New Terms - AMST

Anti-Muslim Racism

a shorthand for inter-personal, media, and state-based targeting of persons of those who are Muslim and those perceived to be Muslim. The targeting often relies upon the assumption that “Muslims” are enemies of, and pose a threat to, the U.S. nation (Nadine Naber and Junaid Rana).

The Bush Doctrine

The post-9/11 doctrine that stated the U.S. has the right to use military power against those who not only threaten the U.S., but also against those who have the potential to possibly threaten the U.S. It advances the idea that the U.S. will use military to promote democracy globally

Clash of Civilizations

The hegemonic point of view that emerged in the U.S. after 9/11 from the writings of Bernard Lewis and Samuel Huntington that became part of government policy for understanding terrorism. The U.S. portrayed itself on a global stage as fighting because of a “clash of civilizations.” Within this ideology Islam is seen as totalitarian and intolerant by its very nature and Islamism is seen as having replaced communism as the greatest threat facing the West. According to this logic, during the Cold War, the conflict was ideological, but since the end of the Cold war, conflict is becoming increasingly cultural.

Counter-hegemony

The forces in a given society that work against and challenge dominant meaning and power systems, and keep in constant tension and flux those dominant meanings.  For example, the current hegemonic cultural logic dictates that Arabs/Muslims are terrorists and a threat to national security.  Counter-hegemonic logics are those that challenge this overgeneralized idea, for example the idea that there are religious extremists in every religion, not only Islam and that Muslims who use terrorist tactics do not represent all Muslims. Counter-hegemonic ideas are usually marginalized and competing to be heard. They are often found in alternative newspapers, documentaries, academic writings, ethnic presses, ethnic museums, hip-hop music, etc. (see James Lull).

Crisis Diversity

Crisis moments that draw attention to long standing racism and galvanizes the public into action. Produces a domino effect of responses: public becomes aware of the problem, people of that identity group are called upon to urgently educate the public and advise, media conglomerates, corporations, universities issue statements or embark on new diversity initiatives, and the crisis moment passes, attention waning until the next crisis. Importantly, not all crisis moments galvanize the public and how much social change takes place is debatable and variable

Diversity Compromise

Making a minor or major tweak towards diversifying representations just enough to be profitable and avoid controversy, but not enough to shift the paradigm.

Essentialism

The idea that a group of people possess and can be characterized by an unchanging “essence” – that all members of a group “naturally” share the same characteristics. Stereotypes are created from essentialist ideas, for example, that Arabs are violent by their nature, that Native Americans possess a heightened spirituality, that Asian Americans are smart, that African Americans are lazy, that women are delicate, etc.  These essentialist ideas stereotype and overgeneralize diverse populations. Orientalism relies on essentialist notions about Arabs, Muslims, and the Middle East

First Cinema

Cinema that is Hollywood-produced intended to entertain and make a profit. It contains no radical intent

The Good Fight

In the midst of the Vietnam Syndrome (see definition on pp. 7) that pervaded American Culture in the 1960s, the U.S. came to admire Israel for its ability to win the Arab-Israeli war in 6 days. At this point U.S. discourses about Israel shifted from Israel being represented as a haven for Holocaust survivors and other Jews to Israel being represented as an effective military fighting “the good fight” – aka - a morally just war.  McAlister claims that the perception of Israel as fighting “the good flight” had an impact on U.S. foreign policy: the U.S. would “act not only with Israel, but like Israel on key international issues” (158).

Imperial Stewardship

McAlister states that the U.S. in the 1970s defined itself on a global stage as an imperial steward. This ideology is based on a universalist rhetoric, e.g. part of our common human heritage/it does not belong to Egypt but to the world. The U.S. articulated itself as perfectly situated to manage or administer art or oil from other nations. According to McAlister, this logic enabled the appropriation and consumption of Arab art (think the King Tut Exhibit) and oil

The Islamophobia Industry

Individuals and groups whose primary purpose is to promote prejudice against or hatred of Islam and Muslims and who often make a living doing it. Includes a network of well-funded think tanks, government officials, and scholars who produce and disseminate “knowledge” about Islam. Common themes used by the Islamophobia Industry include: Islam is not a religion, Islam is an extremist religion, all Muslims are violent extremists, Muslims plan to subjugate America and supplant the constitution, the Muslim Brotherhood is the driving force behind almost every Muslim, and minimize, dismiss, or mock assertion of concern over anti-Muslim sentiment. They also introduced bills vilifying Islam in 29 states

Military Multiculturalism

According to McAlister, the U.S. presented itself on a global stage through the rubric of military multiculturalism in the 1990s and particularly through the Gulf War in Iraq. This was a moment where the meaning of the military in American culture shifted from a dangerous state apparatus that disproportionately took the lives of people of color and the poor through the draft (as it was regarded after the Vietnam war) to an all volunteer army that signified patriotism, opportunity, and diversity of the U.S. Thus the U.S., through its depiction of a multicultural military, defined the army as multicultural and therefore as having the right to interfere in other parts of the world. McAlister points to a fundamental contradiction in military multiculturalism: the idea of multiculturalism was incorporated into a discourse of U.S. global power, there were unresolved debates over incorporating multicultural literature and perspectives on college campuses and across American society. Furthermore, Arab Americans were excluded from this multicultural display.

