From Orientalism to Islamophobia: Reflections, Confirmations, and Reservations

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/reorient.4.2.0130
• Published date: 01 April 2019
• Date: 01 April 2019
• Pages: 130-143
• Author: Damir Skenderovic,Christina Späti
• Subject Matter: Orientalism,Islamophobia,Orient,Islam,Muslim,Jew

www.plutojournals.com/reorient

University of Fribourg, Switzerland

FROM ORIENTALISM TO ISLAMOPHOBIA:

REFLECTIONS, CONFIRMATIONS, AND

RESERVATIONS

Damir Skenderovic and Christina Späti

Abstract: While European Orientalism looks back on a long history, the rise of Islamo-

phobia is generally found to have taken place since the 1990s. Both phenomena rely

on recurrent and shifting ideas, tropes and narratives that are used when imagining

and describing the Other, and tend to be based on variations of “Muslim,” “Jew,” and

“Orient.” This introduction raises several aspects that are important in order to under-

stand the two phenomena, as well as to appreciate the similarities and differences

between them. While it is obvious that some typically orientalist tropes have made their

way into contemporary Islamophobia, the contributions in this special issue of ReOrient

also demonstrate that Orientalism can be understood as a multi-layered construct that

conflated negative with positive sentiments, and thereby also occasionally romanticized

the “Orient.” In contrast, Islamophobia is based on the unidimensional conception of an

essentialized Islam and a racialized Muslim. Fueled by negative prejudices and stereo-

types, it results in attitudes asserting undesirability, distrust, and hostility.

Keywords: Orientalism, Islamophobia, Orient, Islam, Muslim, Jew

In early 2016, a controversy arose over an op-ed article, “Cologne, Place of

Fantasies,” which was published in the French newspaper Le Monde by the

renowned writer and essayist Kamel Daoud.1 In a rather literary and metaphorical

style, Daoud presented his views on events that had taken place on New Year’s

Eve in Cologne, when hundreds of women were harassed and attacked by young

male migrants, most of whom were reportedly from Arab countries. He argued

that their violent, sexually aggressive behavior should be understood against their

cultural and particularly religious background: “the vast, painful and awful uni-

verse that is sexual misery in the Arab-Muslim world, the sick relationship to

women, to the body and to desire.” He also issued a warning to Europe that these

deeply anchored cultural settings were not likely to be negotiable among the refu-

gees arriving on the continent.2 In an essay entitled “The Sexual Misery of the

Arab World,” which followed shortly after in The New York Times, Daoud went