Secularism, Race, and the Politics of Islamophobia

Secularism, Race, and the Politics of Islamophobia shows the ways secularism produces and enables racism and normalizes the racial categorization of “Muslim.”

Dominant scholarship identifies Islamophobia as a form of racism where race and religion have become conflated in social structures. These important analyses form a complex ideological, social, political, and historical construction. However, the authors in this volume argue that current scholarship does not account for the relationship between secularism and race in social systems. Advocating for a decolonial approach to better theorize the phenomenon, Secularism, Race, and the Politics of Islamophobia calls attention to the ways secularism is embedded in and drives the disciplinary institutions of the State—such as law, political groups, government entities, and bureaucracies—to authorize racism and the racialization of Muslims and Islam. Highlighting the extent and nature of contemporary scholarly debates as well as public efforts to counter Islamophobia, the contributors to this collection address and deepen awareness of its present-day formations in secular neoliberal societies. Scholars and students from anthropology, sociology, law, political science, and beyond will benefit from this interdisciplinary study. Contributors: Khaled Al-Qazzaz, Jinan Bastaki, Dustin J. Byrd, Zeinab Diab, Alain Gabon, Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Fatimah Jackson-Best, Roshan Arah Jahangeer, Areesha Khan, Sharmin Sadequee, Saul J. Takahashi, Nakita Valerio. Foreword by Jasmin Zine.

Dominant scholarship identifies Islamophobia as a form of racism where race and religion have become conflated in social structures. These important analyses form a complex ideological, social, political, and historical construction. However, the authors in this volume argue that current scholarship does not account for the relationship between secularism and race in social structures in theorizing Islamophobia. Advocating for a decolonial approach to better theorize the phenomenon, Secularism, Race, and the Politics of Islamophobia intervenes in this area of scholarship to call attention to the ways secularism is embedded in and drives the disciplinary institutions of the State—such as law, political groups, government entities, and bureaucracies—to authorize racism and the racialization of Muslims and Islam. Highlighting the extent and nature of contemporary scholarly debates as well as public efforts to counter Islamophobia, the contributors to this collection address and deepen awareness of its present-day formations in secular neoliberal societies. Scholars and students from anthropology, sociology, law, political science, and beyond will benefit from this interdisciplinary study. Contributors: Khaled Al-Qazzaz, Jinan Bastaki, Dustin J. Byrd, Zeinab Diab, Alain Gabon, Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Fatimah Jackson-Best, Roshan Arah Jahangeer, Areesha Khan, Sharmin Sadequee, Saul J. Takahashi, Nakita Valerio. Foreword by Jasmin Zine.