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One of the central underpinnings of Islamophobia is the theoretical construction of Muslim women as "Other". Going hand in hand with colonization, the overall Orientalist imaginary has depicted Muslims as misogynistic, homophobic, and gynophobic in contrast to the normal and enlightened Western European subject. Liberation psychology, as a field of decolonial work, emphasizes several main tasks one of which is the recovery of historical memory in relation to how humans see each other and the world. This paper builds on the work of recovering historical memory to emphasize the Indo-European origins of misogyny and patriarchy and the subsequent cover-up of this history as a part of the legacy of colonialism and current narratives of Islamophobia. The paper concludes that the work of psychology should include decoding reality to uncover the true nature of the origins of patriarchy, thus building new, revitalized understandings of human society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the planning process behind the construction of a mosque building in the English city of York, to demonstrate how it is entangled with contested ideas of national identity. We argue that the politics of religious architecture, particularly mosque planning and architecture, serve as a litmus test for the ways multiculturalism is experienced in contemporary Britain. We explore objections during the planning process for this mosque alongside letters to a local newspaper, where objections included the effect of the mosque on urban infrastructure, the symbolic identity of the mosque within the wider city, and how the mosque would affect claims to citizenship more widely. Objections to this mosque application indicate that architecture and the urban environment are core elements of national identity, and it is through the planning process (of religious buildings) that claims about 'who is a citizen' are articulated. Democratic planning processes around the construction of individual buildings can allow groups to organise resistance to much wider cultures of multiculturalism and act as platforms for Islamophobic sentiments. We argue that planning processes work as discursive registers through which architectural aesthetics, cultural identities and fears of otherness are wrapped into the wider politics of public space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the representation of Indian Muslims in national news coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. By deploying Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the paper examines how hegemonic news discourses in four Indian daily newspapers published in English and Hindi constructed the image of a Muslim "other" across various discursive moments in relation to the news coverage of a Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) congregation and its link to the spread of COVID-19 in India. Describing the congregation's Muslim participants as anti-nationals, insensitive to the suffering of their compatriots, disrespectful of the law of the land, super-spreaders of the virus and jihadis, the image of the Muslim "other" was constructed and conveyed to the public by using such appellations. These conformed to many beliefs of Hindutva, the right-wing Hindu ideology, that seeks to infuse in public discourse feelings of the "other" – an other which needs to be criminalized and ostracized. The mediated reality produced is embedded in the power structure and is an ideologically driven exercise. The way hegemonic power operates is clearly reflected in the discourses about Muslims that circulated in the media during the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to offer an opportunity to consider intersectionality in the context of digital media. On the basis of empirical research, this paper analyzes the way in which gender, sexuality, color, and religion intersect in online spaces to produce new norms and forms of discrimination, as well as space for agency and for the articulation of different voices. In particular, in adopting an intersectional feminist perspective, this paper explores how Muslim girls produce counter-narratives and new spaces for subjectivation at the intersection of gender, religion, and racialization by actively appropriating digital media. Specifically, the paper analyzes French Muslim girls' relationships with digital media in relation to political life, in the context of growing Islamophobia and the instrumentalization of women's bodies by populist discourses on religion. On the basis of online and offline observations and explorative interviews carried out in Paris, this paper shows that the girls developed a number of individual and collective strategies involving both online and offline spaces to cope with racist and anti-Islamic rhetoric and practices in a context which they perceived to be characterized by contemporary processes of racialization and everyday discrimination against Muslim people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the novel “Forty Rules of Love” by Elif Shafak, which evokes the historical personality of the great scholar Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, dubbed by the West “the Shakespeare of the Islamic world”. He was known for his moderation and tolerance, for his call to coexistence and fraternity between the members of different religions, and his condemnation of violence and extremism of all kinds. So, the novel strives to change the misconceptions of the West regarding the Asian countries of the East and to challenge the negative attitude towards Islam, known nowadays as Islamophobia. The paper aims to address the evil of fanaticism and violence and introduce the Western reader to the sublime spiritual aesthetics of the East, which starkly contrast to the savage image of Islam as presented by the media. By studying the novel, which has been translated into more than fifty languages, the paper also seeks to