Medical Orientalism and the War on Terror: Depictions of Arabs and Muslims in the Psychodynamic Literature post-9/11

This paper surveys the psychodynamic literature on suicide bombers to demonstrate a publication bias against Arabs and Muslims. First, Edward Said's concept of orientalism is situated within medicine as a hermeneutic for cultural critique. Next, select texts are analyzed to show how discussions of suicide bombers often include questionable sociological assumptions about Arabs and Muslims. Finally, conclusions and solutions are offered regarding the values of current psychiatric knowledge. By interrogating psychodynamic writings for their truth claims, we can investigate how scientific literature aspires toward an objective universalism while embedded within a particular social, political moment.