z-logo
open-access-imgOpen Access
From Melting Pot to Islamophobia: Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Author(s) -
Rasha Maqableh
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
international journal of linguistics, literature and translation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2708-0099
pISSN - 2617-0299
DOI - 10.32996/ijllt.2022.5.4.22
Subject(s) - islamophobia , fundamentalism , allegiance , islamic fundamentalism , capitalism , oppression , melting pot , politics , humiliation , xenophobia , political science , sociology , religious studies , law , immigration , philosophy
America was founded on the idea of the melting pot that guarantees success, an opportunity to prosperity and social upward regardless of race, religion or status at birth. After the events of 9/11, the idealized notion of the melting pot was abandoned. Therefore, another version of America initiates fueled by post-9/11 xenophobia and President Bush administration’s “war on terror” launched on the pretext of promoting democracy. The Bush Doctrine, however, represented terrorism as a cause rather than an effect of the long history of Western colonization, oppression and manipulation of the Muslim World. This is exactly where the importance of Mohsin Hamid’ novel, The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007), is manifested to challenge and subvert the dominant post-9/11 discourse. In Hamid’s novel the “Other” is directly represented, not through the Orientalist discourse, but through an Easterner who changes his allegiance from a believer in and proponent of the neoliberal capitalist version of the American Dream to a skeptic and opponent of USA economic and political foreign policy. Therefore, this research argues that Hamid’s novel attempts to delineate the discourses of Islamophobia, capitalism, economic and political domination of the west, and fundamentalism in context of 9/11 attacks and their aftermath.

The content you want is available to Zendy users.

Already have an account? Click here to sign in.
Having issues? You can contact us here