emphasise the role of literature, in general, in spreading cultural awareness among fellow human beings so that people can live in peace and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the significant effects of the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York was the politics of the US-led war on terror encompassing secularism and calls for Islamic reformation. The political discourse of war on terror was not limited to the Americas but was witnessed in other Western nations, such as Australia. The discourse of "Islam needs reforming" by the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, in response to the Lindt Café siege (labelled as "Islamic terrorism") tacitly associates Islam with terrorism and represents Muslims negatively to the wider Australian society. This paper with the research question of "How does 'Islam needs reforming' discourse perpetuate Islamophobia?" carried out critical discourse analysis on the selected speeches of Tony Abbott in response to the Lindt Café siege in 2014 to find out the context and implications of Abbott's discourse in relation to calls for Islamic revolution. The study found that Abbott through the example of al-Sisi's (Egypt's president) calls for Islamic reformation forwarded his stance of the need for change in Islam to counter terrorism. Therefore, the present paper argues that the calls for Islamic reformation in response to terrorism can associate Islam with terrorism, thus, perpetuating Islamophobia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how immigrants are understood by Swedish alternative media and the role that Islamophobia plays, if at all, in these representations. What is remarkable is that although all articles were sampled explicitly to discuss Ukraine, the analysis showed that Muslim immigrants figured with unexpected frequency throughout. The value of these two immigrant groups were antagonistically contrasted through arguments of alleged differences in culture and geographical origin, perceived legitimacy as asylum seekers, and in terms gratitude and supposed level of threat to Swedish society. With this, the unity that is formed around Islamophobia trumps any nationalist views of the Swedish nation state as particularly superior or white and the social and economic consequences which are usually believed to be at risk due to immigration. By extension, the war in Ukraine is articulated as a matter of whiteness and works to exploit war for strengthening the transnational far right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the application of a micro-analytic approach to critically explore how a Muslim women's Sister's Circle (SC), based at a British university, interactionally resists discourses of Islamophobia and othering through humour. I reflect on how I navigated methodological tensions during my PhD, specifically around context in Conversation Analysis (CA; Schegloff, 1997), and explore the benefits of synthesising CA with other critical approaches. Through applying an EM/CA informed discourse analytic approach, this paper showcases how the SC employs humour as a tool for subversion to discursively 'undo' othering and reject victimhood. Humour serves as a tool to reverse a social order that otherwise positions Muslims as 'other'. In summation, this paper argues that applying a synthesised micro-analytic approach enriches the analysis and discussion of implications, demonstrating the benefits of applying such an approach to the study of how (racially) minoritized communities (re)produce and respond to their respective realities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing global prominence of right-wing extremism and terrorism has been noted by scholars and government agencies alike. While right-wing terrorism has been documented throughout postwar history, groups have evolved, resulting in diverse materializations of violence perpetrated on behalf of varying ideologies and perceived threats. This paper draws upon Campion's research into Australian right-wing extremism and terrorism, where three ideological threat narratives were identified. The aim of this research was to determine the applicability of Rapoport's "wave" theory to the international evolution of extreme right-wing activity. In doing so, Campion's framework is utilized and a case study analysis undertaken, investigating anti-communist, anti-immigration and anti-Islamic rhetoric on a transnational and transhistorical basis. It is argued that waves are found internationally, and that Rapoport's model is therefore applicable to the right-wing milieu. The paper concludes that the extreme right is on the cusp of the next wave and discusses trends that may inform those in a position to counteract the forthcoming wave of activity. There remains a need for law enforcement and security agencies to monitor right-wing extremism and terrorism activity to remain attuned to the ever-evolving threat as the next wave manifests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the growing popularity of Hindu nationalism in India, the purpose here is to ask if Hinduism and Hindutva can be considered as separate entities. In recent times especially under the BJP-led government, India, is witnessing the rise of a regime that negates and deliberately silences all non-majoritarian and dissenting voices. Its sole agenda is to drive Hindutva politics home and for doing so it aims at turning India into a Hindu state built around upper caste Brahmanical patriarchal ideology. Hindutva politics dismisses plurality inherent in orthopraxy and imposes a singular explanation of Hindu philosophy based on caste oppression and communalism. This paper argues that under the current regime, India is witnessing cultural homogenization and Saffronization of civil society with the final goal of normalization of Islamophobia. The paper ends with the observation that such systematic hate mongering is largely possible through media propaganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muslims