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Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim Racism: Expanding the Debate and the Scope of Action
Language: English and French
Muslims have increasingly been the target of state-sanctioned discrimination, exclusionary or punitive measures, increased surveillance, negative media representations and hostile political discourses, along with a surge in hate crimes. Whether it is called Islamophobia, anti-Muslim racism or bigotry, it is a multifaceted and complex phenomenon, which is both context specific and transnational. This session welcomes case studies as well as epistemological and theoretical discussions that focus on one or more of the following themes or expand inquiries in these directions:
- Islamophobia, anti-Muslim racism, bigotry: definitional debates and their impacts on societal responses to the problem;
- Linkages with the ‘Global War on Terror’, counter-radicalisation policies (e.g. CVE programs, over-policing), and radicalisation as a new research industry;
- The normalizing of state-sanctioned discrimination targeting Muslims (e.g. enshrining workplace discrimination of hijabi women, various practices institutionalizing Islamophobia);
- The rise of anti-Muslim movements;
- Community organizing and initiatives among Muslims and allies against Islamophobia or anti-Muslim racism, including political activism, activism through art, etc.;
- Islamophobia and social media: how social media is used for both spreading and resisting Islamophobia;
- Expanding examinations of Islamophobia in ways that unpack its gendered and sexual dimensions, as well as the intersections of Islamophobia and anti-Black racism;
- Expanding examinations of Islamophobia outside the Global North;
- Alliances and coalitions between anti-Islamophobia movements and other antiracist movements, or other forms of anti-oppression movements,
- Etc.