Transnational currents of othering and solidarity: navigating Western and Hindu Orientalism in Sacred Footsteps and Main Bhi Muslim

Abstract

This research explicates how two Muslim women—Indian podcaster Mariam Haider, through her podcast Main Bhi Muslim (Me Too Muslim), and UK-based writer Zara Choudhary, through her blog-based website Sacred Footsteps—assert their agency against the rising Islamophobia. Using the critical discourse analysis method, the study evaluates how Sacred Footsteps challenge the Oriental gaze and stereotypical representation of the non-Western world in travel photography, through employing Western Orientalism. It also examines how Main Bhi Muslim resonates with Hindu Orientalism, while reflecting on the everyday Othering experiences of Indian Muslims. The study also analyzes their constructed anti-Orientalist discourses and reimagination of political solidarity. The findings reveal transnational patterns in both Orientalist and anti-Orientalist discourses, as this study navigates the context-specific, intersectional crosspoints of Western and Hindu Orientalism within their digital narratives.

Keywords

Western Orientalism Hindu Orientalism transnational discourses Muslim women Islamophobia Sacred Footsteps Main Bhi Muslim

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