The Racialization of the Muslim Body and Space in Hollywood

• In Event: 2346 - Racism and Anti-Racism I

Abstract

Using eleven high grossing Hollywood films post-9/11 on terrorism and the Middle East, I employ theories of racial formation to analyze how films racialize Muslim identities, in service to Islamophobia. I show that the post-9/11 othering of Muslims as terrorists is a political racial project, and use racialization theory to support my analysis. This research showcases the significance of political ideologies that invoke racialized meaning on Muslim identities. The racialized portrayals of non-white Muslim bodies ascribed in the political rhetoric on War on Terror follow a systemic process of ethno-racial cultural othering that vilify, objectify, and dehumanize their identities. I demonstrate how films engage in the political processes of racial construction of Muslim identities by criminalizing their gendered identity, dehumanizing their body, and devaluing their territorial/physical space in the aftermath of the War on Terror.

Author

• Maheen Haider, Boston College