What is Islamophobia? The Politics of Anti-Muslim Racism
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
Introduction
With rising anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States and Europe, there is an ongoing discussion about how to define it. Since Islam is not a race, some argue that it can’t be called “racism.” Others argue that the victims of “Islamophobia” also include people of color who may be perceived as Muslim, and so it fits into the category of racism. Still others say that, due to freedom of speech and expression, criticizing a religion should not be considered discriminatory. As these discussions are happening, the number of hate crimes against Muslims are growing, anti-Muslim legislation is being passed, and media narratives about Muslims persist on age-old tropes about Islam. All of these have been labeled in common discourse as Islamophobia.
The purpose of this paper is to serve as an introduction to defining this term, through the different theoretical lenses that have been proposed by scholars in the field. These lenses help us to make sense of the various manifestations of Islamophobia—both structural and interpersonal—that have become normalized in everyday life and discourse and to connect these manifestations to their historical roots. This paper looks at three lenses through which we can understand what Islamophobia is and how it functions in society: Culture Talk, the subjectification of Muslims, and race. These three lenses are not mutually exclusive; instead, they exist at the same time and work in tandem.
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