living in the West have been facing an increasing level of public scrutiny as political instability and conflicts continue to fester in many regions in the world especially involving Muslim-majority societies. The intense public gaze is even more critical and problematic for those Muslim individuals whose religiosity is more visible in the public space. Within this context, Islamophobia discourses ensure that Muslims in the West continue to be hyper-visible and seen as problematic. The perceived hyper-visibility of Muslim individuals and organisations in public space is reflective of a widespread notion that Muslims overall exhibit an excess of visible religiosity which can be both an affront to national identity and potentially a threat to social cohesion. This paper examines the politics of Muslims' visibility from the perspective of Muslim Community Organisations (MCOs) with a particular focus on examining MCOs' strategies and actions vis-à-vis the negative hyper-visibility of Muslimness. This paper's findings suggest that MCOs utilise Muslims' hyper-visibility as a mechanism to extend their access to public sites of visibility, deploying strategic interventions to contextualise their position within visibility sites defined by notions of Australianness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamophobia, as a form of cultural racism, can take different forms in different contexts. Previous research suggested that there is a perception among some Muslims that anti-Muslim racism is higher in areas where there is a high density of Muslim residents such as Glasgow. In contrast, some others suggest that ethnic minority people are at greater risk of racism in less racially diverse areas because of less community support and less police protection. This paper draws on a research which involved 10 semi-structured interviews with Muslims in different Scottish towns and small cities. The data is collected from marginal contexts that are typically overlooked or neglected in mainstream studies. To discuss the importance of the low or high density of Muslim communities, and any other possible factor, in the experience of Islamophobia the result of this research is compared to the experiences of 33 Muslim participants in Scottish major cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the wake of anti-Muslim violence in Buddhist majority states in Asia, increased scholarly attention is paid to anti-Muslim Buddhist nationalism. These studies have paid particular attention to historical legacies within the confines of state borders, be they colonial or post-colonial. However, as this paper shows, the concerns raised in Buddhist anti-Muslim nationalism are not only shaped by local contexts. On the contrary, they are very much informed by global discourses and concerns. Drawing on media and globalization theory, this paper explores the transnational and global aspects of anti-Muslim Buddhist nationalism, arguing that it needs to be understood as a constituent element of global Islamophobia(s). Moreover, the paper shows that Buddhist Islamophobia cannot be reduced to being the result of Western export of Islamophobia globally. Rather, Buddhist Islamophobia has to be understood as a global as well as a globalizing phenomenon, contributing in its own right to global Islamophobia(s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategic mobilization of humor by Hindutva groups online contributes to the mainstreaming of supremacist ideologies that inform extremist behavior. Analyzing the social media recontextualizations of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition as case studies, this paper examines how online instantiations of Islamophobic humor contribute to the Hindutva revisioning of popular memory. This paper expands the understanding of how Islamophobia is normalized through the shifting affective framing of the Babri Masjid demolition, from shame to schadenfreude, from tragedy to comedy, and from a threat to Indian secularism to a necessary act of paternalistic disciplining. Studying these shifts through specific examples of Islamophobic humor builds upon previous insights into: (1) the affective regimes by which Islamophobic ideas are made palatable to a wider audience, (2) discriminatory speech as an act of pleasure, and (3) how both of these work toward the reworking of popular memory in service of the Hindutva political project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The warnings about Turkey's not-so-near accession to the EU are explored as a strategic tool in the Brexit campaign, linking concerns about sovereignty and immigration compounded with the anxieties surrounding Islam and the threat of terrorism. Drawing on the theoretical framework of Edward Said's Orientalism and the unique perspectives gathered from British Turks, this paper sheds light on their nuanced responses. It uncovers strategies of disbelief and denial in the face of the constructed narrative that portrayed Turkey as an undesirable 'Other' with its predominantly Muslim population. A closer analysis of some British Turks' narratives is premised not only on the sacralised defence of the principles of Turkish westernisation but also on the socio-political reputation of the Islamic Ottoman past as almighty. The article equally contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex interplay between British national identity and discourses surrounding immigration, sovereignty, and Islamophobia within the context of Brexit, as well as the principles by which the privileges of modern, secular Turkey, as well as the demise of the mighty Ottoman image, are maintained. In a paradoxical manner, the act of denial only serves to affirm the Brexit campaign's narrative depicting Turkey as an undesirable 'Other' with a predominantly Muslim demographic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on empirical research with British South Asian (BSA) Muslim women in Oldham and focussing