In response to intensified anti-Muslim racism and inspired by the #FergusonSyllabus, the #StandingRockSyllabus, the #BlackIslamSyllabus and others, a group of interdisciplinary scholars has created the #IslamophobiaIsRacism syllabus to provide resources for teaching and learning about anti-Muslim racism in the United States.
This syllabus deliberately reframes “Islamophobia” as “anti-Muslim racism” to more accurately reflect the intersection of race and religion as a reality of structural inequality and violence rooted in the longer history of US (and European) empire building. It focuses mainly on the United States, while gesturing to the ways that anti-Muslim racism overlaps and intersects with various global histories of racism, colonization, and empire building.
As an interdisciplinary syllabus with social justice education as its objective, the #IslamophobiaIsRacism syllabus is not an exhaustive or comprehensive list of resources or readings, but instead provides one possible curated list of teachable texts and materials that provide a useful introduction to each section. While the readings include pieces that address recent events like the 2017 “Muslim ban” executive order, they also show that similar policies extend to both earlier moments and other communities.
This syllabus was built by Su`ad Abdul Khabeer, Arshad Ali, Evelyn Alsultany, Sohail Daulatzai, Lara Deeb, Carol Fadda, Zareena Grewal, Juliane Hammer, Nadine Naber, and Junaid Rana. We hope that educators find it useful and share it widely.
The syllabus is available here: https://islamophobiaisracism.wordpress.com/
For comments please contact: IslamophobiaIsRacism@gmail.com