See in instruction
Please see the content note and link to the film Paradise Now （https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcESoSGU1gg）before doing this assignment
Edward Said’s concept of “Orientalism” takes on a few different forms, all of which are based in a division of the world — its peoples, cultures, beliefs, and societies — into “Eastern” and “Western”, with the latter considered the “norm” and the former constructed in a variety of problematic ways. Ultimately, Said and others have traced this division to the colonial era — in many ways, it has a legacy similar to that of “race”, racism, and the slavery system, discussed in class on July 7th. One key aspect of Orientalism is the construction of followers of the Islamic religion(s) as “Other” — as fundamentally different from the (presumed-Christian) “Western” “Self”, and often characterized as threatening, menacing, violent, and ultimately subhuman (as a result of the dehumanization inherent in Orientalism). This portrayal has long existed, but has intensified and proliferated in new ways in the media environment spanning the 1900’s to today. The questions you should consider in your response here are as follows: In what ways does the film Paradise Now work (or not-work) against Islamophobic stereotypes, based on the knowledge you have gained through the required readings? Is the film ultimately successful in humanizing this long-dehumanized “Other”?
Note that your understanding and position around such questions may become more nuanced after watching the documentary planned for class on July 14th. Note also that changing positions or adding complexity (or even just reinforcement) to an existing position is simply part of the process of growing and learning, and we should all be supportive of each other in this process, even if we disagree. Of course, in the discussion board and in class, dehumanizing statements or demonizing characterizations of people from any religion or culture are not acceptable — that said, those of you who have participated have done so with beautiful maturity and a spirit of inspired curiosity that has been very gratifying, and I do not anticipate there will be any issues like this as we think through yet another challenging, but important and timely, topic related to religions and their mediation. I simply mention this because Islamophobia has been particularly rampant and violent over the past 20 years, but is less-known and less-understood broadly than some other forms of stereotyping (for example, anti-Black prejudice, or bias against atheists/non-religious people in North America), and — as a scholar in the Study of Religion, who had only begun this path of study as an undergrad (in the U.S.) just over a year before the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States — it is a topic that I am very sensitive to, myself, and it is an issue that many Religion scholars have attempted to highlight for quite a long time.