on the embodied intersectional nature of discrimination they face, this paper explores British Muslim women's experiences of belonging in local spaces. Through a discursive analysis of place, belonging and identity, this paper argues that BSA Muslim women appear as a visible threat to the nation, occupying a contradictory position of both within the local and national but not part of it. Focused on the context of Oldham, a former mill town in the North of England, findings suggest wider hegemonic discourses of Muslim woman as "Other" are inflected by local dynamics and shape discordant everyday experiences. It is argued that Oldham presents a microcosm with which to view the nations complex relationship with its Muslim minority groups and resonates with the current political landscape of rising right-wing populism and Islamophobia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In The Souls of Black Folk W.E.B Du Bois conceptualised arguably two of the most significant and powerful theories of race and racism, that of 'the Veil' and 'double consciousness'. This paper utilises the concept of the veil both literally, in the case of non/veiling acts of British South Asian (BSA) Muslim women living in Oldham, but also metaphorically, through the Veil, as a form of social and cultural exclusion of Muslim women in everyday interactions. The paper argues that the use of the Veil and double consciousness, is able to highlight the extent to which Muslim women actively reflect upon hegemonic discourses of the veil as oppression and veil as respectability which shape understandings of them. The paper contends that an analytical use of 'double consciousness' in particular, can highlight the nuanced experiences of BSA Muslim women's everyday lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactions between social identity groups can reduce perceptions of threatening out-groups and improve inter-group attitudes. But these interactions have an inevitable side effect: while an interaction may improve attitudes among its participants, the same interaction can increase exposure to out-groups in the proximity of the interaction, leading to increased perceptions of threat among those not participating in the interaction. With such negative externalities in mind, this paper argues that the presence of a large number of out-group members both improves and aggravates native attitudes toward out-groups in the same area, which may, in the aggregate, conceal a hot spot of anti-immigration attitudes. This study examines the effects of interaction and exposure through a series of surveys of native attitudes toward Muslim immigrants in the Netherlands. While the exposure effect was not observed, empirical analyses suggest that brief interactions tend to worsen negative attitudes toward Muslims, possibly due to their physical and religious appearances. This highlights the importance of visual cues in shaping inter-group relations, as these visual cues may prompt natives to sort out interactions based on appearance, hindering efforts to promote inter-group contact between Muslims and non-Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-9/11 framing of Islam in western intelligentsia and policymakers have given birth to a new way of global terrorism, i.e., Islamophobia, revolving around unfounded fear of Islam. Islamophobia is an internationally driven predominant energy -- hatred against Muslims -- which continues to shape the character of this new wave and relations among the perpetrators belonging to various parts of the world. Politically-driven framing of Muslims, Islam and one of its key tenants -- Jihad -- by the western media has heralded transnational terrorism (the Fifth Wave of terrorism), which fulfils all the essential prerequisites. Therefore, the theoretical framework of this paper peeps through the Four Waves Theory of modern terrorism put forth by David Rapoport to examine whether the current rise of Islamophobic violence in different parts of the world qualifies to be the Fifth Global Wave of terrorism. The paper delineates how Muslims have been discriminated against and demonized worldwide. It also unfolds how religious-linked terrorism has been exploited, resulting in Islamophobia, which has turned into a transcultural and transnational threat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Canadian Council of Muslim Women (CCMW) is one of the oldest national Muslim organizations in Canada. It was founded in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1982 by the late Dr. Lila Fahlman and a group of determined Muslim women who sought to channel their passion for faith-centered social justice work and create a more inclusive Canada for all. CCMW promotes Muslim women's identity in the Canadian context and encourages mutual understanding between Canadian Muslim women and women of other faiths. CCMW is a national not-for-profit organization with 17 chapters across Canada comprised of Canadian Muslim women and girls of diverse races, ages, ethnicities, sexualities, and abilities. This paper chronicles the experiences of CCMW to continue its work and thrive on the strengths of its volunteers and commitment to improve the lives of Canadian Muslim women and girls. The need for an organization like CCMW continues to grow as Islamophobia and gender-based violence become more pronounced. Raising funds for causes that focus on issues facing Muslim women has been challenging, yet CCMW has survived while many other Muslim organizations have come and gone. The paper will share CCMW's experiences in seeking and acquiring grants to carry out projects without charitable status and plans for long-term sustainability. Through the case study of CCMW's Lila Fahlman Scholarships as a philanthropic endeavor, the paper will illustrate successes and struggles to raise funds specifically for Muslim women and girls. The paper will share CCMW's journey in applying for charitable status and insights on the application process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Asian Congress for Media and Communication Conference 2021 centred around change, adaptation, and culture in COVID-19 pandemic times with 12 streams, including democracy and disinformation, media influence and impact, and climate change in the Asia-Pacific. The keynotes in the Conference discussed information challenges such as media freedom, truth, and hate rhetoric, while the papers focused on practitioner perceptions.

