Afghan-American Muslims Resisting Ethnoracial Hyper(in)visibility

• In Event: 2166 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 8: Racialization & Muslims

Abstract

Scholars are increasingly addressing how Muslim Americans experience anti-Muslim racism at the intersections of race, religion and gender, post 9/11. However, few also consider how national origins, immigrant/refugee and ethnic background may intersect with these social categories to shape different Muslims’ racialization. Prior to 9/11, scholars addressed how Arab Americans’ ethnic and national origins contributed to their invisibility amidst their white racial designation on census forms. However, few scholars have studied hypervisibility and invisibility in tandem, especially for a non-Arab Muslim community with a refugee background. Drawing on 20 in-depth interviews with 1.5 and second generation Afghan-American Muslims, my study addresses this gap through an examination of how Afghan’s ethnic/cultural and refugee backgrounds influenced their experiences with anti-Muslim racism. I found that Afghans experienced racialization through hyper(in)visibility for both their ethnic and religious identities that were racialized to be equated with terrorism. Afghan participants’ refugee backgrounds shaped their experiences with racialized surveillance, it also influenced their desires for cultural survivance amidst their hyper(in)visibility. These results suggest that studies on Muslim racialization consider the intersectional effect of ethnic origins, and immigrant/refugee background on shaping particular communities experiences with anti-Muslim racism.

Author

• Saugher Nojan, University of California Santa Cruz