Orientalism and the Globalised Muslim World: Decolonising "Exotic" Narratives of Eurocentrism in the Era of Post-colonial Studies.

This paper explores the origins of Orientalism and how it came into existence in the discourse of post-colonial studies. This paper utilises the work of Edward Said to demonstrate that Orientalism is not solely a field of study about the Eastern world, but rather critiques the biased nature of views towards the globalised Muslim world. This paper will examine some of the major events where Orientalism has shaped the realm of Muslim affairs as well as international history and politics - such as during the Algerian War of Independence, the polemics of Iran's Nuclear Crisis, the global war on 'Islamist' terrorism and the British government's response to the 7/7 London bombings. These case studies are chronologically ordered to demonstrate the pervasiveness of Orientalism across time. Ultimately, this paper argues that Said's critiques on Orientalism produce an important foundation for postcolonial studies namely: 1) to identify the stereotypes used in media, writing and literature; 2) to unravel fictional narratives among Eurocentric scholars; and 3) to debunk myths when researching the 'globalised Muslim world'--as Orientalism is still very much apparent in the contemporary foreign and domestic policy realm, especially policies towards Muslims. Hence, this paper concludes that decolonisation of history is important in post-colonial studies in order to achieve unbiased (new) knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]