Copyright of Religious Studies / Dini Araştırmalar is the property of Diyanet Isleri Baskanligi Yayinlari and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The debate on Orientalist representations of Islam and/or Muslims has been rampant in academic literature since Edward Said’s publication of his seminal work Orientalism (1978). The articulation of this discourse however has transformed in due course. It has manifested into its new variant ‘neo-Orientalism’, which has gained prominence in the post-9/11 era. In this paper, I discuss the transition from Orientalism to neo-Orientalism, and argue that this new mode of representation does not exclusively result from the 9/11 events and the subsequent War on Terror, but also from the portrayals of Muslims in the last quarter of the twentieth century. These portrayals, disseminated with great intensity by people in the media, journalists, politicians, and Orientalist academics, as well as in literary and cultural productions, continue to reify narratives about Islam and Muslim societies. This paper concludes with the dynamics Orientalism holds and reveals the role authors of the Middle East and South Asia play in disseminating neo-Orientalist discourses with the often-detrimental effect of catering to and promoting modern-day Islamophobia in contemporary Western societies. This is briefly illustrated on the examples of Nadeem Aslam’s Maps for Lost Lovers (2004), Qaisra Shahraz’s The Holy Woman (2001), and Uzma Aslam Khan’s Trespassing (2003). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the subjection of Europe's lower-strata working-class Muslims to a politics of containment on two levels: isolation and elite capture. Departing from analogies between antisemitism and Islamophobia, it argues for a different comparison between the two that involves their effects when weaponised as discursive strategies. While the effects of the weaponisation of ('new') antisemitism tend to isolate Muslims through a de -essentialising good vs. bad Muslim discourse, the effects of the weaponisation of Islamophobia move towards the tendential dynamics of elite capture through a re -essentialising discourse. Instead of theorising identity-formation as a direct consequence of ideology, the paper situates both discursive strategies within a structural framework that involves Muslims' organisational and collective- action forms, which in turn consolidate non-class identities. The paper concludes that the effects of the weaponisation of both discourses are realised in the containment of Muslims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debates about Islamophobia have been blighted by the question of whether the prejudice can be defined as a form of racism or as hostility to religion (or a combination of the two). This paper sheds light on this debate by presenting the findings of a new nationally representative survey, focused on the UK, that contrasts perceptions of Muslims not only with perceptions of other ethnic and religious minorities but also with perceptions of Islam as a religious tradition. We find that prejudice against Muslims is higher than for any other group examined other than Travellers. We also find contrasting demographic drivers of prejudice towards Muslims and towards Islam. Across most prejudice measures we analyse, intolerant views are generally significantly associated with being male, voting Conservative and being older, although not with Anglican identity. We find, however, that class effects vary depending on the question's focus. Anti‐immigration sentiment – including support for a 'Muslim ban' – is significantly correlated with being working‐class. However, prejudice towards Islam as a body of teachings (tested using a question measuring perceptions of religious literalism) is significantly correlated with being middle‐class, as is negative sentiment towards Travellers. Using these findings, the paper makes an argument for supplementing recent scholarship on the associations between racism and Islamophobia with analyses focusing on misperceptions of belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism pose a unique experience, especially when one is readily identifiable as a Muslim through hijab, a head covering worn by some Muslim women. Although frequently conflated with racial identity, Muslim women are uniquely impacted by the intersection of race, gender, and religious identity. In this paper, I explore the intersection of race, gender, and religious identity in higher education through critical autoethnography. Utilizing the lenses of postcolonial feminism and critical whiteness studies, I examine my lived experiences as a visibly Muslim and racialized woman teaching at a predominantly white institution in Southern Ontario. Through this exploration, I discuss a pattern of racism and Islamophobia in the academy, and how the inadequacy of addressing incidents reinforces and reproduces racism and Islamophobia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Muslims are often accused of being antisemitic and for being a major source of attacks and violence against Jews and Jewish institutions. Research also finds variation in Muslim orientations toward Jews at the aggregate, cross-national level, with lower levels of anti-Jewish sentiment in some western nations. There is also variation in the antisemitic sentiment of Muslims at the individual level in western nations. This paper asks whether factors that affect antisemitism among non-Muslims similarly affect Muslims