What is Islamophobia?: Racism, Social Movements and the State - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745399576 ISBN 13: 9780745399577

Verlag: Pluto Press, 2017

Inhaltsangabe

As racist undercurrents in many western societies become manifestly entrenched, the prevalence of Islamophobia - and the need to understand what perpetuates it - has never been greater.

Critiquing the arguments found in notionally left accounts and addressing the limitations of existing responses, What is Islamophobia? demonstrates that Islamophobia is not simply a product of abstract, or discursive, ideological processes, but of concrete social, political and cultural actions undertaken in the pursuit of certain interests.

The book centres on what the editors refer to as the 'five pillars of Islamophobia': the institutions and machinery of the state; the far right, incorporating the counterjihad movement; the neoconservative movement; the transnational Zionist movement; and assorted liberal groupings including the pro-war left, and the new atheist movement. The book concludes with reflections on existing strategies for tackling Islamophobia, considering what their distinctive approaches mean for fighting back.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Narzanin Massoumi is a postdoctoral fellow in sociology at the University of Liverpool and the author of Muslim Women, Social Movements and the "War on Terror."Tom Mills is a lecturer in sociology and policy at Aston University in England and the author of The BBC: The Myth of a Public Service. David Miller is professor of sociology at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. He is the editor of Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy; Arguments Against G8; and Tell Me Lies: Propaganda and Media Distortion in the Attack on Iraq.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

What is Islamophobia?

Racism, Social Movements and the State

By Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills, David Miller

Pluto Press

Copyright © 2017 Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills and David Miller
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-7453-9957-7

Contents

List of Tables, vii, 
List of Figures, viii, 
List of Acronyms, ix, 
Acknowledgements, xii, 
PART 1 INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS ISLAMOPHOBIA?, 
1. Islamophobia, Social Movements and the State: For a Movement-centred Approach Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills and David Miller, 3, 
PART 2 ISLAMOPHOBIA, COUNTER-TERRORISM AND THE STATE, 
2. Islamophobia as Ideology of US Empire Arun Kundnani, 35, 
3. Islamophobia and Empire: An Intermestic Approach to the Study of Anti-Muslim Racism Deepa Kumar, 49, 
4. The UK Counter-terrorism Matrix: Structural Racism and the Case of Mahdi Hashi Asim Qureshi, 74, 
5. The 'War on Terror' and the Attack on Muslim Civil Society Shenaz Bunglawala, 97, 
PART 3 SOCIAL MOVEMENTS FROM ABOVE, 
6. Mainstreaming Anti-Muslim Prejudice: The Rise of the Islamophobia Industry in American Electoral Politics Nathan C. Lean, 123, 
7. Terror Incognito: Black Flags, Plastic Swords and Other Weapons of Mass Disruption in Australia Scott Poynting and Linda Briskman, 137, 
8. Islamophobia, Counter-extremism and the Counterjihad Movement Hilary Aked, 163, 
9. The Transatlantic Network: Funding Islamophobia and Israeli Settlements Sarah Marusek, 186, 
10. The Neoconservative Movement: Think Tanks as Elite Elements of Social Movements from Above Tom Griffin, David Miller and Tom Mills, 215, 
11. Liberal and Left Movements and the Rise of Islamophobia Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills and David Miller, 234, 
PART 4 FIGHTING BACK, 
12. Fighting Back: Challenging the State and Social Movements from Above Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills and David Miller, 271, 
Notes on Contributors, 275, 
Index, 278, 

CHAPTER 1

Islamophobia, Social Movements and the State: For a Movement-centred Approach

Narzanin Massoumi, Tom Mills and David Miller

Despite a considerable growth in writing on Islamophobia in recent years there is still no clear agreement as to what it is, where it comes from and how it relates to other forms of racism. Indeed, two decades after the term entered into common usage in the English-speaking world, Islamophobia is still not universally recognised as a form of racism. This remains the case even in academia, where the literature on racism is still largely separate from work on Islamophobia. The relative inattention Islamophobia has received from sociologists of racism is surprising given the considerable growth in hostility towards Muslims in recent years, which could hardly have gone unnoticed. And it is all the more surprising given that one of the great insights of this subfield of sociology has been to recognise 'race' as a social construct arising in particular historical and political contexts, rather than a property of the victims of racism.

