Abstract
The question that is nevertheless posed for any contemoprary concept of Islamophobia is whether it can, amongst other things, (i) analytically capture the contingent racial and cultural dynamics of the macro-historical juxtaposition between 'Europe' and 'Islam'; (ii) sufficiently delineate the racialising component of polemics from a potentially sedate critique of Islam as a religion; and (iii) more broadly summon enough explanatory power to stipulate how long established organising concepts within the study of race and racism may, in some Hegelian fashion, be developed and formulated in a sociologically convincing manner. This raises the broader point of how it is striking to note the virtual absence of an established literature on race and racism in the dicussion on Islamophobia. This chapter makes a tentative contribution to overcoming this disconnection by exploring what purchase the ideas of 'radicalisation' and 'cultural racism' can bring to bare on the conceptualisation of these matters. To examine the entanglements between race and religion as they apply to Muslims, the first part of the chapter explores the theoretical and normative issues raised by these questions, while the second half discusses the reaction from intellectuals to the novelist Martin Amis' controversial comments about Muslims as a means to evaluate the explanatory power or Islamophobia.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | Thinking through Islamophobia: global perspectives |
Publisher | Hurst & Co. |
Pages | 69-84 |
ISBN (Print) | 9781850659907 |
Publication status | Published - 2010 |
Keywords
- Islamophobia
- Muslims--Political activity
- Radicalism--Religious aspects--Islam
- Islam--Public opinion