https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j Tropes of Muslim Exceptionalism- ('Trope' from Hayden Whites Metahistory (1973) means a style of a discourse that conveys important information but underlies the explicit historical narrative. It is a term now widely used in the social sciences. en-us 2021-01-11 21:52:14 UTC 2025-11-22 18:53:36 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f4da.png Prof_Robinson https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076380753 Make a tag on each of these points:
1) Provide a brief definition of what that phrase means or indicates.
-Once you have done this, provide 1-2 specific references from the article that supports this definition.
2) Specify when (historically) that trope became particularly powerful or useful. 
-Point to 1-2 specific pgs/passages that support your answer
3) Specify for and among whom (a government, another cultural group, etc.) that phrase became particularly useful.
-Point to 1-2 specific pgs/passages that support your answer
4) To what extent did this develop out of or rely on the "really real"ness of colonial-era Orientalist discourses?
-Point to 2 specific examples


]]> 2021-01-11 21:52:14 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076380753 Prof_Robinson https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076420496 Make a tag on each of these points:
1) Provide a brief definition of what that phrase means or indicates.
-Once you have done this, provide 1-2 specific references from the article that supports this definition.
2) Specify when (historically) that trope became particularly powerful or useful. 
-Point to 1-2 specific pgs/passages that support your answer
3) Specify for and among whom (a government, another cultural group, etc.) that phrase became particularly useful.
-Point to 1-2 specific pgs/passages that support your answer
4) To what extent did this develop out of or rely on the "really real"ness of colonial-era Orientalist discourses?
-Point to 2 specific examples

]]> 2021-01-11 22:10:09 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076420496 Prof_Robinson https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076420926 Make a tag on each of these points:
1) Provide a brief definition of what that phrase means or indicates.
-Once you have done this, provide 1-2 specific references from the article that supports this definition.
2) Specify when (historically) that trope became particularly powerful or useful. 
-Point to 1-2 specific pgs/passages that support your answer
3) Specify for and among whom (a government, another cultural group, etc.) that phrase became particularly useful.
-Point to 1-2 specific pgs/passages that support your answer
4) To what extent did this develop out of or rely on the "really real"ness of colonial-era Orientalist discourses?
-Point to 2 specific examples


]]> 2021-01-11 22:10:24 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076420926 Prof_Robinson https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076428538 6) How is this related to Muslim Exceptionalism? 
-Point to 2 specific examples]]> 2021-01-11 22:14:23 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076428538 Prof_Robinson https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076430582 Make a tag on each of these points:
1) Provide a brief definition of what that phrase means or indicates.
-Once you have done this, provide 1-2 specific references from the article that supports this definition.

Basically it means that in the Western world we have this view of Islam involving Muslim men repressing Muslim women in many ways, one visible one being the use of the head covering. This leads to the idea of needing to save oppressed Muslim women from Muslim men, which has led to justification for U.S. military involvement.

P. 784 Laura Bush Quote
P. 789 bottom

2) Specify when (historically) that trope became particularly powerful or useful.  
-Point to 1-2 specific pgs/passages that support your answer

It became a justification for colonial takeover from supposedly modernized European powers. This idea grew in influence during the war on terrorism, which made it easy for politicians to frame Muslim men as terrorists and therefore create an urgency to save Muslim women from Muslim men.

P. 784 Quote bottom right
P. 784 US Gov. quote 2002
3) Specify for and among whom (a government, another cultural group, etc.) that phrase became particularly useful.

This belief makes it really easy for politicians and government officials to justify actions and create support for their opposition of certain Muslim groups. It could also be seen as a piece of evidence used by far right groups and Islamophobes in the West.

