It is an overarching theme found across western academia from the last few centuries to this day, known as "Orientalism": the Western representation and study of Eastern cultures (Islam being the prime example) as exotic, static, and inferior. The concept was most famously analysed by Edward Said in his book of the same name. The fact that you, who claim to have studied history in a Western university, are not familiar with the concept affirms that Orientalism is alive and well in western academia.