From Orientalism to Islamophobia: Reflections, Confirmations, and Reservations

Abstract

While European Orientalism looks back on a long history, the rise of Islamophobia 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 understand 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 stereotypes, it results in attitudes asserting undesirability, distrust, and hostility.