Coping neo-orientalist thinking and Islamophobic beliefs : religious identity and cultural conflict within the Plays of Atiha Sen Gupta and Aisha Zia

Abstract EN

This study aims to expose the ways by which Pakistani British playwrights attempt to cope with post 9/11 Neo-orientalist thinking and Islamophobic beliefs through theatre that reflects Muslim stories and encounters with Islamophobes as manifested in two selected plays: Atiha Sen Gupta’s What Fatima Did (2009) and Aisha Zia’s No Guts No Heart, No Glory (2014).

It provides a multicultural reading to examine how the playwrights fight Islamophobia through theatrical stages.

As for the effectiveness of the strategies and solutions by which the above mentioned playwrights attempt to create a counter-Islamophobic discourse, this paper exposes the reception of these plays among western audience in which they become able to unveil their minds and change their perceptions toward Muslim women’s dress and opportunities inside and outside Muslim community