Section 1: History and Context
1. The Historic Encounter between the East and the West
This chapter begins with the birth of Islam and the consequent
encounters with Europe. It traces the key moments of this history
from Andalusian Spain to the crusades, as well as the reconquest
etc. The key point of this chapter is to show that this encounter
has not always been hostile—rather it has been both hostile and
congenial depending on particular contexts.
2. European Colonialism and Orientalism
This chapter lays out modern colonialism in the post-Enlightenment
period, and the need therefore for a racist ideology to justify
conquest. Looks at the key thinkers of Orientalism, institutional
centers, colonizing missions—particularly Napolean’s invasion of
Egypt in 1798, as well as British colonialism (Kipling etc.). It
highlights the key ideas central to Orientalist modes of thought.
The main argument is that Orientalism is a racist ideology used to
manufacture domestic consent for the colonization of Muslim
majority lands.
3. American Orientalism
This chapter examines the entry of Orientalism into the American
context. While there have been US authors of racist anti-Muslim
ideas (sadly Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad is one of them) the
relative lack of contact with the “Muslim world” means that the US
also inherits an entire set of ideas from Europe. In the Post WW2
era it inherits Orientalist thinkers as well, such as Bernard Lewis
who takes a position at Princeton University. The chapter will
trace the history of American Orientalism but also examine its
contradictory attitude towards Islam and Islamism. The
contradictions stem from the Cold War policy of supporting Islamist
organizations as a bulwark against secular nationalism, thus the
birth of the “good Muslim, bad Muslim” strategy (Afghanistan vs.
Iran). The collapse of the Soviet Union leads to the search for new
enemies—it is in this context that the “Islamic terrorist” becomes
one many options. Also, this is the period when there are two
versions of US imperialism in the post-Cold War era on offer:
unilateralist (arrogant) and multilateralist (humanitarian). The
latter holds the day during the 1990s.
Section 2: Islamophobia after 9/11
4. Bush and the “Clash of Civilizations”
The unilateralist cabal, organized in the Project for a New
American Century, are now in power and 9/11 offers them an
opportunity to enact their vision of pax Americana. They opt for a
virulent form of Orientalism/Islamophobia informed by the
Huntington-Lewis civilizational theory of conflict. This is not
surprising given that Lewis was on various commissions and secret
meetings at the White House to plan the US’s response to 9/11. The
chapter will then flesh out the key ways in which Muslims were
talked about post 9/11 as way to justify the “war on terror”
5. Liberal Imperialism and Liberal Islamophobia
The failure of Bush era policies and the domestic and global
backlash prompted a more liberal defense of imperialism and a shift
from the arrogant unilateralism of the Bush era to multilateralism
and “soft” power and “smart” power options. Various think tanks
(CSIS, sections of CFR etc.) were a part of this shift. And
academic liberals joined in as well. Liberal Islamophobia comes out
of this paradigm and is differently articulated compared to the
hard right wing “clash” ideologues.
6. The Danish Cartoon controversy (reprint my two pieces on this
issue)
Concrete example of liberal Islamophobia.
Section 3: Islamophobia in the Obama Era
7. Obama and Enlightened Islamophobia
This chapter will begin with Obama’s Cairo speech and the shift in
rhetoric that it inaugurated
8. Green Scare: The Making of the New Muslim Enemy
Obama’s Islamophobia and his failure to stand up against attacks
that “accused” him of being a secret Muslim, opened the door for
the conspiracy that there are “Greens menaces” in our midst
plotting to take over the country (earlier conspiracy theories get
more of a hearing thanks to Tea Party and other right wing groups).
Will include sections on how the mainstream media were party to
this process of fomenting fear and suspicion of Muslim
Americans.
9. The “Ground Zero Mosque” Controversy and the Far Right
Section 4: Fighting Islamophobia
10. Fighting Islamophobia
Review how the “war on terror” relies on Islamophobia, and review
how the Right uses it for political gain. The way to fight it then
is to fight the “war on terror” and the entire right wing as well
as liberal imperialist agenda. I will also lay out a polemic
against various “native informants” like Imam Rauf, Hirsi Ali etc.
who have aided the war on terror and debunk the notion that being a
“good Muslim” and cooperating with the state is what is needed to
overturn Islamophobia (Dabahsi’s book “Brown Skin, White Masks” is
quite useful here). I will instead point to the increase in Muslim
activism after the Cordoba house controversy particularly in mosque
defenses and participation in the anti-war movement.
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Deepa Kumar is an Associate Professor of Media Studies and Middle East Studies at Rutgers University. She is the author of Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike. She has offered her analysis on Islamophobia to numerous outlets around the world including the BBC, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Mexico's Proseco, China International radio, and Gulf News from Dubai.
This is a timely and crucial book. From historical roots to
ideological causes, Islamophobia is studied in a holistic, profound
and serious way. The reader will understand why we need to stop
being both naive and blind. There will be no peaceful and just
future in our democratic societies if we do not fight this new type
of dangerous racism Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary
Islamic Studies, Oxford University
Deepa Kumar's Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire could not be
more timely. In this deftly argued book, Kumar unearthes a
genealogy of colonial construction that goes back to the earliest
contacts between Muslims and Europeans. But the real power of her
argument is when she grabs the politics of ideological domination
by the throat and, with an astonishing moral and intellectual
force, sets the record straight as to who and what the players are
in turning a pathological fear of Muslims into a cornerstone of
imperial hegemony. This is a must read on both sides of the
Atlantic, where from mass murderers in Europe to military
professors at the US military academies are in the business of
manufacturing fictive enemies out of their fanciful delusions.
