Do Canadians Wear Oriental Lenses?
Islam. If a Muslim person read this word they would tell you it defined their religion and belief system. If a secular person from Ghana saw this word it may have no meaning for them. If a non-Islamic American saw this word they would tell you it is associated with terrorism. If a non-Islamic Canadian saw this word they would tell you it is just another form of religion that exists in a multicultural country. You may feel that I am overgeneralizing the beliefs of large groups of people and I will agree that I am, but my generalizations are based on pop cultural interpretations and representations of Muslim people, namely through mediums such as news reports and television. Orientalism is a concept that explains how North Americans view Middle Eastern people as being primitive, singular and static (Klassen, 2014). In doing so Arabs and Muslims are portrayed as one in the same and their own individual complex identities are completely disregarded and their history as a people remains unchanged. From this concept the term Islamophobia took rise, which came to mean “the direct mistrust and hatred of Islam” (Klassen, 2014, p. 136). This term became widely practiced and exemplified in the United States after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
It is known that the attackers were proudly associated with Al-Qaeda, which is described as an Islamic terrorist group. Due to this oriental lens, not only are Muslims and Arabs seen as synonymous, but also by being ignorantly grouped together, all Muslims and Arabs are also associated with Al-Qaeda and terrorism. This negative understanding of the Islamic religion and Muslim followers was ingrained in the minds of all Americans through biased media coverage. An example of American’s islamophobia and xenophobia in general was noticeable after the release of the 2014 Coca-Cola Super Bowl ad.
This ad was an attempt to display the abundance of multiculturalism and tolerance of difference in America, but instead it received negative backlash with Americans turning to Twitter and other social media outlets to share their disapproval of hearing and seeing America the Beautiful sung in different languages and by people of different cultures. One comment in particular, an example of which is displayed below,
clearly exhibits the islamophobia of Americans as well as the Orientalism concept previously mentioned by associating the woman wearing the hijab and singing in her native langauge with Islam and in relation terrorism. According to bell hooks and Gilroy, popular culture has been referred to as a platform where race is continually constructed” (Klassen, 2014, p. 118). In this same vein popular culture can be seen as the prime place where the idea of orientalism and islamophobia were communicated and received by Americans nationwide. However hooks and Gilroy also see pop culture as a site that can potentially be used effectively to promote anti-racism, or anti-islamophobia as well (Klassen, 2014).
In the past week a Canadian soldier was fatally shot in Ottawa while standing guard in front of a war memorial. Though there was some speculation that this was a terrorist attack, there were no official reporting stations that defined this to be an act of terrorism, instead they pointed to blame the gunman’s mental health.
However, one Toronto Sun reporter chose to go against the grain and blatantly label this an act of terrorism, largely based on the image of the gunman.
“The truth should have been clear the instant that chilling photo of Zehaf-Bibeau, armed and hiding behind a scarf, emerged in the hours after the shooting. He was a terrorist, pure and simple. Call him that.” (Strobel, 2014).
The journalist associated the image of a man concealing his face with a scarf to terrorism because this is the stereotypical dress attire associated with both Muslims and in relation terrorists. I stumbled across the following video a few days ago and I thought it was a great example of the difference between Canadian and American interpretations of Islam and Muslims.
As mentioned in the video it was recorded after the shooting in Ottawa and it took place in the hometown of the fallen soldier. The interesting question to bring up is why haven’t Canadians followed suit to our American counterparts in regards to embracing islamophobia? I believe that as Canadians, being the first country to embrace a multicultural law, we have a deeper understanding and acceptance of people from different cultures and religions. This suggestion can further be seen through the Canadian produced television series Little Mosque on the Prairie.
This popular series was created by and based on a Muslim woman’s experience growing up in the West. The show is one of the few positive representations of Muslims in popular culture and it even goes so far as to portray the multiple identities and images a Muslim person can be (Cañas, 2008). Here we see what Stuart Hall refers to as a naturalized code where the encoded meaning of the series given by the producer is the same decoded meaning received by the consumers (Klassen, 2014). Perhaps Canadians are able to look beyond islamophobia because of the positive or omission of negative portrayals of Islam and Muslim people communicated through popular culture. I would not go so far to say that there are no islamophobic Canadians, but I do believe that in comparison to Americans, the majority of Canadians are better able to detach themselves from the oriental lens by accepting and understanding cultural and religious differences in all of their complexities and forms largely because of our nation’s identity and practices as a multicultural country. In the end, the common negative and limiting portrayals surrounding Muslims are dangerous for the religion as a whole and it’s follower’s personal identities. The most effective way to be rid of the negativity that defamed Muslims and Islam is to use popular culture as a way to communicate positive and realistic portrayals of a group of people who deserve the same respect and acceptance as any other religion or culture.
Reference List
Cañas, S. (2008). The Little Mosque On The Prairie: Examining (Multi) Cultural Spaces Of Nation And Religion. Cultural Dynamics, 20(3), 195–211.
Klassen, C. (2014). Orientalism. In Religion & Popular Culture: A cultural studies approach (pp. 133–152). Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
Klassen, C. (2014). Racism and Anti-racisim. In Religion & Popular Culture: A cultural studies approach (pp. 113–132). Don Mills: Oxford University Press.
Strobel, M. (2014, October 28). Call it what it is: Islamic terrorism. The Toronto Sun, pp. 113–132. Retrieved November 1, 2014, from http://www.torontosun.com/2014/10/28/call-it-what-it-is-islamic-terrorism
