Islamophobia Studies Center
Reports
The Islamophobia Studies Center focuses on a systematic and empirical approach to the study of Islamophobia and its impact on the American Muslim and Global communities. The Center leads research and projects that explore the maintenance and extension of existing power paradigms by bringing together academics, thinkers, practitioners, and researchers from around the globe who engage, question, and challenge the existing disparities in economic, political, social, and cultural relations. The complied reports below are a product of this mission.
The Canadian Islamophobia Industry: Mapping Islamophobia’s Ecosystem in the Great White North
Jasmin Zine
Since the 9/11 attacks, Muslims have been more openly vilified and targeted. Statistics Canada data on police-reported hate crimes between 2009 and 2019 revealed a steady increase of anti-Muslim incidents across the country.
White nationalist terror in Canada has specifically targeted Canadian Muslims. There have been unprecedented attacks against Muslims first at a mosque in Québec City on January 29, 2017, killing six men after evening prayers and then four years later, on June 6, 2021, in London, Ontario, where four members of a Muslim family were intentionally mowed down by a truck and killed.
Within this context, understanding how Islamophobia manifests and is purveyed is more important than ever. In addition to the impact that state policies and systemic anti-Muslim racism have on perpetuating a climate of Islamophobic animus, Islamophobic networks operate in orchestrated ways to support and sustain an industry of hate.
The “Islamophobia industry” is comprised of media outlets; political figures; far-right, White nationalist groups; Islamophobia influencers and ideologues, pro-Israel, fringe-right groups; Muslim dissidents, think tanks, security experts, and the donors who fund their campaigns. These individuals, groups, and institutions comprise a network that supports and engages in activities that demonize and marginalize Islam and Muslims in Canada.
The objectives of this study were to (a) map the political, ideological, institutional, and economic networks that foment Islamophobic fear and moral panic in Canada; (b) examine strategies employed by Islamophobia agents and highlight the ties among players within the Islamophobia industry; (c) create profiles of key public figures, media outlets, and organizations who produce and distribute Islamophobic ideologies and propaganda, and (d) identify the dominant Islamophobic discourses that circulate through these networks.
A social network analysis was performed to examine relevant media articles, websites, public commentary, and videos from Islamophobia influencers and ideologues, organizations, media outlets, and other anti-Muslim special-interest groups that promote Islamophobic campaigns.
Moulay Ismail and the Mumbo Jumbo: Black Morocco Revisited
Fall 2022
There is much to say about Chouki El Hamel’s Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race and Islam (2015), but I will focus the discussion below on six points: 1/the “ancient hatreds” argument he constructs to explain racism and slavery in Morocco, in particular the culturalist thrust running through the book, whereby complex economic and political processes are reduced to racist or theological beliefs; 2/El Hamel’s claim that much writing about slavery in North Africa claims the institution was benign 3/how he categorises Moroccans into three bounded categories – Black, Arab and Berber 4/his claim that the Gnawa Sufi order is a “diaspora” and a “distinct ethnic group” that longs for an imaginary homeland 5/ his questionable use of national archives, and selective rendering of classic writing on slavery and jinn belief in Morocco and 6/ his reluctance to address how colonial (and post-colonial) state policy affected ethno-racial politics in Morocco.
Islamophobia in Russia: From Medieval Tsardom to the Post-Soviet Man
Spring 2022
Both the medieval and modern Russian experience with the Muslim world has been systemically marked by Islamophobia. Yet, few scholars have written about the longue durée expression of Russian Islamophobia (Bennigsen 1983, Tlostanova 2010). In this article, I chart a genealogy of Russian Islamophobia from medieval Tsardom to modern Soviet and Post-Soviet Russia. Russia has been long marginalized in global analyses of Islamophobia, and is often not included in analyses of Western Islamophobia. Russia has long been considered a partner in Western civilization. As a predominantly white and Christian-led historical territory situated on the Eurasian continent, Russia has for centuries been viewed and viewed itself as a type of eastern Spain and the heir to Christian Orthodox Byzantium.
