3114 - American Fears: Islam’s Racialization and the Politics of Exclusion

Session Submission Type: Invited Session

Description

President Trump has proposed the registration of all native Muslims and attempted to legalize a ban on all foreign Muslims. Critics argue that as an appeal to assuage the fears of terrorism, these policies are both racist and ineffective as crime prevention measures. With these proposals, Trump joined a legacy of modern US Presidents who have used such fear-mongering tactics to appeal to the racist tendencies of white Americans - Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush among them. This panel will examine the racialization of Muslims in the United States since 9/11, and especially since Trump’s election. It will analyze both the production of racialized discourse - by politicians, the media and the general public - and its effects on Arab Americans, Sikhs, and other people perceived to be Muslim, as well as the diversity of people who identify with the Islamic faith. In this sense, it incorporates dominant as well as subordinated actors’ experiences of racialization, as emphasized in the meeting’s Thematic Statement. The heterogeneity of Muslim experiences is reflected in the heterogeneity of the panel members’ areas of expertise, which includes work with African-American, women, Arab-American, and hip-hop involved Muslim communities. The panel’s substantive focus would be on the emotion of fear, both as experienced in the context of fear of terrorism and racial minorities, and experienced by Muslim communities. The panel would appeal to scholars interested in crime, racialization, religion, media, and politics.

Description

President Trump has proposed the registration of all native Muslims and attempted to legalize a ban on all foreign Muslims. Critics argue that as an appeal to assuage the fears of terrorism, these policies are both racist and ineffective as crime prevention measures. With these proposals, Trump joined a legacy of modern US Presidents who have used such fear-mongering tactics to appeal to the racist tendencies of white Americans - Presidents Nixon, Reagan, and George H. W. Bush among them. This panel will examine the racialization of Muslims in the United States since 9/11, and especially since Trump’s election. It will analyze both the production of racialized discourse - by politicians, the media and the general public - and its effects on Arab Americans, Sikhs, and other people perceived to be Muslim, as well as the diversity of people who identify with the Islamic faith. In this sense, it incorporates dominant as well as subordinated actors’ experiences of racialization, as emphasized in the meeting’s Thematic Statement. The heterogeneity of Muslim experiences is reflected in the heterogeneity of the panel members’ areas of expertise, which includes work with African-American, women, Arab-American, and hip-hop involved Muslim communities. The panel’s substantive focus would be on the emotion of fear, both as experienced in the context of fear of terrorism and racial minorities, and experienced by Muslim communities. The panel would appeal to scholars interested in crime, racialization, religion, media, and politics.

Sub Unit

• Thematic Sessions

Session Organizer

• Sarah Beth Kaufman, Trinity University

Presider

• Louise Cainkar, Marquette University

Individual Presentations

• Surveillance of Muslims before and after Trump - Saher Farooq Selod, Simmons College

• Airports and the X-Box: Socializing White Millennials to Fear Muslims - Sarah Beth Kaufman, Trinity University

• American Abilities or Noble Vulnerability? Divergent Methods for Responding to Harassment at an American Mosque - John O'Brien, New York University-Abu Dhabi

• Challenging Racism, Resisting Racialization: Raising Third-Generation Muslims in the United States - Rebecca Karam, City University of New York-The Graduate Center

Discussant

• Louise Cainkar, Marquette University