with the same weight. In order to estimate these relative effects with precision, it is desirable to have a common dataset that includes both Muslims and non-Muslims. Since Muslims comprise a small percentage of the population in most western nations, nationally representative surveys rarely contain enough Muslim respondents for reliable statistical analysis. This paper uses the Democracy Fund + UCLA Nationscape survey, which has over 500,000 respondents, including 5000 Muslim respondents, sufficient for such analysis. The analysis finds that although American Muslims are less positive toward Jews than non-Muslims, the difference is not great, and, on average, American Muslims have positive views of Jews. Results also find that education, being foreign born, and perceiving discrimination against Muslims similarly affects Muslim and non-Muslim attitudes toward Jews. However, perceptions of a weak economy and age have discernably different effects on Muslim and non-Muslim attitudes toward Jews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the discourse concerning Islam and Muslims by assessing the extreme right-wing party, Vox, on Twitter. In addition, this paper examines the incidence (impact and reactions) of this party on the users of this social network. The objectives of this study are as follows: to identify themes and topics concerning this discourse; to analyze how the discourse is articulated and represented; and to understand the impact of this discourse by measuring the engagement of the most viral publications. To do so, we observed the publications posted by the party via its official account throughout 2022. The research methodology was based on qualitative and quantitative content analysis, and the publications themselves were monitored to ascertain the level of engagement. The results of this study clearly show that Vox created Islamophobic narratives; thus, Islam and Muslims are explicit targets of Vox's hate speech. Their rhetoric referred to security threats and threats to national identity, with the recurrent use of the idea that there is a "danger of Islamization" in Spain. The party uses disinformation and hoaxes, and users respond in a polarized way. The results of this study alert us to the worrying levels of radicalization and the normalization of Islamophobic racist discourse in the examined context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bilimname is the property of IBAV (Research Foundation of Theological Science) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Although Islamophobia and Antisemitism are two phenomena different in their nature, both represent a form of Otherness that entails a complicated inclusion into multi-ethnic societies of modern Europe and the United States. The purpose of the present study is to show how the research literature has portrayed both phenomena in terms of bibliometric data retrieved from the SCIE Clarivate Analytics database. In addition, we were interested to find out if there is a literature that connects Islamophobia and Antisemitism, its direction and influence. Our findings show that because publications and citations on Islamophobia are relatively new, the research in terms of publications draws the attention of academic society in the direction of research of Antisemitism, but the citations count of the literature on Islamophobia exceeds by far that of the literature on Antisemitism. Moreover, we found that although Antisemitism and Islamophobia are distinct trends, there is an interaction between the literatures that discuss both, and the research that combines the analysis of both phenomena gains more influence than research dedicated to each phenomenon separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Africa, radical and extremist Muslims are striving to transform society through violent change, claiming that African rulers are dictatorial and anti-Islamic; as a result, many African countries are experiencing serious human rights violations and abuses. Therefore, this paper examined radical Islamism and its trajectories of human rights violations and abuses in Africa and proffered workable solutions to the dilemma. To achieve the above aim, the paper employed historical and evaluative methods. The historical method was used to critically review the scholarly literature on radical Islamism and its human rights violations and abuses antecedents in Africa. At the evaluative level, the paper critically discussed the impact of human rights violations and abuses on the African nations and their citizens. The paper revealed that radical Islamism in Africa is driven by bad political leadership, poverty, poor education, unemployment, and religious exclusivism among others. The paper concluded that good governance, economic enhancement, and religious inclusiveness are key tools in discouraging and curbing radical Islamists in African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses popular geographical imageries of the European migrant crisis. It focuses on visualities that shaped discussions about the event among Czech Facebook users with anti-immigration attitudes. The paper elaborates on the co-production of migrants' visibility and visualities that depict them in certain ways. Visuality influences visibility and shapes what it means for people (who are represented by images) to be visible in certain ways when seen by another people (who observe and consume the images). Here, we analyse how cartographic visualizations and the practice of montage of images produce meanings and affects that make migrants either visible only as abusers of the Czech social welfare system (linking migrants in a racist way to the Roma minority) or visible only as dehumanized raging Muslim invaders that resemble more machine-like beings. These interpretations are explained with references to historical specificities of the Czech context. A user-made, film-like sci-fi video of the crisis is also analysed carefully to demonstrate its