Islamophobia, Muslim Safety, and Violence Survey
Fall 2021
The Islamophobia, Muslim Safety and Violence survey was designed on June 9 and administered from June 10 through midnight on June 13, 2021. Survey data was collected from 1614 individuals in North America (the US and Canada), representing a sizable sample from Muslim communities. Over the three days, the survey was shared online on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Also, the survey was sent to all national Muslim organizations, Shura councils, and numerous WhatsApp groups connected to diverse communities. Lastly, the Islamophobia Studies Center’s email list was utilized to share the survey, urge everyone to share, and get as many people as possible to respond within the limited time frame.
Israel, India and the Islamophobic Alliance
Spring 2021
The Islamophobia Studies Center’s Israel, India, and the Islamophobic Alliance report comes on the heel of two other publications that examined the rise of Hindu nationalism in India and the ongoing targeting of Muslim, Sikh, Dalit, and Christian minorities in the country. The Center’s research on Islamophobia covers a wide array of regions and topics, which is the logical approach considering the global nature of the islamophobia phenomena and the distinct features across different geographies, cultures, and nation-states. Here, Daniel Pipes’ islamophobia hornet’s nest, the Middle East Forum, is directly connected to a distinctive development, a partnership between Hindu nationalism and Israel. Importantly, U.S.-based Hindu nationalist organizations and their lobbying arms have struck a strategic relationship with Islamophobic outfits and Zionist groups, which is increasingly visible in their public discourse. This report is intended to partly examine the recent developments and sheds some light on this relationship.
Understanding Christian Zionism
Fall 2020
The report on Christian Zionism is essential and timely research to unpack one key driver, among others, that contribute a distinctive form of Islamophobia that is connected to theology and religious discourses centering on Palestine. Moreover, the current strong relationship between several evangelical groups and Zionist organizations has made it possible to unleash political pressure in the US that shields Israel from accountability for its continued violations of international law. The report is intended to generate the needed conversations on how Christian evangelical groups and others play a role in preventing the actualization of peace, justice, and dignity for the Palestinians. Not to imply that this is an exclusively Christian problem; on the contrary, the Center’s future research intends to focus on the emergence of Muslim or Islamic Zionism, which articulates relations with Israel based on a distorted religious discourse that rationalizes normalizations of relations at the expense of Palestinian rights. Lastly, the report’s discussion on Christian Zionism should not distract the reader from the positive work, advocacy, and engagement with Palestinians by many churches and religious institutions in the US.
COVID-19 and India's Islamophobia
SPRING 2020
The report on Christian Zionism is essential and timely research to unpack one key driver, among others, that contribute a distinctive form of Islamophobia that is connected to theology and religious discourses centering on Palestine. Moreover, the current strong relationship between several evangelical groups and Zionist organizations has made it possible to unleash political pressure in the US that shields Israel from accountability for its continued violations of international law. The report is intended to generate the needed conversations on how Christian evangelical groups and others play a role in preventing the actualization of peace, justice, and dignity for the Palestinians. Not to imply that this is an exclusively Christian problem; on the contrary, the Center’s future research intends to focus on the emergence of Muslim or Islamic Zionism, which articulates relations with Israel based on a distorted religious discourse that rationalizes normalizations of relations at the expense of Palestinian rights. Lastly, the report’s discussion on Christian Zionism should not distract the reader from the positive work, advocacy, and engagement with Palestinians by many churches and religious institutions in the US.
Challenging Islamophobia in Public Schools
Fall 2019
Education and particularly access to education is the most crucial ingredient for the success of contemporary society and more so in an advanced and highly industrialized one like the United States. Access to education in the United States was never equal, and a privilege guaranteed to some at the expense of everyone in society. Education is multifaceted and can provide a window into societal values and future horizons. The purpose of education, structure, curriculum design, teaching and administrative staff, resource allocation, reading materials, and diversity of the teachers and student population all contribute to shaping inclusion and belonging in the society.
Islamophobia in India
Spring 2019
Discussions in research and publications on India, on the one hand, have focused on the rapid economic growth, emerging and vibrant technology sector, and the increasing level of affluence present in pockets across the country. On the other hand, an emerging group of scholars has examined the negative impacts of such economic success with a focus on the intensification of poverty, rural to urban migration, and the collapse of existing family and cultural norms. In both of these areas of research, very little is known about the rising tide of religious ultra-nationalism that utilizes violence and structural othering as a tool of gaining and expanding power.