INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE, LITERATURE AND TRANSLATION STUDIES (IJELR) A QUARTERLY, INDEXED, REFEREED AND PEER REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL http://www.ijelr.in (Impact Factor : 5.9745) (ICI) KY PUBLICATIONS RESEARCH ARTICLE ARTICLE Vol. 7. Issue.1. 2020 (Jan-Mar) EXPLORING THE THEME OF NEO-ORIENTALISM IN AYAD AKHTAR’S DISGRACED AS A REPRESENTATION OF THE ARAB-ISLAMIC WORLD MONA BAGATO E-mail:
[email protected] ABSTRACT The goal of this study is to explore Ayad Mkhtar’s “Disgraced”, as a Neo-Orientalist account, portraying the injustice and prejudice of the American society towards Muslims and Arabs, and how it considers them as a threat that must be othered and excluded. The main objective of this study is to reflect on how Disgraced tackled Neo- Orientalist ideology, and consequently how this critical trend has widened the gap between East and West. Intentionally, the West had imposed a Stereotype figure on Article information Received:29/01/2020 Muslims throughout their myopic lens, and consequently created distorted image of Accepted: 27/02/2020 Islam and Muslims in their writings. Since 9/11, the situation has worsened. The Published online: 03/03/2020 classical orientalism has taken a new, and more negative approach. Neo-Orientalists doi: 10.33329/ijelr.7.1.122 now see Muslims as terrorists, lunatics, fundamentalists, and blood-thirsty beings. The stigmata September11th attached to Islam and Muslims drove many second generation immigrates playwrights to do something about it. They could not turn a blind eye to the injustice Muslim Americans are facing in the American society.