The nation-empire after 9/11-2
30
+ The nation-empire after 9/11 II Ana Cristina Mendes University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies
Transcript of The nation-empire after 9/11-2
+
The nation-empire after 911
IIAna Cristina Mendes
University of Lisbon Centre for English Studies
+
Lecture 1
Social contestation to the ldquoWar on Terrorrdquo
analysis of Michael Moorersquos Fahrenheit
911 and Salman Rushdiersquos ldquoThe Attacks
on Americardquo and ldquoAnti-Americanismrdquo
Fahrenheit 911 Way-in
bullSub-genre
bullMode
bullPurpose
bullInvestigative
bullExpository and
participatory
bullTo mock the Bush
administration and prevent
re-election
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Hall believes the key idea to
understanding how we construct
meaning is through representation
ldquoRepresentation is the way MEANING
is given to the things depictedrdquo
The Old View representation is RE-
submitted information This implies
there is one fixed meaning for what is
represented
It views representation as either an
accurate or distorted depiction of an
event AFTER it happens
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
The New View
Representation as constitutive it is part of the event you must investigate from within
It asks What is the meaning of what we see
Involves multiple interpretations and will never have a fixed meaning
Meaning depends on individual interpretation and how information is presented to begin with
It is a continuous and active cycle of creation Arabian Nights (dir John Rawlins 1942)
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Media is one of the most powerful andwidespread circulators of meaning
Technologies have empowered themedia to communicate theirmeanings to a wider variety ofpeople
Hall ldquoThe question of power can never be bracketed out ofrepresentationrdquo
Ideology and power attempt to fixmeaning by saying ldquoI can tell youwhat this means I am the only onewho can Do not listen to anyone else They are wrong Listen to merdquo
+Reneacute Magritte on representation
1964 1926
+
+
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+
Lecture 1
Social contestation to the ldquoWar on Terrorrdquo
analysis of Michael Moorersquos Fahrenheit
911 and Salman Rushdiersquos ldquoThe Attacks
on Americardquo and ldquoAnti-Americanismrdquo
Fahrenheit 911 Way-in
bullSub-genre
bullMode
bullPurpose
bullInvestigative
bullExpository and
participatory
bullTo mock the Bush
administration and prevent
re-election
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Hall believes the key idea to
understanding how we construct
meaning is through representation
ldquoRepresentation is the way MEANING
is given to the things depictedrdquo
The Old View representation is RE-
submitted information This implies
there is one fixed meaning for what is
represented
It views representation as either an
accurate or distorted depiction of an
event AFTER it happens
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
The New View
Representation as constitutive it is part of the event you must investigate from within
It asks What is the meaning of what we see
Involves multiple interpretations and will never have a fixed meaning
Meaning depends on individual interpretation and how information is presented to begin with
It is a continuous and active cycle of creation Arabian Nights (dir John Rawlins 1942)
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Media is one of the most powerful andwidespread circulators of meaning
Technologies have empowered themedia to communicate theirmeanings to a wider variety ofpeople
Hall ldquoThe question of power can never be bracketed out ofrepresentationrdquo
Ideology and power attempt to fixmeaning by saying ldquoI can tell youwhat this means I am the only onewho can Do not listen to anyone else They are wrong Listen to merdquo
+Reneacute Magritte on representation
1964 1926
+
+
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
Fahrenheit 911 Way-in
bullSub-genre
bullMode
bullPurpose
bullInvestigative
bullExpository and
participatory
bullTo mock the Bush
administration and prevent
re-election
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Hall believes the key idea to
understanding how we construct
meaning is through representation
ldquoRepresentation is the way MEANING
is given to the things depictedrdquo
The Old View representation is RE-
submitted information This implies
there is one fixed meaning for what is
represented
It views representation as either an
accurate or distorted depiction of an
event AFTER it happens
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
The New View
Representation as constitutive it is part of the event you must investigate from within
It asks What is the meaning of what we see
Involves multiple interpretations and will never have a fixed meaning
Meaning depends on individual interpretation and how information is presented to begin with
It is a continuous and active cycle of creation Arabian Nights (dir John Rawlins 1942)
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Media is one of the most powerful andwidespread circulators of meaning
Technologies have empowered themedia to communicate theirmeanings to a wider variety ofpeople
Hall ldquoThe question of power can never be bracketed out ofrepresentationrdquo
Ideology and power attempt to fixmeaning by saying ldquoI can tell youwhat this means I am the only onewho can Do not listen to anyone else They are wrong Listen to merdquo
+Reneacute Magritte on representation
1964 1926
+
+
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Hall believes the key idea to
understanding how we construct
meaning is through representation
ldquoRepresentation is the way MEANING
is given to the things depictedrdquo
The Old View representation is RE-
submitted information This implies
there is one fixed meaning for what is
represented
It views representation as either an
accurate or distorted depiction of an
event AFTER it happens
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
The New View
