Contesting novels deconstruct the frames, not just the content, of the Islamophobia debate

Evidence

Thus, more important than simply writing “authentically” or being a spokesperson for a misunderstood culture or a misrepresented religion are challenging and at times deconstructing the categories of knowledge and the frames through which the debate is constructed—frames that are governed by prevailing political interests filtered to us as common sense and of which literature is also a part. … Each author, in his or her own way, undertakes what, to call on Dipesh Chakrabarty’s phrase, we might describe as a “provincialization” of Western categories and modes of constructing the “normal” and the “Other.” … The difference is that although literary fiction’s products take their shape and substance partly in response to these forces, as an art form it is uniquely placed to point out those exclusionary discourses that deem one particular version of history—one particular way of life—superior to another. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 518

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what contesting Islamophobia means: deconstructing the frames through which the debate is constructed, and ‘provincializing’ Western categories — the core critical vocabulary the reader seeks.
• XREF: Directly connects to how Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist ‘provincializes’ Changez’s Princeton education and Western destiny-narrative as the reader’s hinge between scholarship and story.
• SEED: The distinction between ‘authentic’ writing and frame-deconstructing writing is a sharp essay angle: why sympathetic liberal fiction can still reinforce Islamophobia by leaving its frames untouched.