Renunciation and Reinforcement: The Politics of Representation in Hirsi Ali’s Infidel

Abstract

This study seeks to examine renunciation of faith vis-a-vis reinforcement of Western secular ideals in Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s Infidel, placing it in the broader discursive field of Muslim life writing in the post-9/11 era. Employing the theoretical lens of Re-Orientalism together with an integrated analytical framework comprising McKerrow’s Critical Rhetoric and Fairclough’s Three-Dimensional Model of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), this study analyzes how Hirsi Ali’s memoir, besides its functioning as a narrative of personal liberation, serves as a discursive intervention in global socio-cultural debates on religion, gender and identity in the post-9/11 climate. While Hirsi Ali triumphs over patriarchal and religious restraints and reclaims agency as well as recognition, her narrative simultaneously proves a provocative polemical project. Through its stereotypical depiction of Islam and Muslims, the text becomes instrumental in reinforcing Western hegemonic discourses that portray Islam as inherently violent and oppressive. The study further highlights a paradox in the Muslim life writing, particularly female narratives, where authors, in the process of challenging religious orthodoxy, are prone to reinforce secularist Orientalist frameworks, thereby complicating the politics of representation in contemporary discourse.