Bringing the Marginalized into Conversations about American Raciality - Erin Kane - Keely Gaeta - Emily Norris

THE CITIZEN AND THE TERRORIST

MIDDLE EASTERN , ARAB , MUSLIM ARE RACIAL CATEGORIES THAT RELY ON ORIENTALIST THINKING . ORIENTALISM IS A FRAMEWORK IN WHICH ASIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST FUNCTION AS SITES WHERE THE U . S . NATION CAN PROJECT ITS ANXIETIES . WITHIN THIS FRAMEWORK , THE MIDDLE EASTERN - ARAB - MUSLIM OTHER IS PROJECTED AS A POTENTIAL TERRORIST THREAT . IN THE CURRENT STATE OF THE U . S ., WE ARE WITNESSING THE REDEPLOYMENT OF OLD ORIENTALIST TROPES AND THE POLARIZATION OF THE EAST AND WEST . ORIENTALISM IS NOT SOLELY ROOTED IN RACIAL DIFFERENCE , BUT ALSO IN GENDERIZATION . HISTORICALLY , THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN NEED OF " SAVING " WAS A SOURCE OF JUSTIFICATION FOR WESTERN COLONIZATION OF REGIONS OF THE WORLD - " WHITE MEN SAVING BROWN WOMEN FROM BROWN MEN ." THE AFTERMATH OF SEPTEMBER 11 WITNESSED THE REDEPLOYMENT OF THIS IDEA . ONE OF THE STATED JUSTIFICATIONS FOR AMERICAN INTERVENTION IN AFGHANISTAN MADE BY BOTH PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH AND FIRST LADY LAURA BUSH - WAS THAT AFGHAN WOMEN NEEDED TO BE SAVED FROM THE TALIBAN AND ISLAMIC BARBARISM . THE RENDERING OF RACIAL OTHERS AS NEEDING GUIDANCE , UNABLE TO FUNCTION WITHOUT UNITED STATES RESCUING , IS NOT A NEW THEME , BUT HAS BEEN PRESENCE SINCE THE ORIGIN OF U . S . PATERNALISM .

“WE RESPECT OUR MOTHERS, OUR SISTERS AND DAUGHTERS. FIGHTING BRUTALITY AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN IS NOT THE EXPRESSION OF A SPECIFIC CULTURE; IT IS THE ACCEPTANCE OF OUR COMMON HUMANITY — A COMMITMENT SHARED BY PEOPLE OF GOODWILL ON EVERY CONTINENT. … THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM IS ALSO A FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS AND DIGNITY OF WOMEN.” - LAURA BUSH

EDWARD SAID , THE MAN WHO DEVELOPED THE CONCEPT OF ORIENTALISM

41