These contiguous regions, also home to sizable non-Muslim and indigenous non-Arab populations, were consolidated into one region called the "Middle East," itself a product of Orientalist perspective, creation, and geographic ambiguity.

DEFINE: Defines the term 'Middle East' as an Orientalist product rather than a natural geographic designation.

Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Unde…, loc. 161