Muslims of Interest Danielle Blab
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MUSLIMS OF INTEREST DANIELLE BLAB Ph.D. Thesis – D. Blab; McMaster University – Political Science MUSLIMS OF INTEREST: PRACTICES OF RACIALIZATION IN THE CONTEXT OF THE WAR ON TERROR By DANIELLE BLAB, BSocSc, M. A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Danielle Blab, April 2017 Ph.D. Thesis – D. Blab; McMaster University – Political Science McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2017) Hamilton, Ontario (Political Science) TITLE: Muslims of Interest: Practices of Racialization in the Context of the War on Terror AUTHOR: Danielle Blab, BSocSc, M. A. (University of Ottawa) SUPERVISOR: Dr. J. Marshall Beier NUMBER OF PAGES: vi, 300 ii Ph.D. Thesis – D. Blab; McMaster University – Political Science LAY ABSTRACT This dissertation explores stereotypes of Muslims in American popular culture, and specifically in television dramas and comedies. These include: 1) the Muslim terrorist/villain; 2) the patriotic ―Good‖ Muslim; 3) the Muslim ―friendly cultural stereotype‖; and 4) the Muslim victim (both of Western discrimination and of patriarchal ―Muslim culture‖). This research is also interested in portrayals of Muslims that resist these stereotypes. This project is timely and important because stereotypes about Muslims are important in justifying Western intervention in the Middle East as part of the US-led ―War on Terror‖. Most recently, Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign and early presidency illustrate the power of negative perceptions of Muslims, as illustrated by his proposed policies and widely spread societal and political support for a ―Muslim ban‖. Thus, it is important to think critically about the relationship between popular culture and world politics. iii Ph.D. Thesis – D. Blab; McMaster University – Political Science ABSTRACT This dissertation explores the stereotypes of representations of Muslims in American popular culture, and specifically in television dramas and comedies. These tropes include: 1) the Muslim terrorist/villain; 2) the patriotic ―Good‖ Muslim; 3) the Muslim ―friendly cultural stereotype‖; and 4) the Muslim victim (both of Western discrimination and of patriarchal ―Muslim culture‖). This research is also interested in portrayals of Muslims that resist these stereotypes. Taking a performativity approach based on Critical Race Theory and intersectionality, this research is interested in the intersections of race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. Following the aesthetic turn of International Relations theory and falling within the subfield of Popular Culture and World Politics, this research takes popular culture seriously as a site of politics because representational practices are important in informing politics and societal relations at local, national, and global levels. This dissertation conducts a discursive content analysis of every American television program from 2001 to 2015 that features Muslims as main and/or recurring characters, including Homeland, 24, Sleeper Cell, and The Grid. This project is timely and important because constructions of identities, including through performative reifications of stereotypes in popular culture, both influence and are influenced by foreign policy. Narratives about Muslim-ness are important in justifying Western intervention in the Middle East as part of the US-led ―War on Terror‖. Most recently, Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign and early presidency illustrate in a visceral way the currency of negative and reductionist perceptions of Muslims, as illustrated in his proposed policies and widely spread societal and political support for a ―Muslim ban‖. Thus, it is important to think critically about the relationship between popular culture and world politics. iv Ph.D. Thesis – D. Blab; McMaster University – Political Science ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, Marshall Beier, and fellow committee members Lana Wylie and Peter Nyers for being so supportive of this project from day one. I would also like to thank my family for their ongoing support for my love of academia. Special thanks to my parents, Vaughn and Valerie Blab, for letting me read the better part of this dissertation out loud to them on a wintry drive through Manitoba and northwestern Ontario. Thanks also to Jesse Firempong for friendly intersectional banter and deconstruction of our favourite shows. Thanks to André Simonyi, Claire Turenne-Sjolander, David Grondin, Frédéric Vairel, and Noomane Raboudi for helping to set me on this path. And finally, to my partner, Marc-André Leblanc: thank you for everything you do. v Ph.D. Thesis – D. Blab; McMaster University – Political Science TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................1 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................14 CHAPTER THREE: METHODS..................................................................................................63 CHAPTER FOUR: THE MUSLIM TERRORIST/VILLAIN.......................................................93 CHAPTER FIVE: THE LOYALTY PARADOX: THE ―GOOD‖ MUSLIM............................140 CHAPTER SIX: THE FRIENDLY CULTURAL STEREOTYPE.............................................173 CHAPTER SEVEN: MUSLIM-NESS AS VICTIMHOOD.......................................................195 CHAPTER EIGHT: RESISTING STEREOTYPES...................................................................236 CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION.............................................................................................258 WORKS CITED..........................................................................................................................272 APPENDIX..................................................................................................................................285 vi Ph.D. Thesis – D. Blab; McMaster University – Political Science CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION An increase in racism and discrimination targeting Muslims has been a distinguishing feature of the new millennium, which is frequently referred to as the post-9/11 era, defined by the so-called ―War on Terror‖. While the events of September 11th, 2001 should not be credited as changing the world so profoundly as to mark a new era, they have been thusly narrated and this framing has cast a shadow over international politics, society, foreign policy, and the very discipline of International Relations for over fifteen years. This project explores some of the dynamics of the ―War on Terror‖ by breaking apart portrayals of Muslims in a prominent site of popular culture – television dramas and comedies. While television is far from the only site at which the ―War on Terror‖ is narrated and in which Muslims are represented, this project explores some of the most sustained characterizations of ―Muslim-ness‖ by focusing on a medium that permits the development of characters over many hours of programming. This project is important and relevant in the context of the 21st century wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; the continued existence of and focus on international terrorism; and increasing instances of violence, hate speech, and other societal tensions spurred by anti-Muslim sentiment in the Western world, including Canada, the United States, and Europe. For example, increases in the rates of hate crimes against and the suspension of legal rights of Muslims are very troubling (Alsultany 2012: 4; Abdulhadi et al. 2011: xx). Reductionist stereotypes of Muslims are particularly important because of the context in which they are viewed: ―against a montage of real-life images and reports of terror attacks (successful and thwarted) across the globe, of videotaped beheadings and messages from Al-Qaeda, of the killing of American soldiers, journalists, and civilians in Iraq‖ (Shaheen 2008: xi). For the current context we could add the dissemination by ISIS/Daesh of beheadings and other violent acts. This context is particularly important because in times of armed conflict there is even less resistance to racist 1 Ph.D. Thesis – D. Blab; McMaster University – Political Science stereotypes than at other times (Shaheen 2008: xii). Despite some ebb and flow of Western concerns about Arabs and Muslims, there has been remarkable continuity in negative and reductionist perceptions of Arabs and Muslims in preceding decades and centuries (e.g. Said 1979, 1993, 1997/1981; Shaheen 2009/2001). Artefacts of American popular culture have been chosen as the primary source objects of study for this project because of the far reach and widespread popularity of American productions beyond the borders of the United States. Due to the large volume of American television shows, this is an appropriate corpus to study, so as not to generalize from too small a sample, as well as because the attitudes promoted in American pop culture play a role in perceptions of Muslims in other countries, including Canada. Popular perceptions of Islam and Muslims are relevant to many aspects of Canadian politics and society; the traction of the debate on the niqab in the 2015 Canadian Federal Election illustrates how preoccupied the Canadian public is with markers of Muslim-ness, even on a question such as the wearing of the niqab at citizenship ceremonies or in the public service, which directly concerns only a very small portion of the population. 1 This event followed closely on the heels of