Western critics cannot transcend the Islamophobic frame from outside

Evidence

The critic is always immanent and implicated in the conditions he or she seeks to explore, never transcendent. It is impossible to stand outside that nexus of framing perspectives that, I have suggested, often result in latent Islamophobia. As a critic trained in hermeneutical practices that are historically and culturally specific, I would be disingenuous to claim any better knowledge or more objective perspective. Nonetheless, it is possible to advocate—and try to practice—a certain critical self-consciousness in our engagement with non-Western literatures. — Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, 60

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘always immanent, never transcendent’ critic is classic Frankfurt School critical-theory positioning — connects directly to the Horkheimer/Adorno reading of the observer as embedded in what they analyze.