Homeland and Orientalism: An Examination of Arab Muslim Identity and US Nationalism

Abstract

Homeland is a popular show with American audiences. However, it has also garnered harsh criticism for its representations of Arab Muslim communities. Critics argue that these representations present Arab Mus- lims as violent, one dimensional, and primitive, all of which are tropes present in Orientalism as defined by Said in his revolutionary 1978 book. Orientalism frames the Middle East as a negative inversion of the West, creating a setup in which the East is portrayed as primitive and inferior in comparison to the mod- ern and superior West. This paper examines the presence of Orientalism in the show’s representations of both Arab Muslim identity and of US nationalism. This study links concepts of Orientalism to the produc- tion of narratives surrounding Arab Muslim identity and US nationalism. My research question therefore is as follows: how does Homeland represent Arab Muslim identity and US nationalism in the context of Orientalism as defined by Said? That is to say, how does Homeland frame and link Arab Muslim identity and American nationalism as inherently antithetical to one another? My examination concludes that despite the appearance of complex narratives in Homeland, the writing falls victim to the same outdated stereotypes of Arab Muslim identity and US nationalism that are rooted in Orientalism.