started to be culturally represented as the major “Other” in the West. 9/11 attacks accelerated the movement with the “culture talk” project positioning Islam as the backward culture against which the West and secularism are portraye...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Kurdistan
2022-05-01
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| Series: | Critical Literary Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://cls.uok.ac.ir/article_62218.html |
| _version_ | 1811338836416921600 |
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| author | Amirhossein Sadeghi Hamed Habibzadeh Zadmehr Torabi |
| author_facet | Amirhossein Sadeghi Hamed Habibzadeh Zadmehr Torabi |
| author_sort | Amirhossein Sadeghi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A couple of decades before 9/11, after the collapse of USSR, Islam started to be culturally represented as the major “Other” in the West. 9/11 attacks accelerated the movement with the “culture talk” project positioning Islam as the backward culture against which the West and secularism are portrayed as the epitome of progressive liberal civilization/culture. Muslims, however, wrote back to the project. Literature, especially fiction, was found an appropriate media through which Muslims’ voice could be expressed. Robin Yassin Kassab’s The Road from Damascus is a true writing back attempt in order to respond to the hegemonic “othering” of Islam in the West. The narrative actualizes the purpose upending the constructed bifurcation of “the West” versus “Islam”. Being approached from a new perspective, both terms/signs are deconstructed in the novel so that the center/periphery opposition is reversed. In this new structure each term/sign is given new significances challenging the mainstream “imagined identities” of Muslims in the West. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T18:16:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e3c8a1d85fd04f3e9d85b594eeee5532 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2676-699X 2716-9928 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T18:16:30Z |
| publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
| publisher | University of Kurdistan |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Critical Literary Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-e3c8a1d85fd04f3e9d85b594eeee55322022-12-22T02:35:40ZengUniversity of KurdistanCritical Literary Studies2676-699X2716-99282022-05-014213114310.34785/J014.2022.516Writing Back to “Culture Talk”: Reinvention of Muslim Identity in The Road from DamascusAmirhossein Sadeghi0Hamed Habibzadeh1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0786-4648Zadmehr Torabi2 Assistant Professor of English Literature, University of Qom, Qom, IranAssistant Professor of English Literature, University of Kashan, Kashan, IranAssistant Professor of English Literature, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, IranA couple of decades before 9/11, after the collapse of USSR, Islam started to be culturally represented as the major “Other” in the West. 9/11 attacks accelerated the movement with the “culture talk” project positioning Islam as the backward culture against which the West and secularism are portrayed as the epitome of progressive liberal civilization/culture. Muslims, however, wrote back to the project. Literature, especially fiction, was found an appropriate media through which Muslims’ voice could be expressed. Robin Yassin Kassab’s The Road from Damascus is a true writing back attempt in order to respond to the hegemonic “othering” of Islam in the West. The narrative actualizes the purpose upending the constructed bifurcation of “the West” versus “Islam”. Being approached from a new perspective, both terms/signs are deconstructed in the novel so that the center/periphery opposition is reversed. In this new structure each term/sign is given new significances challenging the mainstream “imagined identities” of Muslims in the West.https://cls.uok.ac.ir/article_62218.htmlculture talkthe road from damascussecularismwriting backislamidentity |
| spellingShingle | Amirhossein Sadeghi Hamed Habibzadeh Zadmehr Torabi Writing Back to “Culture Talk”: Reinvention of Muslim Identity in The Road from Damascus Critical Literary Studies culture talk the road from damascus secularism writing back islam identity |
| title | Writing Back to “Culture Talk”: Reinvention of Muslim Identity in The Road from Damascus |
| title_full | Writing Back to “Culture Talk”: Reinvention of Muslim Identity in The Road from Damascus |
| title_fullStr | Writing Back to “Culture Talk”: Reinvention of Muslim Identity in The Road from Damascus |
| title_full_unstemmed | Writing Back to “Culture Talk”: Reinvention of Muslim Identity in The Road from Damascus |
| title_short | Writing Back to “Culture Talk”: Reinvention of Muslim Identity in The Road from Damascus |
| title_sort | writing back to culture talk reinvention of muslim identity in the road from damascus |
| topic | culture talk the road from damascus secularism writing back islam identity |
| url | https://cls.uok.ac.ir/article_62218.html |
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