Islamophobia in America: The Anatomy of Intolerance

Abstract

Islamophobia, a form of “othering” that is a potential topic of study in post-secondary cultural geography classes, has a long history in the United States and Europe. It is a substantially complex topic to understand, especially for those with no personal experience with Islam. Yet it is through “shallow and sensationalist journalistic accounts” (Hammer & Safi, 2013, p. 9) that many people obtain their information about Islam and Muslims. Considerable understanding of socio-cultural values, negative social out-group attitudes, bigotry, xenophobia, and nationalism are some of the factors contributing to what might be termed the new racism of this century. Carl W. Ernst has edited an easy to follow, yet substantive, book of five chapters by six authors that spans the history of Islamophobia to gendered Islamophobia, to potential solutions for dealing with issues of Islamophobia as found in Detroit, Michigan. Contributing Anthropology Professor Andrew Shryock posits his perspective that Islamophobia is more than fear and hatred of Muslims; rather it is grounded in the vagueness of our hegemonic models of what it means to be an American and how our national identities are formed (2013). While this book is America-centric, which in this case is in reference to the United States of America, the history of Islam and international comparisons throughout make it worthwhile for any of us striving to teach for an understanding of what cultural geography is and how mixophobia creates the nature of the places in which we live (Anderson, 2010).

Keywords

• Islamophobia in America,Carl W. ERNST

Kaynakça

1. Alford, T. (1977). Prince among slaves. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.
2. American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). (1850). Bombay: Letter from Mr. Hume, June 22, 1850. The Missionary Herald, 46(9), 289-406.
3. Anderson, J. (2010). Understanding cultural geography: Places and traces. London: Routledge.
4. Curtis, E. E. (2013a). The Black Muslim scare of the Twentieth Century: The history of state Islamophobia and its post 9/11 variations. In C. W. Ernst (Ed.), Islamophobia in America: The anatomy of intolerance (pp. 75-106). New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
5. Curtis, E. E. (2013b). The study of American Muslims: A history. In J. Hammer & O. Safi (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to American Islam (pp. 15-27). New York: Cambridge University Press.
6. GhaneaBassiri, K. (2013). Islamophobia and American history: Religious stereotyping and out-grouping of Muslims in the United States. In C. W. Ernst (Ed.), Islamophobia in America: The anatomy of intolerance (pp. 53-74). New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
7. Goldfarb, Z. A. (2006, December 21). Va. lawmaker's remarks on Muslims criticized. Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/20/AR2006122001318.html
8. Gottschalk, P., & Greenberg, G. (2013). Common heritage, uncommon fear: Islamophobia in the United States and British India, 1687-1947. In C. W. Ernst (Ed.), Islamophobia in America: The anatomy of intolerance (pp. 21-51). New York: Palgrave MacMillan.

9. Hammer, J., & Safi, O. (2013). Introduction: American Islam, Muslim Americans, and the American experiment. In J. Hammer & O. Safi (Eds.), The Cambridge companion to American Islam (pp. 1-14). New York: Cambridge University Press.
10. Kahf, M. (1999). Western representations of the Muslim woman: From Termagant to Odalisque. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
11. Kidd, T. S. (2009). American Christians and Islam: Evangelical culture and Muslims from the colonial period to the age of terrorism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
12. Shryock, A. J. (2013). Attack of the Islamophobes: Religious war (and peace) in Arab/Muslim Detroit. In C. W. Ernst (Ed.), Islamophobia in America: The anatomy of intolerance (pp. 145-174). New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
13. Spellberg, D. A. (2006). Could a Muslim be President? An eighteenth-century Constitutional debate. Eighteenth-Century Studies, 39(4), 485-506.
14. Swarns, R. L. (2006, December 21). Congressman criticizes election of Muslim. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/21/us/21koran.html?_r=1&