Re-Imagining the Other Culture, Media, and Western-Muslim Intersections

The twenty-first century exploded into the global imagination with unforgettable scenes of death and destruction. An apocalyptic 'clash of civilizations' seemed to be waged between two old foes - 'the West' and 'Islam.' However, the decade-long and ruinous 'war on terror' has prompted re-assessments of the militaristic approach to Western-Muslim relations. A growing number of academics, policymakers, religious leaders, journalists, and activists view the struggles as resulting from a 'clash of ignorance.' Re-imagining the Other examines the ways in which knowledge is manipulated by dominant Western and Muslim discourses. Authors from several disciplines study how the two societies have constructed images of each other in historical and contemporary times. The complexities and subtleties of their mutually productive relationship are overshadowed by portrayals of unremitting clash, thus serving as encouragement for the promotion of war and terrorism. The book proposes specific approaches to re-imagine the Other in order to mitigate Western-Muslim conflict.

Mahmoud Eid is Associate Professor at the Department of Communication, University of Ottawa, Canada. He has published several books about communication, media ethics, terrorism, political decision-making, race and representations, and research methods.

Karim H. Karim is Director of the Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam and Professor at the School of Journalism and Communication, Carleton University, Canada. He is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning author who has written extensively about media depictions, diasporic communication, and Muslims in Western societies.

Preface; Mahmoud Eid and Karim H. Karimix
Introduction: Imagining the Other; Karim H. Karim and Mahmoud Eid
1. Religion and Civilization; Jack Goody
2. On the Eve of the Napoleonic Invasion: Arab Perceptions of the World; Nabil Matar
3. Through Tinted Lenses: Iranian and Western Perceptions and Reconstructions of the Other; Mohammad R. Ghanoonparvar
4. The Clash of Civilizations 2.0: Race and Eurocentrism, Imperialism, and Anti-Imperialism; John M. Hobson
5. Perceptions about Muslims in Western Societies; Mahmoud Eid
6. A Clash of Discourses: Femicides or Honor Killings? Yasmin Jiwani
7. Islamic, Islamist, Moderate, Extremist: Imagining the Muslim Self and the Muslim Other; Karim H. Karim
8, Religious Conflict, Empire-Building, and the Imagined Other; Richard Rubenstein
9. Translating Otherness; Salah Basalamah
Conclusion: Re-Imagining the Other; Karim H. Karim and Mahmoud Eid