Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism pose a unique experience, especially when one is readily identifiable as a Muslim through hijab, a head covering worn by some Muslim women. Although frequently conflated with racial identity, Muslim women are uniquely impacted by the intersection of race, gender, and religious identity. In this paper, I explore…

Arab Muslim students continue to face various forms of islamophobia on campus despite efforts from the college to make campus more welcoming and inclusive. As Muslim students express concern about the rise of islamophobia on campus and bigoted rhetoric on social media, college leaders, administration, and faculty have an imperative role to play in…

Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred are wrong, and should not be tolerated at universities, or anywhere in society. Islamophobia refers to hostility, mistrust or hatred towards Islam and Muslim people, because of their Muslim identity (or perceived Muslim identity). Evidence suggests that Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred are widespread, and…

This study investigated the experiences of Muslim students attending Canadian institutions of higher education in the context of increasing Islamophobia. Qualitative semi-structured interviewing was used to explore the impact of anti-Muslim sentiment on the academic experiences of Muslim students and patterns of identity construction subsequent to…

This paper outlines a set of analytical perspectives grounded in affect theory for decolonising religious education. In particular, these perspectives are: recognising the role of religious feelings; examining the extent to which decolonial affective spaces can be created in the classroom; and, understanding how contemporary public discourses…

Following the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Islamophobia became increasingly visible across the U.S, impacting anyone perceived to be Muslim. Despite being named after a religion, Islamophobia is a racial ideology predominantly targeting people of Middle Eastern, North African, and South Asian (MENASA) descent. In this qualitative study, the…

Students from marginalized religious backgrounds face myriad challenges on college and university campuses, and negative effects are especially pronounced for Muslim students. Wearing hijab can put college students at a greater risk of marginalization amidst a climate of Islamophobia. Although there is a growing body of research on Muslim college…

How might English classrooms be spaces where Muslim students are empowered to recognise and resist Islamophobia? This qualitative study draws on theories of critical consciousness and Islamophobia to show how Bassim, a Muslim student, makes sense of Islamophobic encounters through the poetic and analytic writing he creates in his public high…

Applied linguists have increasingly focused on how the lives of English language teachers and learners are shaped by race and its intersections with other marginalized identities (e.g. Von Esch et al, 2020). Curiously overlooked, however, are the experiences of one particularly stigmatized group in English-majority countries: Muslim women veiled…

This paper engages with a dominant model of Islamophobia which gives race and racism primacy. It argues that such an approach is parochial, conceptually narrow and practically ineffective. I take as my case the UK's Muslim student awarding gap -- Muslims are currently the worst performing religious group at UK universities. Existing work explains…

The year 2017 marked the sixteenth year anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center, the worst domestic attack in U.S. history. The global environment has been very different since September 11, 2001. Prior to that date, terms such as terrorism, terroristic actions, and Islamophobia were not commonly heard. The world environment has…

Black Muslim youth confront antiblackness and Islamophobia in US schools and society, yet few studies examine how this population navigates these intersecting oppressions. In addition, there has been a dearth of scholarly literature that explores the educational spaces in which Black Muslim youth are nurtured and affirmed. This article addresses…

Despite the rise in anti-Islamic sentiment, Muslim youth's experiences of religious discrimination are under researched. The goal of this paper is to better understand the complexities associated with religious discrimination for youth and adolescents and how to mitigate the harm caused by these discriminatory experiences. This mixed methods…

This paper draws on critical race theory to explore the reproduction and enactment of Islamophobia in education policy. It will focus on an unprecedented policy intervention in which the federal Australian government withdrew funding from the largest Islamic private schools in the country. Australia represents a useful context to explore…

In this article, we explore how locally situated educational practices and policies aimed at inclusion and integration may contribute to racialised exclusion for students. Our analysis brings together two ethnographic studies of how minoritised Muslim youth navigate secondary schooling in Denmark and the US. Our cases illustrate how assumptions…