Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire

by Kumar, Deepa

• ISBN13: 9781608462117
• ISBN10: 1608462110
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-08-07
• Publisher: Haymarket Books

Summary

In response to the events of 9/11, the Bush administration launched a "war on terror" ushering in an era of anti-Muslim racism, or Islamophobia. However, 9/11 alone did not create Islamophobia. This book examines the current backlash within the context of Islamophobia's origins, in the historic relationship between East and West. Deepa Kumaris an associate professor of media studies and Middle East studies at Rutgers University and the author of Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike. Kumar has contributed to numerous outlets including the BBC, USA Today, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Author Biography

Deepa Kumar is an associate professor of media studies and Middle East studies at Rutgers University and the author of Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike.

Table of Contents

History and Context
Introduction	p. 1
Acknowledgments
Images of Islam in Europe	p. 9
Early Contact with Islam
Al-Andalus and Muslim Rule in Europe
The Crusades and the Reconquista
From Polemic to Indifference
The Ottomans
Romanticism and the Enlightenment
Colonialism and Orientalism	p. 25
Napoleon and "Enlightened" Colonialism
The Characteristics of Orientalism
American Imperialism
The Persistence of Orientalist Myths	p. 41
Myth One: Islam Is a Monolithic Religion
Myth Two: Islam Is a Uniquely Sexist Religion
Myth Three: The "Muslim Mind" Is Incapable of Reason and Rationality
Myth Four: Islam Is an Inherently Violent Religion
Myth Five: Muslims Are Incapable of Democracy and Self-Rule
Political Islam and US Policy
Allies and Enemies: The United States and Political Islam	p. 63
Islam and Modernization
Saudi Arabia and the King of Islam
Iran and Afghanistan: Irrational Mullahs and Freedom Fighters Israel's Enemies
Islamists and the Post-Cold War Era
The Separation of Mosque and State	p. 81
Orientalist Myths
The De Facto Separation of Religion and Politics
Modernization and Secularization
The Failures of Islamic Revivalism
Radical Secular Nationalism
Political Islam: A Historical Analysis	p. 93
What Is Political Islam?
The Growth of Political Islam
Political Islam: Mixed Fortunes
Political Islam in an Anti-Imperialist Framework
The Foreign Policy Establishment and the "Islamic Threat"	p. 113
The Neocons
The Israel Connection
Humanitarian Imperialism
September 11 and the Bush Doctrine
Obama and Liberal Imperialism
Islamophobia and Domestic Politics
Legalizing Racism: Muslims and the Attack on Civil Liberties	p. 139
Terrorizing Arabs and Muslims
Surveillance, Detention, and Deportation
Preemptive Prosecution
The Terrorism Spectacle
Theories of Radicalization
Green Scare: The Making of the Domestic Muslim Enemy	p. 159
Manufacturing the Green Scare
The "Ground Zero Mosque" Controversy
The Rise of the Islamophobic Network
Islamophobia and the New McCarthyism	p. 175
The New McCarthyites
"Education" and Media Propaganda
Mainstream and Liberal Enablers
Systemic Racism
Conclusion: Fighting Islamophobia	p. 193
List of Acronyms	p. 201
Notes	p. 203
Index	p. 225
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