Muslim-Jewish Sisterhood: Fears of Victimization and Criminalization

• In Event: The Criminalization of Islam in the Trump Era

Abstract

This presentation examines a group of local Muslim and Jewish women who are members of a larger national organization established soon after President Trump declared his candidacy for President of the U.S. The presentation asks three questions: what fears did the Trump candidacy elicit to bring this group of women together--who otherwise are on opposite sides of history? Why do those fears transcend historical antagonisms? And how does seeking comfort and protection with the perceived foe work to ameliorate fear and experiences with criminalization? The data is based on in-depth interviews with 20 members of a local chapter of the larger national organization. Qualitative data analysis techniques including coding sorts, and indexing are employed. While framing the research initially in Derrida’s “originary complexity” to construct and deconstruct structural conditions of the Trump regime, the intention is to come out with a grounded theory (grounded in the data) to explore the adaptation of people to criminalization with a larger number of interviews.

Author

• Nawal Ammar, Rowan University