Islamophobia

New Article: “Between Critical and Uncritical Understandings: a case study analyzing the claims of Islamophobia made in the context of the proposed ‘Super-Mosque’ in Dudley, England”

A quick post to announce the publication of another new article,  “Between Critical and Uncritical Understandings: A Case Study Analyzing the Claims of Islamophobia Made in the Context of the Proposed ‘Super-Mosque’ in Dudley, England”. As with a few of my other recent articles, this is ‘open access’ despite being published in the peer reviewed academic journal, Societies. If interested therefore, you can download a copy of the article for FREE here.

If you want to know what the article is about before downloading, I’ve pasted the abstract below:

Research highlights how usage and claims of Islamophobia tend to be simplistic and without nuance. Using a case study approach, this article considers the claims of Islamophobia made in relation to the proposed Dudley ‘super-mosque’. Setting out a narrative of the ‘super-mosque’, this article draws upon primary and secondary research to consider the claims and discourses of the major actors in the Dudley setting: the Dudley Muslim Association, Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, the far-right especially the British National Party and the English Defence League, as well as individual political figures. Considering each in detail, this article seeks to evaluate the extent to which each of the actors and the claims of Islamophobia made against them might be valid. As well as exploring claims of Islamophobia within a ‘real’ environment, this article seeks to critically engage the opposition shown towards the mosque, the way in which the opposition campaigns were mobilized and engineered, and how the ideological meanings of Islamophobia was able to be readily utilized to validate and justify such opposition. In doing so, this article concludes that the claims and usage of Islamophobia was weak and that a more critical and nuanced usage of the term is urgently required.

Open access, it’s the future !!!

“Passing the Dinner Table Test Retrospective and Prospective Approaches to Tackling Islamophobia in Britain” (New Article)

A quick post to announce the publication of my new article, “Passing the Dinner Table Test Retrospective and Prospective Approaches to Tackling Islamophobia in Britain”. As it is ‘open access’, despite being published in a peer reviewed academic journal – SAGE Open – you can still download a pdf of the article for free. To do so, click here.

If you want to know what the article is about before downloading, I’ve pasted the abstract below:

“Through establishing the All Party Parliamentary Group on Islamophobia and Cross-Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hatred, the Coalition government has afforded significance to Islamophobia. Focusing on definition, evidence, and politics, this article considers British governmental policy approaches to tackling Islamophobia over the past 15 years. Tracing religiously based discrimination from the 1980s to the publication of the Runnymede Trust’s 1997 groundbreaking report into Islamophobia, this article explores how the New Labour government sought primarily to address Islamophobia through a broadening of the equalities framework. Against a backdrop of 9/11 and 7/7, a concurrent security and anti-terror agenda had detrimental impacts. Under the Coalition, there has been a marked change. Considering recent developments and initiatives, the Coalition has seemingly rejected Islamophobia as an issue of equalities preferring approaches more akin to tackling Anti-Semitism. In conclusion, definition, evidence, and politics are revisited to offer a prospective for future British governmental policy.”

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“All Muslims are the Same: from external Others to homegrown bombers and beyond” ESRC Conference 7-8th March 2013

I recently participated in an ESRC Conference held at the University of Warwick on 7th & 8th March 2013. Entitled, “Whose Security? Migration-(In)security Dilemmas Ten Years After 9/11″ I had been invited to present a paper on the way in which Muslim communities had become increasingly seen as ‘suspect communities’ and how this had begun to play out in the public and political spaces. My paper was titled, “All Muslims are the Same: from external Others to homegrown bombers and beyond”.

From the title alone, you might be surprised to see how the image of Zayn Malik from One Direction is relevant to the paper. Well so that you can find out, I’ve pasted a rough transcript of my paper below including relevant links where appropriate:

“All Muslims are the Same: from external Others to homegrown bombers and beyond”

Events over the past few weeks have reminded me just how important the discussions taking place in this conference continue to be.

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“Between left and right: Islamophobic discourse in the political sphere” – Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies

Last week I was kindly invited to present a paper as part of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies‘ “Muslims in Europe” Hilary Term Seminar Series.

In doing so, I presented a paper entitled, “Between left and right: Islamophobic discourse in the political sphere”.

In my new found drive to try and ensure that as much of my research output as possible is made open access (freely available to everyone – it’s the future for academia…!), I am making the slides from the paper available on my blog.

To view the slides, visit my online library on Issuu by clicking here.

IASS News: “IASS Academic Chris Allen’s Research Praised by British Politicians”

Reproduced below is some news featured on the University of Birmingham’s Institute of Applied Social Studies (IASS) website.

To view the actual page, click here.

Alternatively, you can read it below:

Chris Allen’s research into Islamophobia has been publicly praised by two high profile politicians.

At an event in London on the evening of 24th January 2013, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi – Minister for Faith and Communities and former Chair of the Conservative Party – and Simon Hughes – Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats and MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark – not only drew on findings from his research into Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred but also praised him for its timeliness and impact.

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Storify: Baroness Warsi’s Speech on Islamophobia & Anti-Muslim Hatred

Following on from my previous post, some of you might be interested in a ‘Storify’ I pulled together which tracks Warsi’s  speech: from when its content first broke in the media through other articles and commentators to the speech itself and the reaction that ensued.

If interested, you can find it by clicking here.