In this introductory chapter we offer a theoretically grounded, empirically rich, sociological conception of Islamophobia which focuses not on the characteristics of Muslim people, but rather on political practices. In this sense, our approach differs from much of the existing work on Islamophobia, which has tended to focus on the conflicting discourses around citizenship, identity, belonging and nationhood (Bulmer and Solomos, 2015; Esposito and Ibrahim, 2013; Modood, 2007). By contrast, we set out an argument that conceives of Islamophobia not simply as a product of abstract discursive or ideological processes, but of concrete social action undertaken in the pursuit of certain interests. 'In our view, solely focusing on the religious, cultural or even political identities of Muslim people only offers a partial view of Islamophobia. A more satisfactory approach than starting with how the meaning of Muslim identities are constructed and contested, for example, is to focus on the set of institutions and policies that disproportionately impact upon Muslims. This is an empirical question which can be investigated through conventional social scientific methods. Doing so should draw our attention not only to the structures, agents and practices that produce racist outcomes, but also to the social, political and cultural action undertaken which puts the infrastructure of subordination in place.

In this chapter, and others in this collection, we discuss these agents and institutions under the rubric of the 'five pillars of Islamophobia'. By this we mean that there are specific social actors (pillars) that produce the ideas and practices that result in disadvantage for Muslims. We argue that the state is the foremost of these, in particular as a result of the activities of the counter-terrorism apparatus. We suggest that there are four other collective social actors (or social movements) that are important in supporting and extending anti-Muslim racism. These are the neoconservative movement, (parts of) the Zionist movement, the counterjihad movement (and the far right) and elements of liberal, left, secular and feminist movements. Before discussing the state and these various social movements, we turn first to the question of why we should theorise Islamophobia as a form of racism.

Theorising Islamophobia

A key reference point for accounts of Islamophobia has been the late Fred Halliday's article, '"Islamophobia" reconsidered' (1999). This is the most highly cited article on Islamophobia on Google Scholar and after nearly two decades still has political purchase for those on the left and right who oppose mobilisations against Islamophobia. In the article, Halliday argued against using the term Islamophobia; a position rooted in his critique of 'communalist' identity politics. Unlike some other Islamophobia deniers (e.g. Malik, 2005), Halliday acknowledges the existence of anti-Muslim racism. But he argues that since such racism targets 'a people' rather than a religion, 'anti-Muslimism' is a more fitting term. For Halliday, and others, the concept of Islamophobia inevitably conflates legitimate or honest criticisms of reactionary religious practices (particularly those based around gender) with racism, thus silencing progressive critics of Islam. This is an argument commonly made by liberals, and some leftists (as well as, more recently, the far right), and we deal with it and similar arguments in Chapter 11. For now though, it is worth considering in more detail the relationship between Islam and what Halliday calls 'anti-Muslimism' and what we prefer to call Islamophobia.

One response to Islamophobia from anti-racist campaigners – and one broadly in keeping with the Halliday thesis – has been to point out that while it may appear to target a religion rather than an ethnic group, in reality it overwhelmingly impacts upon ethnic minorities. Islamophobia is therefore in effect racist, even if as a set of ideas it might seem (or be presented as) unconnected to any particular ethnic group. But while it is certainly true that Islamophobia overwhelmingly impacts on people of colour, and this is an important point to bear in mind, in analytical terms this is nevertheless a very limited and limiting position to take, leading to the view that a policy, practice or set of ideas can only be considered racist insofar as it relates to a specific ethnicity. It is a position that implicitly assumes that 'race' is somehow more 'real' than religious identity, or at least that the latter is a more...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Pluto Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2017
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0745399576
• ISBN 13: 9780745399577
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304
• Herausgeber: Massoumi Narzanin, Mills Tom, Miller David
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: gpsr@libri.de; gpsr@libri.de; ; Friedensallee 273; Hamburg; 22763; Deutschland