Anti-Islamic discourse in Europe was codified in absence of direct contact

Evidence

Somewhat contrary to what might be presumed, the first anti-Islamic, anti-Muslim discourses therefore emerged from a setting where both the language of Islam and the people of Islam – Muslims – were known. At the outset therefore, Islam and Muslims were far from the distant and unknown ‘Other’ that later historical periods would suggest may have become the norm. It was in europe however where the overriding notion of the threat of Islam was widespread and where these discourses became coupled and embellished by the absence of direct contact. Consequently, europe’s Christian elite began the long history of codifying what might be described as its subjectively informed scholarship about Islam and Muhammad. This period and setting was therefore vitally important in recognising and understanding the meanings and perceptions that have permeated much of the thinking throughout europe, roman Christendom, and beyond, both in terms of the interaction between europe and the Muslim world as well as establishing the concept of Muslims as Other. — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 171

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Said’s Orientalism thesis: knowledge about the East constructed in absence of lived contact, and to the book’s own question of whether Islamophobia requires direct exposure or thrives on its absence. — connects to: Islam served as Europe’s constitutive outsider against which its civilization defined itself; Orientalist discourse was a juncture rather than a continuous line of anti-Islam thought — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 189; Anti-Muslim rhetoric was founded in the Middle Ages and persists into today (+4 more)
• SEED: Angle: the ‘Other is known at home, feared from afar’ paradox — how proximity fosters dialogue while distance fuels demonization, a pattern reusable for any group.

Related

• Islamophobia has been present in Western discourse since the Middle Ages, when negative stereotypes about Muslims helped build support for the Crusades and rationalized European colonial domination. (similarity 0.84)
• European study of Islam originates in fear, not curiosity, and that hostility persists today. (similarity 0.83)
• Islam served as Europe’s constitutive outsider against which its civilization defined itself (similarity 0.83)
• Islamophobia gained massive discursive resonance in Europe within about a decade (similarity 0.81)
• Orientalist discourse was a juncture rather than a continuous line of anti-Islam thought (similarity 0.81)
• The West-Orient binary found its first legitimised modern manifestation in Orientalism (similarity 0.81)
• Direct exposure during the Crusades did not reduce anti-Muslim mythmaking (similarity 0.81)
• Many historians trace the structural distortions of Islam represented by modern Islamophobia to medieval Europe, and aversive portrayals emerged nearly as early as Islam itself. (similarity 0.81)
• Positive depictions of Islam emerged only where real daily contact occurred. (similarity 0.80)
• Islamic Orientalism resisted internal critique while cognate fields engaged it. (similarity 0.80)
• European study of Islam originated in fear, not curiosity. (similarity 0.79)
• Distance from the Islamic border allowed increasingly extravagant anti-Islamic claims to be accepted (similarity 0.79)
• Medieval Christian anti-Muslim discourse preceded Said’s orientalism by centuries (similarity 0.79)
• Europeans before 1099 had almost no direct contact with Muslims (similarity 0.79)
• Direct contact with Muslims shaped imperial perceptions of Islam. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Orientalist discourse was a juncture rather than a continuous line of anti-Islam thought #expands (0.82) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 189
• Anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim attitudes are distinct but overlapping targets of prejudice #expands (0.78)
• Anti-Muslim rhetoric was founded in the Middle Ages and persists into today #qualifies (0.75)