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The American Empire in a Changing World



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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

''Racism at the Heart of Empire''

Book Review From New Left Project

''In Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, Deepa Kumar, an Associate Professor of Media Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers University in the US, identifies a cluster of such myths: that Islam is a uniquely sexist religion, that Muslims are irrational, that Islam is inherently violent and that Muslims are incapable of democracy and self-rule.  Underlying each of these, she argues, is the view of Islam as a monolithic religion.  This, according to Kumar, is the original sin from which all other Orientalist fallacies flow, for it is only by ignoring the conspicuous diversity and historical contingency of Middle Eastern societies that generalisations about ‘Muslim culture’, ‘Islamic civilisation’ or the ‘Muslim mind’ can gain any intellectual credibility.''

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