US universities produced Middle East knowledge specifically to serve imperial needs.
Evidence
The government and private foundations began to sponsor and fund “area studies” programs and departments that focused on the study of not only the Near East but also more broadly Asia, Africa, and Latin America. It was in this context that US universities turned toward the production of knowledge instrumental to serving the needs of empire. Two approaches guided the study of the Middle East: Orientalism, which was still dominated by philologists, and social scientific research, from which a new model known as “modernization” would be developed. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 139
Categorization
- XREF: The production of knowledge for empire connects directly to Grosfoguel’s and Said’s arguments that area studies were Cold War instruments, and to Rana’s work on the racialized post-9/11 state. — connects to: US Middle East alliances have repeatedly thwarted democracy — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 297; The Middle East itself is a product of Orientalist construction. — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 161; U.S. leaders have increasingly embraced imperial ambitions in an era of unprecedented military strength (+5 more)
Broader Connections
- US foreign policy has never genuinely pursued Middle East democracy
#corroborates(0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 206 - Iraq and Afghanistan wars aimed at Middle East oil dominance over rivals
#corroborates(0.70) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 417 - U.S. leaders have increasingly embraced imperial ambitions in an era of unprecedented military strength
#corroborates(0.60)