imaginary of a collapsing Western Europe, where raging invaders dominate. Presenting migrants' visuality as invaders links these racist and Islamophobic attitudes to migrants' visibility as enemies and targets to be killed, not pitiable human beings to be helped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Nazi concentration and extermination camps, especially in Auschwitz, prisoners marked by utter physical and psychological exhaustion were called Muselmänner ("Mussulmen"). In recent years, based on a passing remark by Giorgio Agamben, many have taken this linguistic phenomenon to mean that Jews died as Muslims in the Holocaust. Quickly absorbed into current political theory, intellectual discourses, and discussion forums on the internet, this idea has become as widespread as widely misunderstood, all but turning Muselmann into a buzzword which may be (mis)used for anything from Jewish Islamophobia to US-American torture practices. The paper retraces the historical semantics of the German word Muselmann and discusses the possible reasons for its introduction into the language of the concentration camps. Based on the finding that the word's Orientalist implications do not sufficiently explain its use in the concentration camps and that neither guards nor prisoners employed it with the intention of turning Jews into Muslims, the paper cautions against the transfer of this word's historically specific use, developed under extreme conditions, into the heated political debates of the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines a set of analytical perspectives grounded in affect theory for decolonising religious education. In particular, these perspectives are: recognising the role of religious feelings; examining the extent to which decolonial affective spaces can be created in the classroom; and, understanding how contemporary public discourses about multiculturalism and religious difference are affectively experienced by students and educators in their everyday lives. It is argued that these perspectives contribute to push further the uncovering of colonial legacies within contemporary religious education, especially in relation to Islamophobia. Further, it is emphasised that it is imperative for the project of decolonising religious education to pay attention to the affective dimensions of decolonisation; this implies not only interrogating the affective legacies of coloniality such as Islamophobia, but also producing decolonised affective communities in classrooms and schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 paper, 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. Like the Mediterranean front of southern Europe bordering the Muslim world, Russia's borders with Asia are lineated across the expanse of Islamicate civilization in Eastern Europe, the Caucuses and Central Asia. The first systemic antagonisms between Russian and its Muslim neighbors began in the medieval period. This early form of Islamophobia under white Christian Russian empires later transformed and intensified during the Soviet and Post-Soviet periods. The later manifestations of Islamophobia came with new logics, especially those tied to systems of secular governmentality from within the modern nation-state model. This paper highlights these time periods and argues that they signify a cohesive and consistent form of longue durée Russian Islamophobia which shares much in common with other renditions of Islamophobia emanating from the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate gendered Islamophobia in Italy through a significant case study: the hate campaign that affected Silvia Aisha Romano, a 24-year-old aid worker kidnapped in Kenya by a group linked to Shabab, who chose to convert to Islam. On May 10, 2020, after 18 months of detention, Silvia landed in Rome wearing a light green jilbab. The initial joy for her release was followed by very violent Islamophobic and misogynist insults, by both right-wing and left-wing politicians, newspapers, and opinion leaders, including some feminists. This paper will carry out a discourse analysis on this debate, focusing on some pivotal aspects: the roots of contemporary gender Islamophobia in colonial Orientalism and epistemic Eurocentrism; the contemporary debate on Muslims and Islam in Italy, and the media's role in reproducing stereotypes and discrimination; the political convergence between very different actors in the systematic attack against Italian Muslim women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on critical race theory to explore the reproduction and enactment of Islamophobia in education policy. It will focus on an unprecedented policy intervention in which the federal Australian government withdrew funding from the largest Islamic private schools in the country. Australia represents a useful context to explore intersections between Islamophobia and the education market; as a diverse country which ardently supports religious protections, it maintains a well-subsidised private school sector, larger than comparable OECD countries. Thus, it is the first incident in Australian public policy in which a private school has had their funding formally withdrawn reportedly due to 'non-compliance' and 'misalignment with Australian values'. This paper focuses on the media reporting of the incident, illuminating consistently negative tropes utilised in relation to Islamic schools. The contradictions of muscular liberalism and secularism are explicated in critical exclusions of Islamic schools and cultural practices, as couched in whiteness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post-war Sri Lanka waves of anti-Muslim riots and violence has become a common trend. This paper critically analyses how the century old Sinhala Buddhist majoritarian ideology contributes to the post-war anti-Muslim violence in Sri Lanka. This paper argues that post-war Islamophobia and anti-Muslim violence is not just a matter of political gambling or electoral