CONFRONTING FLAMES OF ISLAMOPHOBIA AND RADICALIZATION: A REFLECTION ON MUSLIM REPRESENTATION IN SHAMSIE’S HOME FIRE

Abstract

The Muslim Diaspora interminably experience political derecognition and social alienation exacerbated by racial discrimination and  Islamophobia historically ingrained in the Western civilization. This paper attempts to demonstrate enormity of the economic and socio-political situations that tend to implicate Muslims into radicalization. In the context of 9/11 and 2007 terror attacks, an in-depth study of Shamsie’s Home Fire (2017) documents the Muslim representation trapped in the  stereotypical framing that aggrandizes worldwide extremism and spark outrage. The framework  employs Membe’s concepualisation of necro politics and Agamben’s concept  of ‘homo sacer’ to critically examine the issues of identity, belonging and discourse of power relations. While Sovereign states previously used power for regulation of human life, modern day wars and political systems are complicit in abusive use of power in  various forms of dehumanization, violence and living death against certain population. Simultaneously, this research dismantles the meta-narratives of Islamophobia and radicalization that malign Muslims as terrorists and fundamentalists round the world through a revealing cross-examination that power stake holders merely feed their political and hegemonic motives. Finally the findings highlight the need for the creation of an alternate discourse that could foster a global tolerance for the Muslims.