Representation as constitutive it is part of the event you must investigate from within
It asks What is the meaning of what we see
Involves multiple interpretations and will never have a fixed meaning
Meaning depends on individual interpretation and how information is presented to begin with
It is a continuous and active cycle of creation Arabian Nights (dir John Rawlins 1942)
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Media is one of the most powerful andwidespread circulators of meaning
Technologies have empowered themedia to communicate theirmeanings to a wider variety ofpeople
Hall ldquoThe question of power can never be bracketed out ofrepresentationrdquo
Ideology and power attempt to fixmeaning by saying ldquoI can tell youwhat this means I am the only onewho can Do not listen to anyone else They are wrong Listen to merdquo
+Reneacute Magritte on representation
1964 1926
+
+
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
The New View
Representation as constitutive it is part of the event you must investigate from within
It asks What is the meaning of what we see
Involves multiple interpretations and will never have a fixed meaning
Meaning depends on individual interpretation and how information is presented to begin with
It is a continuous and active cycle of creation Arabian Nights (dir John Rawlins 1942)
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Media is one of the most powerful andwidespread circulators of meaning
Technologies have empowered themedia to communicate theirmeanings to a wider variety ofpeople
Hall ldquoThe question of power can never be bracketed out ofrepresentationrdquo
Ideology and power attempt to fixmeaning by saying ldquoI can tell youwhat this means I am the only onewho can Do not listen to anyone else They are wrong Listen to merdquo
+Reneacute Magritte on representation
1964 1926
+
+
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Stuart Hall
ldquoRepresentation and the Mediardquo
Media is one of the most powerful andwidespread circulators of meaning
Technologies have empowered themedia to communicate theirmeanings to a wider variety ofpeople
Hall ldquoThe question of power can never be bracketed out ofrepresentationrdquo
Ideology and power attempt to fixmeaning by saying ldquoI can tell youwhat this means I am the only onewho can Do not listen to anyone else They are wrong Listen to merdquo
+Reneacute Magritte on representation
1964 1926
+
+
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Reneacute Magritte on representation
1964 1926
+
+
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+
+
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes the 1968 stylized
image of Che Guevara by
Jim Fitzpatrick
bathed in a new light
spotlight on him
young and bright
clear vision
whiteblack Shepard Fairey (2008)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Representations of Barack Obama
hero
key word - be inspired
shirt tie and suit ndash
businesslike
looking up into the sky
angle of face - on a mission
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Representations of Barack Obama
evokes minstrelsy
(1900)
depicted as the Joker
demonic
Firas Alkhateeb (2009)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+
Barack Obamas logo designed in 2008 by Sender LLC
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Representation
Moore ndash jeans T-shirt baseball cap = blue collar worker Represents everyday white American manipulated by statesystem
Bush ndash suit and tie = connotes power authority capitalism
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Lila Lipscomb
The proud mother of a US serviceman
Fits the Bush Administrationrsquos definition of a loyal American
Being a white blue-collar natural born citizen of the US with a family history of military service Mrs Lipscomb is dedicated to the American practice of ldquopreserving freedomrdquo
She possesses irrefutable loyalty to the military and the US governmentrsquos decisions to go to war expresses her strong sense ofpatriotism and support for the menand women in uniform
Her unquestioning allegiance is so strong that she is willing to sacrifice her children for the cause
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Out of the 535 members of Congress
only one had an enlisted son in Iraq
Moore highlights the inconsistencies between the words and actions of American politicians
As Moore demonstrates according to President Bush you are a true American if you show undying support for the war
If politicians are so reluctant to send their children into military service doesnrsquot that bring the legitimacy of the conflict into question
But what about emotionalmanipulation You cant enlist your children in the military you can only enlist yourself
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Salman Rushdie Dominant theme of his work the story of the many
connections disruptions and migrations between the eastern and western worlds
1947 - born in Bombay son of a Cambridge-educated merchant of Muslim background
1961 - studied in England (Rugby School and Kings College Cambridge University)
1964 - moved with his family from Bombay to Pakistan
1989 - fatwardquo because of The Satanic Verses (1988) and forced to go into hiding
2000 - moves to New York
2001 - supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan
2007 - appointed a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
ldquoThe Attacks on Americardquo 2001
Democracy ndash visibility ndash New York
Terrorism security and the inevitability of ldquofreedomrsquos partial
erosionrdquo
After the breaking of the ldquobright city of the visiblerdquoldquothe
beating heat of the visible worldrdquo (NY) a military
intervention is needed against ldquothe invisible shadow
warriors of the secret worldrdquo
A ldquosecret warrdquo is required ldquowe must send our shadow
warriors against theirs and hope that ours prevailrdquo
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Salman Rushdie -aestheticspolitics
personalpolitical
Anti-Americanismrdquo 2002
ldquoAmerica finds itself facing an ideological enemy that may
