Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy

Peter Gottschalk, Gabriel Greenberg

Rowman & Littlefield, 2008 - Social Science - 181 pages

In the minds of many Americans, Islam is synonymous with the Middle East, Muslim men with violence, and Muslim women with oppression. In the post-9/11 world, a clash of civilizations appears to be increasingly manifest and the War on Terror seems a struggle against Islam. These are symptoms of Islamophobia. The term "Islamophobia" accurately reflects the largely unexamined and deeply ingrained anxiety many Americans experience when considering Islam and Muslim cultures. Historically, Americans have seldom given voice to these anxieties since they have had, until the last half-century, few connections to Muslim cultures and a small domestic Muslim minority. However, in times of crisis, such as the Iranian hostage situation or, most recently, the September 11th attacks, the long-simmering resentments, suspicions, and fears inherited along with a Christian European heritage manifest themselves most directly in conditions that appear to affirm Americans' darkest concerns. Like a vicious cyclone feeding off of its own energy, Islamophobia takes uncommon events as evidence fitting its worst expectations and turns these into proof that perpetuates those ill-informed expectations. Islamophobia explores the presence of these anxieties through the political cartoon the print medium with the most immediate impact. This book shows graphically how political cartoons dramatically reveal Americans' casual demonizing and demeaning of Muslims and Islam. And the villainizing is shown to be as common among liberals as conservatives. Islamophobia also discusses the misunderstanding of the Muslim world more generally, such as the assumption that Islam is primarily a Middle Eastern religion, where as the majority of Muslims live in South and Southeast Asia, and the misperception that a significant portion of Muslims are militant fundamentalists, where as only a small proportion are.

What people are saying

Review: Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy

User Review - Goodreads

First chapter was very illuminating. Made valid points about how stereotypes and political agendas pla a huge role in the way we view muslims and Islam. Analysed cultural and actual depictions of ...

Review: Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy

User Review - Goodreads

I honestly believe that if everyone grabbed this eye-opening book and read it thoroughly, we'd be living in a completely different world.

Contents

• Introduction: 1
• Overview of Western Encounters with Muslims: 13
• Symbols of Islam Symbols of Difference: 45
• Stereotyping Muslims and Establishing the American Norm: 61
• Extreme Muslims and the American Middle Ground: 89
• Moments: 111
• Common Denominators versus Essential Difference: 143
• Notes: 153
• Note on Terms and Names: 161
• Glossary: 163
• Bibliography: 165
• Index: 171
• About the Authors: 181

About the author

Peter Gottschalk is associate professor of religion at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He is the author of Beyond Hindu and Muslim. Gabriel Greenberg is a recent Wesleyan graduate specializing in history.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy; G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects Series
• Authors: Peter Gottschalk, Gabriel Greenberg
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008
• ISBN: 0742552861, 9780742552869
• Length: 181 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Islam / General; Religion / Religion, Politics & State; Social Science / Islamic Studies; Social Science / Sociology of Religion