'Quicksand of Hate': Experiences of Islamophobia and Poetic Resistance

How might English classrooms be spaces where Muslim students are empowered to recognise and resist Islamophobia? This qualitative study draws on theories of critical consciousness and Islamophobia to show how Bassim, a Muslim student, makes sense of Islamophobic encounters through the poetic and analytic writing he creates in his public high school English classroom. When examined intertextually, Bassim's words offer a glimpse of what Islamophobic experiences are like for some contemporary Muslim students. The findings suggest that through his English class, Bassim is able to use poetic and analytic writing as the means by which he recognises and resists Islamophobia. Further, this study indicates that more work should take up the implications of students' religious beliefs and the ways those beliefs shape their writing -- particularly when they are members of a marginalised religion.