This paper is about a number of problems in the representation of the region of Southwest Asia that is known as the ‘Middle East’. Through an examination of the Gulf War and so-called ‘Islamic terrorism’, the author considers the place of academic and popular geographical discourses. Me looks at how, and for what reasons spatial metaphors are utilized in Western representations of the Middle East, and considers ‘Islamic’ perspectives on the West. The author draws a critical approach to Middle East studies and geopolitics; fashioned by the concepts and vocabularies of ‘postcolonial’ and sometimes ‘postmodern’ frameworks.
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