Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

“Knowing the Double Agent: Islam, Uncertainty and the Fragility of the Surveillant Gaze in Homeland”

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Surveillance, Race, Culture

Abstract

Homeland’s major events take place in the interstices unavailable to surveillance, and its thematic/generic preoccupations—identity, allegiance, betrayal—are explored through the figure of the elusive, yet intimately present, double agent. Such explorations are often subtly racialized: the double agent is the ultimate unstable and ambiguous figure, and the risk that they represent is amplified through their frequent association with Islam. This chapter critiques Homeland’s controversial and overly determined Orientalist gaze, and its role in the informal dissemination of securitisation ideology, by unpicking the ways in which Islam is shown as suspicious and threatening and by showing how Homeland constitutes Muslims as members of a suspect community, a surveillable population. Homeland performs the ideological function of showing surveillance as a tool that not only can prevent atrocities but also can help to establish a principle of political knowledge and differentiation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 139.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Bibliography

  • 24. (2001–2017) Various Directors. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Al-Arian, Laila. (2012) TV’s Most Islamophobic Show. Salon [online]. Available at: http://www.salon.com/2012/12/15/tvs_most_islamophobic_show [Accessed 28/05/2017].

  • Amin, Heba. (2015) Homeland Is Not a Series. Heba Amin Website [online]. Available at: http://www.hebaamin.com/works/the-arabian-street-artists/ [Accessed 28/05/2017].

  • Andrejevic, Mark. (2011) ‘Securitainment’ in the Post-9/11 Era. Continuum 25: 2, pp. 165–175. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2011.553938.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aslan, Reza. (2011 [2005]) No God but God: The Origins, Evolution and Future of Islam. Revised Edition. London: Arrow Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Behnke, Andreas. (2014) Dressed to Kill: The Sartorial Code of Anders Behring Breivik. In: Sue Malvern and Gabriel Koureas (eds.), Terrorist Transgressions: Gender and the Visual Culture of the Terrorist, pp. 137–156. London: IB Tauris.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breen-Smyth, Marie. (2014) Theorising the “Suspect Community”: Counterterrorism, Security Practices and the Public Imagination. Critical Studies on Terrorism 7: 2, pp. 223–240. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2013.867714.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burman, Jenny. (2010) Suspects in the City. Cultural Studies 24: 2, pp. 200–213. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09502380903541647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castonguay, James. (2004) Conglomeration, New Media, and the Cultural Production of the “War on Terror”. Cinema Journal 43: 4, pp. 102–108.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Castonguay, James. (2015) Fictions of Terror: Complexity, Complicity and Insecurity in Homeland. Cinema Journal 54: 4, pp. 139–145.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cockburn, Patrick. (2014) The Rise of Islamic State: ISIS and the New Sunni Revolution. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dabashi, Hamid. (2015) Can Non-Europeans Think? London: Zed Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Da Silva, Raquel, and Rhys Crilley. (2017) “Talk About Terror in Our Back Gardens”: An Analysis of Online Comments About British Foreign Fighters in Syria. Critical Studies on Terrorism 10: 1, pp. 162–186. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17539153.2016.1237011.

  • Delmont, Matt. (2013) Introduction: Visual Culture and the War on Terror. American Quarterly 65: 1, pp. 157–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Durkay, Laura. (2014) Homeland Is the Most Bigoted Show on Television. The Washington Post [online]. Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/10/02/homeland-is-the-most-bigoted-show-on-television/ [Accessed 28/05/2017].

  • Edgerton, Gary R., and Katherine C. Edgerton. (2012) Pathologising Post-9/11 America in Homeland: Private Paranoia, Public Psychosis. Critical Studies in Television, 7: 1, pp. 89–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, Brian T. (2016) After the American Century: The Ends of US Culture in the Middle East. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, Brian T. (2017) Moving Target: Is Homeland Still Racist? Los Angeles Review of Books [online]. Available at: https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/moving-target-is-homeland-still-racist/ [Accessed 28/05/2017].