Patriotic Muslim

The patriotic Muslim emerged as one of the most popular pathways to inclusion in liberal multiculturalism. Patriotic Muslims were eager to differentiate themselves from the terrorist representation by displaying US flags, publicly affirming their commitment to the United States and its values, and even enlist in the military, thus demonstrating their willingness to perform the highest form of service, namely, dying for one’s country. Post- 9/11 media saw an uptick in the number of patriotic US Arab and Muslim characters on TV. The Patriotic Muslim is an example of stereotype-confined expansions post-9/11

Overt Racism

According to Stuart Hall, these are openly racist arguments that explicitly support racist policies or perspectives (e.g. Islam promotes terrorism and therefore we must target Muslims, racial profiling of all Arabs and Muslims during the War on Terror is necessary).

Covert or Inferential Racism

According to Stuart Hall, there are representations with racist propositions inscribed as a set of unquestioned assumptions. In other words, they are not overt, they are largely invisible, yet widespread and can be difficult to detect (e.g. a story about Arab terrorists where not all Arabs are portrayed as terrorists – the underlying assumption is still that Arabs are terrorists). Hall says that covert racism usually occurs unintentionally - often with good intentions from writers and producers.

Secular Muslim

Secular Muslims are defined as Muslims who are not religious and consider themselves Muslims in name only, not in practice. Secular Muslims can be cultural Muslims or can be Islamophobes. The secular/nominal Muslim is not a religious believer; those who were raised Muslim but for whom Islam is insignificant in their lives. An example of this is the representations of Muslims from the cast of the Shahs of Sunset. The popularization of the secular Muslim as an alternative to the patriotic Muslim in the 2010s, and by US Muslim writers themselves like Aziz Ansari, with Master of None (2015– 2021), or Kumail Nanjiani, with The Big Sick (2017), still positions Muslims as needing to prove their humanity and belonging. The Secular Muslim is an example of stereotype-confined expansions post-9/11

Simplified Complex Representations

Strategies used by television producers, writers, and directors to give the impression that the representations they are producing are complex, yet do so in a simplified way. It is an approach that seeks to balance a negative representation with a positive one in order to circumvent stereotyping. Alsultany identifies seven key strategies that Hollywood writers and producers rely on which result in simplified complex representations: (1) inserting patriotic Arab or Muslim Americans, (2) sympathizing with the plight of Arab and Muslim Americans after 9/11, (3) challenging the Arab/Muslim conflation with diverse Muslim identities, (4) flipping the enemy, (5) humanizing the terrorist, (6) projecting a multicultural U.S. society, (7) fictionalizing the Middle Eastern or Muslim country

Stereotype-confined Expansions

A stereotype-­ confined expansion is an expansion in representations defined and confined by the stereotype to which it is responding. There is an expansion in representations, but a very specific, conditional, and limited one. Two prominent examples are the Patriotic Muslim and the Secular/Nominal Muslim.

Third Cinema

Movement to use the power of film for class struggle and national liberation. Led to the creation of some of the most radical and anti-colonial films in the history of cinema

Transcoding

Stuart Hall defines transcoding as taking an existing meaning and re-appropriating it with new meanings.

Vietnam Syndrome

A term used to describe the perceived impact of the failure of the Vietnam War on the U.S. It describes a mood of defeat and the notion that American power is on the decline. It articulates the notion that the U.S. could have won the Vietnam War with sufficient application of military power; the problem was a failure of nerve or masculinity.

What is the Riz test

A representation test that focuses on criteria to identify stereotypes of Muslims

What is the Obeidi-Alsultany test

a representation test that expands on the Riz test to address hollywoods mistakes when diversifying representations of muslims

Most direct cause of the Iran Hostage Crisis

iranians protested against the US for allowing Shah to seek medical treatment there

What happened after 9/11

Representations of the patriotic arabs and muslims began to emerge in film and television to counteract the terrorist representation

What caused the 1973 oil embargo

This occurred to protest US support of israel and demand Israeli forces to fully withdraw from all arab territories during the 1967 war

What happened with the film Exodus

It emerged in the 1960s and brought the story of israel to the american public. it also turned the zionist story of israel into a american tale, set the stage for depper investment in israel after 1967 war.

What are the common themes of the islamophobia industry

argues that islam is not a religion, all muslims are violent, muslims plan to subjugate america, and the muslim brotherhood is the driving force behind every muslim

1967 Arab-Israel War

the war led to the israeli occupation of palestinian territories, recognition of israel as a regional military power, israel seizing parts of syria and egypt, and the formation of the popular front for the liberation of palestine

What movement had the impact of changing educational curriculum and media representations to becoming less eurocentric and stereotypical

The 1990s multicultural movement

Founding of Israel in 1948

in 1948 with the founding of the state of israel when palestinians used violence, the US government protrayed it as illegitimate violence

Islamophobia

close minded prejudice against or hatred of islam and muslims, rotted in individual forms of bias against muslims, not state based or media based