turn out harder to defeat than militant Islamrdquo
Operation ldquoEnduring Freedomrdquo - ldquoAmerica did in
Afghanistan what had to be done and did it well The bad
news is that none of these successes won friends for the
United Statesrdquo
ldquoAmerica-hating has become a badge of identityrdquo
ldquoGreat power and great wealth are perhaps never popularrdquo
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+
Lecture 2
Alterity the ldquoclash of civilizationsrdquo and
Islamophobia analysis of The Reluctant
Fundamentalist (2007) by Mohsin Hamid
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+The changing faces of the enemy
Racial profiling has always been a result of war
World War II ndash Japanese Germans
Cold War ndash Russians
War on Terror ndash individuals of Middle Eastern descent
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
ldquohellip America too was increasingly giving itself to a
dangerous nostalgia at that time There was something
undeniably retro about the flags and uniforms about
generals addressing cameras in war rooms and newspaper
headlines featuring such words as duty and honor I had
always thought of America as a nation that looked forward
for the first time I was struck by its determination to look
back Living in New York was suddenly like living in a film
about the Second World War [hellip] What your fellow
countrymen longed for was unclear to me ndash a time of
unquestioned dominance of safety of moral certainty [hellip]
I feel treacherous for wondering whether that era [hellip]
contained a part written for someone like merdquo (114-115)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Mohsin Hamidrsquos
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2007)
Procatalepsis in the novelrsquos hook the narrator pre-empts the readerrsquos possible reactions to the story and attempts to defuse them
ldquoExcuse me sir but may I be of assistance Ah I see I have alarmed you Do not be frightened by my beard [pre-empts racial prejudice] I am a lover of Americardquo (1)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Changezrsquos beard
ldquoFor despite my motherrsquos request and my knowledge of the difficulties it could well present me at immigration I had not shaved my two-week-old beard It was perhaps a form of protest on my part a symbol of my identity or perhaps I sought to remind myself of the reality I had just left behind [Pakistan] [hellip]rdquo (130)
ldquoIt is remarkable given its physical insignificance ndash it is only a hairstyle after all ndash the impact a beard worn by a man of my complexion has on your fellow countrymenrdquo (130)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Ethnicity and Identity
According to Hall race is a discursive construct and because its meaning is never fixed can be described as a floating signifierrdquo
Contemporary identity is de-centred and fragmented
Ethnicity provides the starting point for the narrative construction of identity through negotiation with others
In a mass society where lsquostrangersrsquo are brought into close proximity presumed common origins become a source of instant recognition and identification
Identities are never completed they are always in the process of becoming through negotiation and interaction with the other
There is a contemporary explosion of forms of cultural expression from migrant cultures in art literature film mass media and theatre which explore the lived experience of migrants in interaction with the culture of the others
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist is a monologue about a young
Pakistanirsquos experiences in America at the time of the 911
attacks What made you choose this format which has the
Pakistani telling his tale to an American whose voice is never
actually heard
A The form of the novel with the narrator and his audience both
acting as characters allowed me to mirror the mutual suspicion with
which America and Pakistan (or the Muslim world) look at one
another The Pakistani narrator wonders Is this just a normal guy or
is he a killer out to get me The American man who is his audience
wonders the same And this allows the novel to inhabit the interior
emotional world much like the exterior political world in which it
will be read The form of the novel is an invitation to the reader If
the reader accepts then he or she will be called upon to judge the
novelrsquos outcome and shape its ending
(httpwwwharcourtbookscomReluctant_Fundamentalistinterviewasp)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
Q The Reluctant Fundamentalist cleverly taps
into the readerrsquos own
prejudices about the word lsquofundamentalistrsquo
Were you trying to
demonstrate how engrained these prejudices
are today
A The novel is just a conversation between two
men one of whom we never hear and yet many
people have said it feels like a thriller The reason
for that is we are already afraid We have been led
to believe that we live in a world where terrorism
is as likely to kill us as cancer or cholesterol
where the ability to engage in dispassionate
impersonal politically-motivated homicide is not
an aberration but rather natural
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
+Mohsin Hamid in interview
We have been encouraged to lose a sense of perspective And
so the fear provoked by the novel is within us The Reluctant
Fundamentalist is a dramatic monologue in other words a half-
conversation a half story The reader is asked to provide the
other half of the novelrsquos meaning And in so doing by co-
creating the novel readers have an experience of
themselves Or at least that is my hope to contain within the
fascination and seduction of a fast-paced and emotionally
powerful story the fascination and seduction of a strange-
shaped and oddly reflective mirror
(Booker Prize Foundation interview September 2007)
![Das Osmanische Reich – ein antikoloniales Imperium? [The Ottoman Empire – An Anticolonial Empire?] (2006)](https://static.fdokumen.com/doc/165x107/632565c9c9c7f5721c020fde/das-osmanische-reich-ein-antikoloniales-imperium-the-ottoman-empire-an.jpg)