  • Esposito, John L. (1992) The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality? Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, Michel. (2010) Lecture of 24 January 1979. In: Foucault, M., and Senellart, M. (eds.), Burchell, G. (trans.), The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collège de France 1978–1979. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 27–50.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gregory, Derek. (2004) The Colonial Present: Afghanistan, Palestine, Iraq. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayman, Andy, and Margaret Gilmore. (2009) The Terrorist Hunters: The Ultimate Inside Story of Britain’s Fight Against Terrorism. London: Bantam Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2011) Season One Episode Two: Grace. Directed by Michael Cuesta. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2011) Season One Episode Five: Blind Spot. Directed by Clark Johnson. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2011) Season One Episode Six: The Good Soldier. Directed by Brad Turner. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2011) Season One Episode Seven: The Weekend. Directed by Michael Cuesta. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2011) Season One Episode Nine: Crossfire. Directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2011) Season One Episode Twelve: Marine One. Directed by Michael Cuesta. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2012) Season Two Episode One: The Smile. Directed by Michael Cuesta. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2012) Season Two Episode Six: A Gettysburg Address. Directed by Guy Ferland. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2012) Season Two Episode Seven: The Clearing. Directed by John Dahl. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2012) Season Two Episode Nine: Two Hats. Directed by Dan Attias. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2012) Season Two Episode Twelve: The Choice. Directed by Michael Cuesta. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2013) Season Three Episode Two: Uh… Oh… Ah… Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2013) Season Three Episode Eight: A Red Wheelbarrow. Directed by Seith Mann. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2014) Season Four Episode One: The Drone Queen. Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2014) Season Four Episode Six: From A to B and Back Again. Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2014) Season Four Episode Nine: There’s Something Else Going On. Directed by Seith Mann. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2015) Season Five Episode One: Separation Anxiety. Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2015) Season Five Episode Two: The Tradition of Hospitality. Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2015) Season Five Episode Six: Parabiosis. Directed by Alex Graves. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2015) Season Five Episode Eight: All About Allison. Directed by Dan Attias. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Homeland. (2015) Season Five Episode Twelve: A False Glimmer. Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karim, Mariam. (2014) Framing Muslim Women: The Problem with Homeland’s Season Four Campaign. The Postcolonialist [online]. Available at: http://postcolonialist.com/arts/framing-muslim-women-problem-homelands-season-4-campaign/ [Accessed 28/05/2017].

  • Kundnani, Arun. (2014) The Muslims Are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror. London and New York: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lean, Nathan. (2012) The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims. New York: Pluto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Massad, Joseph. (2012) Homeland, Obama’s Show. Al-Jazeera [online]. Available at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/10/2012102591525809725.html [Accessed 28/05/2017].

  • Morey, Peter. (2010) Terrorvision: Race, Nation and Muslimness in Fox’s 24. Interventions 12: 2, pp. 251–264. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2010.489699.

  • Morey, Peter, and Yaqin, Amina. (2011) Framing Muslims: Stereotyping and Representation After 9/11. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, Emily. (2011) Homeland: The Antidote for 24. The New Yorker [online]. Available at: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/homeland-the-antidote-for-24 [Accessed 28/05/2017].

  • Patel, Tina G. (2012) Surveillance, Suspicion and Stigma: Brown Bodies in a Terror-Panic Climate. Surveillance & Society 10: 3/4, pp. 215–234.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Prisoners of War. (2010) Season One Episode Two: The Facility, Part One. Directed by Gideon Raff. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prisoners of War. (2010) Season One Episode Three: The Facility, Part Two. Directed by Gideon Raff. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prisoners of War. (2010) Season One Episode Five: Who Let the Dogs Out? Directed by Gideon Raff. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prisoners of War. (2010) Season One Episode Ten: The Tape. Directed by Gideon Raff. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Said, Edward W. (1997) Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. Revised Edition. London: Vintage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, Carl. (2004 [1963]) The Theory of the Partisan: A Commentary/Remark on the Concept of the Political. Trans. A. C. Goodson. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sleeper Cell. (2005–2006) Various Directors. DVD.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steenberg, Lindsay, and Yvonne Tasker. (2015) “Pledge Allegiance”: Gendered Surveillance, Crime Television, and Homeland. Cinema Journal 54: 4, pp. 132–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Veeren, Elspeth. (2009) Interrogating 24: Making Sense of US Counterterrorism in the Global War on Terrorism. New Political Science 31: 3, pp. 361–384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07393140903105991.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watts, Michael. (2007) Revolutionary Islam. In: Gregory, D. and Pred, A. (eds.), Violent Geographies: Fear, Terror and Political Violence. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 175–203.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watt, D. Cameron. (1991) Critical Afterthoughts and Alternative Historico-Literary Theories. In: Wesley K. Wark (ed.), Spy Fiction, Spy Films and Real Intelligence, pp. 212–225. London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wünsch, Michaela. (2014–2015) Temporalities of Trauma in Hatufim and Homeland. Intervalla: Platform for Intellectual Exchange 2, pp. 108–122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zanger, Anat. (2015) Between Homeland and Prisoners of War: Remaking Terror. Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies 29: 5, pp. 731–742. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2015.1068733.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Scholar, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Alex Adams

Authors
  1. Alex Adams
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of the Arts London, London, United Kingdom

    Susan Flynn

  2. Oxford Brookes University , Oxford, United Kingdom

    Antonia Mackay

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Adams, A. (2018). “Knowing the Double Agent: Islam, Uncertainty and the Fragility of the Surveillant Gaze in Homeland”. In: Flynn, S., Mackay, A. (eds) Surveillance, Race, Culture . Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77938-6_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation