Hysterical Postsecularism

This essay surveys the last fifteen years of U.S. television drama series in terms of their engagement with Islam. Gramling proposes the concept of “hysterical postsecularism” to understand a shift, around 2007, in the way U.S. dramas like Homeland and Rubicon invest in the image of the shaken secur...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Cultural critique 2016-04, Vol.93 (1), p.86-112
Main Author: Gramling, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bipolar disorder
Intelligence
Islam
Muslims
Pathology
Semiotic signs
Symptoms
Terrorism
Terrorists
War on Terror
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Summary:This essay surveys the last fifteen years of U.S. television drama series in terms of their engagement with Islam. Gramling proposes the concept of “hysterical postsecularism” to understand a shift, around 2007, in the way U.S. dramas like Homeland and Rubicon invest in the image of the shaken securitarian analyst in the latter period of the War on Terror. Whereas early post-9/11 dramas had been interested in staging dialogues of reconciliation and strife between Muslims and Western secularists, these latter serials forego any particular interest in Islam itself, opting for a pathologizing–therapeutic orientation toward the broken White irreligious self. Drawing on James Wood's work on “hysterical secularism” and Sadia Abbas's analyses of postsecular cultural production, this contributes to the broader discussion on War on Terror fictional representations and their consequences for secular and pious Muslims.
ISSN:0882-4371
1460-2458
1534-5203
1460-2458
DOI:10.1353/cul.2016.a631375