P. 784 Laura Bush quote
P. 785 
-Point to 1-2 specific pgs/passages that support your answer
4) To what extent did this develop out of or rely on the "really real"ness of colonial-era Orientalist discourses? 
-Point to 2 specific examples



]]> 2021-01-11 22:15:28 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076430582 petereli2 https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076482067 Western view of the internal situation in Islam where white men think that brown women need saving from brown men (Page 784).  Where something specific or situational is placed on the context.  It over simplifies and sees Muslim women only as oppressed if they're veiled.  Page 785 has it that some women view the veil as liberating as it allows them to move outside of the private sphere and into the public world.  Part of it came to be in the colonial era through orientalist depictions, and resurged post 9/11 when the Taliban government  toppled by the US led invasion.  Laura Bush is quoted on page 785 as saying that women rejoiced at throwing off the veil. This phrase became useful for the American government as fighting for the liberation of Afghan women was seen as a justification for the invasion of the state. Liberal humanitarians also utilise this concept. For instance, on page 789, 'I can ask why humanitarian projects and human rights discourse in the 21st century need rely on such constructions of Muslim women'. The image of an veiled woman is read as oppression, and is perhaps useful in obtaining funding for aid causes. In Pashtun society itself, the burqa is seen as a garment worn foremost by upper class women, so it's clear that the symbolism of the burqa in Afghanistan is different from that in the West. Today the Orientalism of this trope can be seen as a sort of exotification of the women who wear a burqa, and the Medecins du monde fundraiser depicted on page 789 shows how the fantasy of unveiling women is still prevalent in the imagination of many. Cultural relativism is another way of exotifying the other, in this case Muslim women, by determining that their culture is too different from Western modes of life to pass judgement on.]]> 2021-01-11 22:46:11 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076482067 janickgd https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076487537 Mamdani writes on p. 767 that "good Muslims" are portrayed as following a moderate, modern Islam that is being hijacked by fundamentalist, politically extreme "bad Muslims" like the perpetrators of 9/11.
-"modern" Muslims

]]> 2021-01-11 22:49:41 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076487537 https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076491310 Good Muslim: p. 767 - someone who follows moderate Islam
Bad Muslim: p. 767 - someone who follows extremist political Islam, and is terrorist. ]]> 2021-01-11 22:52:22 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076491310 vitoriafaustino2001 https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076492942 It became a powerful trope when we clearly were creating the line between "good" and "bad" Muslims, specifically after the Reagan Administration made the appearance a number leaders, and from that started to create that divide between of "them vs us" mentality (pg. 768). And as movements grew from that also attributed to why it became useful. ]]> 2021-01-11 22:53:37 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076492942 najj1 https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076495713 Interacting with fundamentalism  has been a tool of US Foreign policy. Mamdani specifically references the use of inspiring fundamentalism in order to facilitate the establishment of insurrectionist groups against the Soviet Union. Further, he references utilizing the word "crusade" to describe the intention of the inspiration during the time period. In a different way, Mamdani references the 9/11 period being framed as a cultural war against institutionalized fundamentalism. ]]> 2021-01-11 22:55:26 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076495713 janickgd https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076496282 First for the Carter and Reagan administrations after the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Soviet War in Afghanistan. The United States distinguished the Iranians as "bad Muslims," and the Mujahideen as "good Muslims," dividing the Muslim community into pro- and anti-American groups. p. 768 Reagan's invitation of Mujahids to the White House.]]> 2021-01-11 22:55:49 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076496282 Prof_Robinson https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076501931 5) How is this different from colonial-era Orientalist discourses? 
-Point to 2 specific examples]]> 2021-01-11 22:59:56 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076501931 anna993 https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076509100 From colonial oriental discourses Muslims have been categorized as "good" and "bad" Muslims. The "good" Muslims are seen as "real" Muslims by the West as they are the ones who are pro-American and can actually benefit the US in the struggle against the Soviet Union, whereas these "fake" Muslims, or anit-American Muslims have no role in this fight. ]]> 2021-01-11 23:05:12 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1076509100 https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1085265714 2021-01-13 22:52:43 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1085265714 https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1085267165 The modern discourse is similar but different because while the veil is a symbol of oppression, there is a recognition of the brown woman's agency. 
The secularizing tendency also makes it similar to colonial-era discourses. 
It is still an empire-colony relationship. The discourse hasn't changed but the diction has changed. ]]> 2021-01-13 22:53:41 UTC https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1085267165 mdutzik https://padlet.com/Prof_Robinson/dcpnbd1s3aj15p5j/wish/1085268544 It connects to the idea that Muslims are stuck in the past and by unveiling Muslim women and "saving" them, the West is bringing modernity to the Muslim world essentially.

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