Deepa Kumar has performed a vital public service Hamid Dabashi,
Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia
University
This important book sets out to debunk Orientalist myths in
particular that historical encounters between Islam and the West
can be understood through a clash of civilisations framework. The
author explores the specific historical and political contexts of
this relationship from the Crusades to Obama providing a nuanced
and extensive analysis. Kumar presents these arguments with a force
and passion that is supported by a wealth of evidence. A must for
scholars of Islam, social and political science and international
relations Elizabeth Poole, author of Reporting Islam : Media
Representations of British Muslims
In this remarkable primer Deepa Kumar expertly shows how racism is
central to contemporary US imperial politics in ways similar to
previous imperial wars, including the one that constituted the
United States over the dead bodies of indigenous redskins.” An
antiracist and antiwar activist, as well as a model
scholar-teacher, Kumar has written a comprehensive and most
readable guide to exposing and opposing the hatred of Islam
Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies & International
Relations, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS),
University of London
Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire will be indispensable to
anyone wanting to understand one of the most persistent forms of
racism in the US and Europe. Kumar demonstrates that Islamophobic
myths did not arise spontaneously after the end of the Cold War but
are rooted in centuries of conquest and colonialism, from the
Crusades to the 'War on Terror'. Arguing with precision and
clarity, she shows how these myths have been systematically
circulated by liberals as much as conservatives, and usefully lays
bare the complex ways in which the US foreign policy establishment
has, in different contexts, instrumentalized Islamic political
movements and exploited anti-Muslim racism. Kumar's text will be a
crucial corrective to those who fail to see that the origins of the
'Islam problem' lie in empire not sharia Arun Kundnani, author of
The End of Tolerance : Racism in 21st century Britain
Deepa Kumar’s Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire is a
comprehensive study of the system’s most recent choice of political
scapegoat for its failings; the world’s one billion Muslims. Taking
her cue from the red scare’ persecution of the American left in
the aftermath of World War One, she labels this latest phase of
capitalist paranoia, the green scare.’Sean Ledwith,
Counterfire
This is a timely and crucial book. From historical roots to
ideological causes, Islamophobia is studied in a holistic, profound
and serious way. The reader will understand why we need to stop
being both naive and blind. There will be no peaceful and just
future in our democratic societies if we do not fight this new type
of dangerous racism–– Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary
Islamic Studies, Oxford University
Deepa Kumar's Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire could not be
more timely. In this deftly argued book, Kumar unearthes a
genealogy of colonial construction that goes back to the earliest
contacts between Muslims and Europeans. But the real power of her
argument is when she grabs the politics of ideological domination
by the throat and, with an astonishing moral and intellectual
force, sets the record straight as to who and what the players are
in turning a pathological fear of Muslims into a cornerstone of
imperial hegemony. This is a must read on both sides of the
Atlantic, where from mass murderers in Europe to military
professors at the US military academies are in the business of
manufacturing fictive enemies out of their fanciful delusions.
Deepa Kumar has performed a vital public service–– Hamid Dabashi,
Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature, Columbia
University
This important book sets out to debunk Orientalist myths in
particular that historical encounters between Islam and the West
can be understood through a clash of civilisations framework. The
author explores the specific historical and political contexts of
this relationship from the Crusades to Obama providing a nuanced
and extensive analysis. Kumar presents these arguments with a force
and passion that is supported by a wealth of evidence. A must for
scholars of Islam, social and political science and international
relations–– Elizabeth Poole, author of Reporting Islam : Media
Representations of British Muslims
In this remarkable primer Deepa Kumar expertly shows how racism is
central to contemporary US imperial politics in ways similar to
previous imperial wars, including the one that constituted the
United States over the dead bodies of indigenous “redskins.” An
antiracist and antiwar activist, as well as a model
scholar-teacher, Kumar has written a comprehensive and most
readable guide to exposing and opposing the hatred of Islam––
Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies & International
Relations, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS),
University of London
Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire will be indispensable to
anyone wanting to understand one of the most persistent forms of
racism in the US and Europe. Kumar demonstrates that Islamophobic
myths did not arise spontaneously after the end of the Cold War but
are rooted in centuries of conquest and colonialism, from the
Crusades to the 'War on Terror'. Arguing with precision and
clarity, she shows how these myths have been systematically
circulated by liberals as much as conservatives, and usefully lays
bare the complex ways in which the US foreign policy establishment
has, in different contexts, instrumentalized Islamic political
movements and exploited anti-Muslim racism. Kumar's text will be a
crucial corrective to those who fail to see that the origins of the
'Islam problem' lie in empire not sharia–– Arun Kundnani, author of
The End of Tolerance : Racism in 21st century Britain
Deepa Kumar’s Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire is a
comprehensive study of the system’s most recent choice of political
scapegoat for its failings; the world’s one billion Muslims. Taking
her cue from the ‘red scare’ persecution of the American left in
the aftermath of World War One, she labels this latest phase of
capitalist paranoia, ‘the green scare.’—Sean Ledwith, Counterfire
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