Deconstructing and unraveling Binary Oppositions: A Post-Structuralism Analysis of the Muslim ‘Other’ in Modern English Poetry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70670/sra.v3i4.1965Keywords:
Muslim Other, Post-Structuralism, Binary Oppositions, Deconstruction, Modern English Poetry, Representation, Discourse.Abstract
This study investigates the construction and deconstruction of the Muslim “Other” in modern English poetry through a post-structuralism framework, focusing on the instability of binary oppositions such as self/other, West/East, civilized/barbaric, and voice/silence. Drawing on the theoretical insights of Jacques Derrida, the paper argues that representations of Muslim identity are not fixed or essential but are discursively produced, contested, and continually reshaped within poetic texts. Through close textual analysis of selected poems by Imtiaz Dharker, Carol Ann Duffy, Moniza Alvi, Sujata Bhatt, Tariq Ali, and Daljit Nagra, the study demonstrates how poetic language simultaneously invokes and destabilizes dominant ideological binaries rooted in Orientalist discourse, as articulated in Orientalism. The analysis reveals that these binaries are internally contradictory and interdependent, collapsing under deconstructive scrutiny and giving rise to ambivalent, hybrid, and fluid representations of identity. The findings suggest that modern English poetry functions not merely as a site of reproducing stereotypes but as a critical space where hegemonic discourses are interrogated and reconfigured. By exposing the discursive mechanisms through which the Muslim “Other” is constructed, the study contributes to ongoing debates in postcolonial and post-structuralism literary criticism. It further highlights the role of poetry in challenging essentialist narratives and fostering more nuanced understandings of cultural and religious difference in contemporary literature.
References
Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. Routledge.
Derrida, J. (1978). Writing and difference (A. Bass, Trans.). University of Chicago Press.
Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. Pantheon Books.
Chambers, C. (2011). British Muslim Fictions: Interviews with Contemporary Writers. Palgrave Macmillan.
Derrida, J. (1976). Of Grammatology (G. C. Spivak, Trans.). Johns Hopkins University Press. (Original work published 1967)
Foucault, M. (1972). The Archaeology of Knowledge (A. M. Sheridan Smith, Trans.). Pantheon Books. (Original work published 1969)
McLeod, J. (2010). Beginning Postcolonialism (2nd ed.). Manchester University Press.
Morey, P., & Yaqin, A. (2011). Framing Muslims: Stereotyping and Representation after 9/11. Harvard University Press.
Barthes, R. (1977). Image, music, text. Fontana Press.
Muzari, T., Shava, G. N., & Shonhiwa, S. (2022). Qualitative research paradigm, a key research design for educational researchers, processes and procedures: A theoretical overview. Indiana Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(1), 14-20.
Denzin, L. and Lincoln, Y.S., “The Discipline and Practice of Qualitative Research” in The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, ed. By, Denzin, L. and Lincoln, Y.S., (California: Sage Publications, 2005, third edition).p3.