strategy of political parties. Instead, it resulted from the deep-rooted extreme Buddhist majoritarian ideology that tries to drive the state and the society towards an exclusive Buddhist state. The ideology creates a cultural legitimacy to criminalize the Muslims as "invaders" and "the other" within Sri Lanka. This cultural cover up has led to epidemic direct and structural violence across the island. Hence, this paper suggests that the conflict management process should diverted towards structural changes, which includes both the constitutional and educational aspects, into account, rather than depending solely on the civil society driven inter-community co-existence projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informed by the theorization of the modernity/(de)coloniality studies collective, this paper thinks alongside hijabi women in Lebanon – a small Arab Mediterranean country – and their lived experiences in "mainstream Lebanese society". Drawing on six-months of qualitative fieldwork through in-depth interviews and focus groups with photo-elicitation, the paper documents and analyses lived experiences of discrimination, exclusion and erasure. Identifying dehumanization, civility and progress, and a present potent wider rejection of Islam in Lebanon, it argues for a framing of participant's shared experiences as anti-Muslim racism under modernity/coloniality and highlights the need to de-exceptionalize the region and the analytical tools mobilized to understand it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research paper explores the critical role of Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) in communication of crisis and collaboration with reference to Imran Khan's historic speech at the United Nations General Assembly. Khan expressed and exhibited the exceptional potential of communication as the first ever Pakistani leader to courageously discuss the concerns of Islamophobia and the Kashmir dispute in this global platform. The study investigates how communication accommodation strategies can be identified within Khan's speech, which helps establish and maintain a positive relationship with the audience, as well as fostered collaborative discourse on these sensitive topics. By examining Khan's speech, the research explores the alignment between communication accommodation strategies, and Khan's approach in communication with a particular focus on speech convergence and divergence. In addition, the research examines the collaborative aspects of Khan's speech; how it fostered dialogue and mutual understanding on pressing global issue of Islamophobia. The findings reveal that Khan's address was not merely a conspicuous speech but an act of diplomacy demonstrated through skillful communication, using the power of words to shift the global narrative. His speech demonstrated the presence of nonverbal accommodation and assertiveness, that engaged the audience and promoted positive constructive discourse at international forum of UN General Assembly. The research thus highlights the significance of CAT in establishing collaborative and reconciliatory discourse and communication dynamics at international forums, advancing our comprehension of political discourse and persuasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary debates on multiculturalism and immigration, gender (equality) remains crucial in drawing lines between the Western European self and non-Western Others. A crucial figure in these debates is the veiled Muslim woman, who is marked to be both the victim of a perceived oppressive patriarchal religion and a cultural threat to Western modernity and its freedoms (with regards to gender and sexuality). Different studies scrutinise how this figure is employed to constitute cultural differences and imagine national selves. This paper explores the impact of such national discourse on the everyday experiences of anti-Muslim racism of fourteen Muslim women in the Netherlands. Drawing on a distinction between structural, disciplinary, hegemonic, and everyday anti-Muslim racism, we demonstrate how veiling and unveiling practices of one's Muslim identity are crucial in the racism that is experienced. Veiled Muslim women experience more structural (e.g. labour market and educational), hegemonic (stereotypes to (re)imagine national selves) and everyday (e.g. exclusion, discrimination, and violence) anti-Muslim racism. While unveiled Muslim women – in unveiling or veiling their religious identity – are more likely to navigate everyday anti-Muslim racism. Altogether, anti-Muslim racism fundamentally limits the ways in which Muslim women can move, dress, and express themselves in different spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses how Sweden has come to be imagined and represented on the websites of US far right organisations since the start of the so-called 'migration crisis' of 2015. It focused specifically on when Sweden is discussed by the US far right and in relation to what events, and what values and associations are attributed to Sweden. The analysis showed that news events were not reported on by US far-right organisations as they took place in Sweden but instead appropriated and accentuated when they could be used to make certain points directed at the audiences of these organisations. Furthermore, the findings showed that the texts tended to focus on scaremongering about Muslim immigrants and Islam in ways that highly resembled those of the European far right. The paper discusses how such framing helps the international far right form a coherent narrative and all-applicable template for the problems of Muslims facing the Western world. Finally, the analysis showed how Sweden is positioned in a complex juxtaposition: as something both good and bad; superior while also inferior; a great nationalist role model but also a warning example, and how Swedish whiteness plays a central role in these depictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]