Representation of Refugees after 9/11: A Critique of American Neo-Orientalism in Hanif’s Red Birds

This paper analyzes Red Birds as a representation of refugees in the context of post-9/11. Western discourse after the disaster of September 11, 2001, has created new stereotypes against the refugees. Employing Said’s and Behdad’s theoretical model, it investigates to reach the Neo-orientalist perspective. Said is of the view that western literature in stereotypical representation creates a prejudice against ‘oriental’ other especially the Muslim world. Behdad argues that Neo-Orientalism is a monolithic ideological discourse based on the renewed binaries of orient and occident especially America. Neo-Orientalism has recently emerged as the continuation of classical orientalism operating in the post-9/11 context. Pakistani English fiction counters American Neo-Orientalism. This paper explores the re-presentation of refugees from a Neo-Orientalist perspective coupled with the creation of discursive stereotypes and political ideology as depicted in Hanif’s Red Birds.