Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
1 Introduction: Troubling Islamophobia
2 The Visual Politics of Racism and Islamophobia
3 Muslim Beauty Queens and the Master Narrative
4 Neoliberalism and the Good Muslim Archetype
5 Culture Talk as Islamodiversion
6 US Empire’s Muslim Cheerleaders
7 Beyond Trump
8 Conclusion: Critical Thinking as Terrorism Prevention
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Nazia Kazi is assistant professor of anthropology at Stockton University. She has lectured widely on Islamophobia, including her TEDx talk “Islamophobia and Islamophilia," and has published articles such as “Teaching Against Islamophobia in the Age of Terror” in the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Reviews

Nazia Kazi’s Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics is a devastating critique of the prevailing ways that Americans talk about Muslims, especially liberals who apparently mean well. Kazi makes her case elegantly and persuasively; her frustration is palpable and engaging. Anyone who thinks they have something worthwhile to say about Islamophobia in the United States should read this book first.
*Arun Kundnani, New York University*

With Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics, Nazia Kazi has written a beautifully indignant takedown of why thinking about anti-Muslim bigotry merely as individual prejudice is both wrongheaded and dangerous. Instead, Kazi draws the necessary connections between contemporary Islamophobia and the corrosive effects of American power, at home and abroad. Perhaps most importantly, she demands that we do the same.
*Moustafa Bayoumi, Brooklyn College*

Nazia Hasan Kazi’s book is a masterful treatment of how anti-Muslim racism functions in the United States. Kazi shows how Trump-era Islamophobia is not an aberration but the outgrowth of the politics of previous decades and US policy at home and abroad. She further explores how not to fight Islamophobia. Muslim Americans are not a monolith but are fractured along lines of race, class, and immigration status. Given this state of affairs, Kazi adopts a critical stance not only towards Muslims who function as cheerleaders for empire but also towards the Islamophilia of mainstream Muslim American organizations. By privileging the ideal upper class and professional Muslim, this form of Islamophilia creates ‘deserving’ and ‘undeserving’ Muslims, she argues. You will learn something from it whether you are new to the topic or a veteran scholar. A passionate, scholarly and well-written book, it is a must-read for all who wish to combat anti-Muslim racism.
*Deepa Kumar, Rutgers University*